Doomsday Gun (1994)

How the brilliant Canadian munitions engineer, Dr. Gerald Bull, agreed to build a super-gun for Saddam Hussein in 1988, when the U.S. cut his funding for the experiment, and how it attracted the attention of several intelligence agencies.

Director:

Robert Young

Writers:

Walter Bernstein, Lionel Chetwynd

Stars:

Frank Langella, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Langella	...	Gerald Bull
Alan Arkin	...	Yossi
Kevin Spacey	...	Price
Michael Kitchen	...	Chris Cowley
Francesca Annis	...	Sophie
Aharon Ipalé	...	Maurouf
Zia Mohyeddin	...	Hashim
Tony Goldwyn	...	Duvall
James Fox	...	Whittington
Rupert Graves	...	Jones
Clive Owen	...	Dov
Murray Melvin	...	Shop Manager
Marianne Denicourt	...	Monique
Alexandra Vandernoot	...	Marie
Roger Hammond	...	Mackler

Storyline

Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns. (Very large long range guns capable of shooting more than 100 Miles.) When a plan by the CIA to export restricted material using him was exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge and he went to jail. He was later released to help Saddam Hussein build a new supergun capable of firing over 500 miles. Israel, upon learning of the supergun, fears it would be used against themselves.

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Plot Keywords:

supergun | cia | saddam hussein | engineer | gun | 

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Taglines:

Based on an explosive true story.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

A szuperágyú

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Studios, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Griffin Productions, HBO Showcase

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 141 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both Frank Langella and Kevin Spacey had played Richard Nixon on film. Langella played Nixon in Frost/Nixon (2008) while Spacey played him in Elvis & Nixon (2016).

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Goofs

Near the end of the film, when Monique hands Gerry his loaf of bread, the reflection of two crew members can be seen in the car window.

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Quotes

Dr. Gerald Bull: [to Marouf and Hashim] You know, you people really know how to scare the shit out of a guy just with a look. That's a real talent. I wish I had it. I can't even scare my secretary. Think you can teach it to me.
[They stare at him silently]

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

Full Tilt
(uncredited)
Music by Andy Clark
KPM Music Ltd

User Reviews

An Inconvenient Canadian

Just a quibble to correct Jonathan from Hoboken's identification of Gerry Bull as an America. He was Canadian (you can even see him brandishing his Canadian passport in the final airport scene with Price (Spacey) near the end.) Gerry Bull was an inconvenient Canadian, in that he thought too big for a Canadian, and, like many other Canadians of talent and vision, eventually had to leave the country to achieve what he wanted. He was a brilliant supersonic aerodynamics engineer, who had contributed to the Avro Arrow program, and had run HARP (High Altitude Research Program) which had been, ahem, aimed at achieving spaceflight using guns, a la Jules Verne. It had operated the original 'supergun' in the Caribbean, with battleship guns put end to end. Bull gave up on Canada when Canada gave up on him, and that's when he became the international long-range artillery guy, selling his expertise to whoever paid - Israel, South Africa, Iraq. I figure if Israel could knock out Saddam's Osirak nuclear plant with an air strike, it wouldn't be past them to knock off the guy about to give Saddam a supergun with which to shell Tel Aviv.

The movie, though heavy on the CIA-is-the-root-of-all-evil conspiracy theories, was entertaining and not that bad, especially as a made-for-TV job, with, I thought, pretty good casting (I always like Michael Kitchen).