{"id":9899,"date":"2019-06-17T15:24:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T15:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=9899"},"modified":"2020-09-02T14:09:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T14:09:21","slug":"under-fire-with-nolte-cassidy-and-hackman-new-on-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=9899","title":{"rendered":"‘Under Fire’ with Nolte, Cassidy and Hackman new on Blu-ray"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 Great news! Roger Spottiswood\u2019s excellent\u00a0 <\/span>1983 political thriller \u2018Under Fire\u2019 starring Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy,\u00a0 <\/span>Ed Harris and Jean-Louis Trintignant is out today on Blu-ray Disc in the U.K. from Eureka Entertainment.<\/p>\n

The film, which deals with reporters covering the Sandinista rebellion in Nicaragua in 1979, ranks amongst the finest movies set in Latin American countries subject to dire mischief by American interests. Other top-liners are Oliver Stone\u2019s \u2018Salvador\u2019 (1986) starring James Woods (music by Georges Delarue) and Costa-Gavras\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span>two, \u2018State of Siege\u2019 (1972), set in Paraguay and starring Yves Montand and Renato Salvatori (music by Vangelis) and \u2018Missing\u2019 (1982) set in Chile and starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek (music in both by Mikis Theodorakis).<\/p>\n

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Each film confronts the issues of political subservision in countries beset by dictators and rebels and how unreliable reports are from all sides. The central subject in \u2018Under Fire\u2019 is the role of journalists when they discover criminal wrongdoing and become sympathetic to the oppressed. Photographs play such an important role in reporting and dissembling and both Nolte\u2019s fotog and Cassidy\u2019s reporter must confront a dilemma compounded by brutal repression by regional powers and callous disregard by American agents.<\/p>\n

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In his 1983 review, which contains too many spoilers to be read before watching the film, he observes correctly that the film \u201cshows us a war in which morality is hard to define and harder to practice\u2019. All five stars deliver naturalistic performances that enhance the credibility of the film and there\u2019s plenty of suspenseful action with many thrilling sequences.<\/p>\n

Roger Spottiswood, now 74, is a Canadian film director who co-wrote Walter Hill\u2019s \u201848hrs\u2019 (1982) and directed a pretty good drama about CIA\u2019s dirty dealings during the Vietnam War, \u2018Air America\u2019 (1990) with Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. and a not bad James Bond picture, \u2018Tomorrow Never Dies\u2019 (1997) with Pierce Brosnan. \u2018Under Fire\u2019 is by far his best film.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nick Nolte (left), a vastly underrated actor with terrific performances in films such as \u2018Cannery Row\u2019 (1982), \u201848Hrs.\u2019 (1082), \u2018Q&A\u2019 (1990), \u2018Cape Fear\u2019 (1991), \u2018Mulholland Falls\u2019 (1996), \u2018The Good Thief\u2019 (2002),\u00a0 <\/span>plays a news photographer who hops from war zones in Africa to Central America to Africa. Joanna Cassidy (below right), who should have been a major movie star after this film and \u2018Blade Runner\u2019 (1982) but who has had a long and distinguished TV career in shows such as \u2018Six Feet Under\u2019, \u2018Call Me Fitz\u2019, \u2018Odd Mom Out\u2019 and \u2018Too Old to Die \"\"<\/a>Young\u2019, plays a resourceful radio reporter. Double Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, whose stellar films are too numerous to mention, is a seasoned senior television reporter with dreams of becoming a network anchorman. A romantic triangle between the three adds to the tension.<\/p>\n

The also underrated Ed Harris (below left) \u00a0\u2013 \u2018The Right Stuff\u2019 1983, \u2018The Rock\u2019 1996, \u2018The Truman Show\u2019 1998, \u2018Apaloosa\u2019 2008, TV\u2019s \u2018Westworld\u2019 \u2013 is a ruthless mercenary who also hops around doing dirty work on whichever side the CIA decides to support next. Jean-Louis Trintignant (\u2018A Man and a Woman\u2019 \"\"<\/a>1966, \u2018The Conformist\u2019 1970, \u2018Amour\u2019 (2013) plays a French gunrunner and all-round meddler in troubled affairs.<\/p>\n

Scripted by Clayton Frohman (\u2018Defiance\u2019 2008) and Ron Shelton \u2018Bull Durham\u2019 1996, \u2018Tin Cup\u2019 (1998), the film is shot by cinematographer John Alcott (\u2018A Clockwork Orange\u2019 1971 with an Oscar for \u2018Barry Lyndon\u2019 1975 and features an outstanding score by Oscar-winner Jerry Goldsmith (\u2018Patton\u2019 1970, \u2018Chinatown\u2019 1974, \u2018The Wind and the Lion\u2019 1974, \u2018Star Trek: The Motion Picture\u2019 1979, \u2018L.A. Confidential\u2019 1997, with an Oscar for \u2018The Omen\u2019 1976). Goldsmith received the 14th of his 18 Academy Award nominations for his score, which features soloist Pat Metheny on guitar. The soundtrack is on Warner Bros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 Great news! Roger Spottiswood\u2019s excellent\u00a0 1983 political thriller \u2018Under Fire\u2019 starring Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy,\u00a0 Ed Harris and Jean-Louis Trintignant is out today on Blu-ray Disc in the U.K. from Eureka Entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,1365],"tags":[5027,5026,5028,5016,5023,4726,5017,1635,5020,4307,5019,5022,5018,5025,5021,5024],"class_list":["post-9899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-news","category-previews","tag-missing","tag-salvador","tag-state-of-siege","tag-under-fire","tag-clayton-frohlman","tag-ed-harris","tag-eureka-entertainment","tag-gene-hackman","tag-jean-louis-trintignant","tag-jerry-goldsmith","tag-joanna-cassidy","tag-john-alcott","tag-nick-note","tag-pat-metheny","tag-roger-spottiswood","tag-ron-shelton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9899"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10076,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9899\/revisions\/10076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}