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: We're working for Iraq, gentlemen, not Switzerland. These people won't listen to excuses!

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Connections

References Star Trek: The Original Series (1966)

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Soundtracks

Gimme What I Want
(uncredited)
Written by Nigel Jenkins
KPM Music Ltd

User Reviews

The price of obsession

This movie sets out to tell the (more or less) true story of Canadian weapons designer Gerald Bull (Frank Langella), who dreams of building the world's most powerful artillery gun: hundreds of feet long and able to deliver a shell the size of a small building. The only problem? America and Great Britain don't want to finance his masterpiece and don't want Bull constructing one for anybody else. But Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is willing to pay for one, and able to get around the American embargo on selling weapons to Iraq by cleverly disguising the gun's parts as ordinary industrial equipment. But once Bull goes to work for Saddam, he sets himself as a target for international hit squads willing to do anything to keep such a weapon out of the wrong hands. He found himself playing cat-and-mouse, taking precautions to stay one step ahead of the world's intelligence agencies. This movie provides a pretty good reconstruction of the project, and the fact that the project was a quite chilling possibility gives the story much of its interest. Unlike the outlandish schemes of James Bond's usual adversaries, Bull's supergun was technically feasible and his customer, Saddam, was a very real threat to world peace. A decent way to pass the time for anybody looking for real life intelligence intrigue.