Wrong Is Right (1982)

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Charles McCarry (novel)
Richard Brooks (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 April 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Only Patrick Hale can prevent a desperate president, the head of the CIA, a trigger happy general, terrorists, an arms dealer, and religious fanatics from destroying our world, But he has other things on his mind.

Plot:

A satire of American news reporting, Covert Agencies, and political system. The theft of two suitcase sized nuclear weapons...

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Satire | Terrorist Group | Nuclear Weapon | CIA

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Patrick Hale
George Grizzard	...	President John Lockwood
Robert Conrad	...	Lt. Gen. Wombat
Katharine Ross	...	Sally Blake
John Saxon	...	Homer Hubbard
Henry Silva	...	Rafeeq
Hardy Krüger	...	Helmut Unger (as Hardy Kruger)
Toby Hughes	...	TV Cameraman
G.D. Spradlin	...	CIA Director Philindros
Leslie Nielsen	...	Mallory
Paul Lambert	...	Defense Secretary
Robert Webber	...	Harvey
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Young Girl on Reality Program
Dean Stockwell	...	Chief of Staff Hacker
Rosalind Cash	...	Vice President Ford

Also Known As:

The Man with the Deadly Lens

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

UK:15 (2004) (uncut) | UK:15 (1986) (cut) | UK:AA (1982) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:16 (unconfirmed) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Singapore:PG | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

During the film's final scene, Sean Connery tosses off the obvious toupee he had been wearing throughout the film before he parachutes out of a plane.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

life imitates art?

This movie was made in 1982 but it could have been made anytime in the last couple of years because the subject matter is still rather current. A president going to war to boost his ratings, crazed fanatical terrorists, scheming government types, etc., it's all there. If it wasn't for the dark humor of this you'd think you were watching the evening news. Sean Connery plays a "beloved" newscaster type, who globe-trots and is always welcome anywhere as long as the camera's along. He manages to blunder into a situation with a Sheik who claims to have heard voices in the desert and the voices are telling him to give atomic bombs to a terrorist group who will use them on the USA. The president of the US is rather into working out but not much into what's going on in the country he rules, only looking good. Gas has topped $3-something a gallon and Americans are outraged, etc. etc. Pretty scary, huh? Any of this sound familiar? Overall this is a fairly decent movie but it's kind of hard to think of it as a comedy of any kind really, when it gets so close to the way things currently seem to be headed in this country. Check it out though, it's worth seeing, just a tad on the uncomfortable side seeing something made 26 years ago that seems to be so "on the money". 8 out of 10.