{"id":9989,"date":"2014-11-04T12:43:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T17:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9989"},"modified":"2014-11-14T11:53:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T16:53:51","slug":"br-under-fire-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9989","title":{"rendered":"BR: Under Fire (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"UnderFire1983_BR\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Near-Perfect<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0October 14, 2014<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 War \/ Drama \/ Action<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Three journalists encounter brutality and murder during the Nicaraguan Civil War in 1979.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Audio Commentary #1: director Roger Spottiswoode, assistant editor Paul Seydor, photo journalist & film consultant Mathew Naythons, and film historian & producer Nick Redman \/ Audio Commentary #2: film music historian & journalist Jeff Bond, music editor Kenny Hall, music producer & mixer Bruce Botnick, film historian & producer, Nick Redman, film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Isolated stereo music and music & effects track \/ Interview: \u201cJoanna Cassidy remembers \u201cUnder Fire\u201d \/ Behind-the-scenes stills gallery by photo journalist and film consultant Matthew Naythons \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the best dramas concerning war photographers, Under Fire<\/strong> was loosely inspired by the real-life death of ABC reporter Bill Stewart<\/a>, murdered alongside translator Juan Espinoza by Nicaragua\u2019s National Guard in 1979.<\/p>\n

Taking place during the final moments of the Somoza regime that same year, Ron Shelton\u2019s fictional film story is an adult drama in which photographer Russell Price (Nick Nolte) has fallen for fellow photographer Claire (Joanna Cassidy), girlfriend of best friend \/ news reporter \/ Bill Stewart variant Alex Grazier (Gene Hackman). It\u2019s a love triangle told with sincerity, subtleties, a wry sense of humour, and minimal clich\u00e9s as the film tracks Russell\u2019s globe-trotting work from Africa to Nicaragua, where he meets and works with colleagues Alex and Claire, combing through battle-scarred streets and travelling to remote jungle haciendas to find the mysterious leftist rebel leader Rafael.<\/p>\n

Working against them is a French spy (Jean-Louis Trintigant making his English language debut), a disingenuous P.R. aide (Richard Masur), assorted bands of trigger-happy guardsmen, and an American mercenary named Oates (Ed Harris \u2013 with hair!) whom Russell knows from prior global hot spots. Oates represents the coldest type of crisis manager: an apolitical freelancer lacking any humanistic traits whatsoever who goes where the action resides, and the monetary rewards are considerable.<\/p>\n

Incredibly (or perhaps because of its cynical \/ realistic critique of the American foreign policy of supporting a wholly corrupt regime, not unlike Iraq\u2019s Saddam Hussein), Under Fire <\/strong>wasn\u2019t a box office success, and its reputation as a solid drama evolved from home video viewings and cable TV airings.<\/p>\n

The death of reporter Bill Stewart \u2013 broadcast on TV after footage of his murder was smuggled out of Nicaragua – is largely credited for ending American support of the Somoza regime, and as one of the characters wryly cites in the film, it took the death of an American to topple a despotic family.<\/p>\n

Shelton\u2019s script \u2013 reworked from a prior version by Clayton Frohman (2008\u2019s Defiance<\/strong>) – is lean and filled with marvelous lines which, as Julie Kirgo repeatedly points out in one of the Blu-ray\u2019s commentary tracks and her liner notes, reflect a love triangle told through adult lenses, and how much is said simply through physical performances.<\/p>\n

Roger Spottiswoode (The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper<\/strong>) had wanted to establish a steady directing career, and had hoped Under Fire<\/strong> would push him to A-level studio productions, and in spite of under-performing at the box office, the film did prove he could handle kinetic drama, especially the action scenes where Mexican streets were redone as alleys ruined from brutal urban warfare.<\/p>\n

Spottiswoode\u2019s own background as an editor \u2013 he co-edited Sam Peckinpah\u2019s Straw Dogs<\/strong> (1971) and\u00a0Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid<\/strong> (1973), and Walter Hill\u2019s superb Hard Times<\/a><\/strong> (1975) \u2013 may have guaranteed each edit was seamless, but his instincts as a superb visual choreographer make a dangerous rooftop shootout and Russell\u2019s desperate flight from murderous guardsmen in the finale exceptionally thrilling, if not a vivid representation of a photographer working in a war zone.<\/p>\n

The aforementioned cast is perfect \u2013 there\u2019s no sour or weak note in the cast, even from bit players Holly Palance (The Omen<\/strong>, TV\u2019s Ripley\u2019s Believe It or Not!<\/strong>) and Elpidia Carillo (Salvador<\/strong>, Predator<\/strong>) \u2013 and the details are so vivid there\u2019s never a sense the street scenes and jungles treaded by the journalists are constructed sets. (Perhaps the finest detail is the simplest: Nolte wearing a trio of cameras dinged, scuffed, and taped up, making it clear Russell\u2019s a shutterbug who\u2019s seen and been through numerous life-threatening scrapes.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Blu-ray<\/strong><\/p>\n

Previously available on DVD from MGM, Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray edition is very much the result of a collective love among the label\u2019s team and its associates for the film and composer Jerry Goldsmith. It\u2019s inarguably one of his best scores, and perhaps his best fusion of orchestra and electronics when the latter isn’t a dominant and dated component. (The composer\u2019s increased usage of electronics in the 1980’s tended to yield variable results, and while some fans have great affection for works such as Runaway<\/strong> and Hoosiers<\/strong>, they haven\u2019t aged as well as Under Fire<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

TT\u2019s Blu comes with an isolated score track which integrates the album cues (themselves edited from still-lost master tapes) and surviving sections from a music & effects mix \u2013 the best way to currently present a full score. The LP was and remains a great album, but it offers different mixes and edits of the score, and there are many great cues that remain available only within the M&E mix.<\/p>\n

Augmenting the music track is a lively commentary track moderated by Nick Redman, Kirgo, historian \/ journalist Jeff Bond, and Goldsmith\u2019s longtime music editor Kenny Hall and music producer \/ mixer Bruce Botnick. It\u2019s a broad career overview of the composer, the score\u2019s creation, and many, many<\/em> anecdotes about Goldsmith as a humble but self-aware master craftsman. Redman\u2019s expert moderating also ensures Hall and Botnick’s contributions are also spotlighted, and there\u2019s some fascinating background on the score\u2019s recording, Pat Metheny\u2019s gorgeous solos, and the final mix supervised by Botnick which ‘saved’ both the score and the integrity of its composer.<\/p>\n

Redman also moderates a second track with director Spottiswoode, assistant editor Paul Seydor, and photo journalist \/ film consultant Matthew Naythons<\/a>. While the music commentary will please film music fans, the filmmaker track \u2013 one of the best ever recorded \u2013 is packed with lively anecdotes, but the real star among its participants is Spottiswoode and his often hysterical stories, especially those involving cinematographer John Alcott, who filmed Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Barry Lyndon<\/a><\/strong> (1975) and The Shining<\/strong> (1980), plus Spottiswoode\u2019s own directorial debut Terror Train<\/a><\/strong> (arguably the most luxuriously photographed CanCon slasher), the visually frigid CanCon non-thriller The Disappearance<\/a><\/strong> (1977), and the Cold War espionage thriller No Way Out<\/strong> (1987), his last work.<\/p>\n

Co-star Cassidy appears in a very short video interview, and although her comments are minimal (perhaps this is merely an extract from a longer interview conducted for a future Twilight Time release?), she shares her affection for a film that gave her strongest role. (Cassidy would later reunite with Hackman in the Cold War thriller The Package<\/strong><\/a> in 1989, but there\u2019s something satisfying about her performance here \u2013 perhaps because she was cast to play an attractive, mature, wry woman who could shoot pictures in dangerous locations just as good as any man.)<\/p>\n

The remaining extras include the original theatrical trailer, production stills taken by Naythons (which include a few shots of screenwriter Shelton, himself on location to shoot some second unit material), and Kirgo\u2019s appreciative essay.<\/p>\n

Under Fire<\/strong> was one of several war correspondent productions produced during the 1980s, including The Year of Living Dangerously<\/strong> (1982), The Killing Fields<\/strong> (1984), Salvador<\/strong><\/a> (1986), and much later\u00a0A Show of Force <\/strong>(1990), and\u00a0the TV movie Frankie\u2019s House<\/strong> (1992). Another journalist-in-Nicaragua drama was the low budget Last Plane Out <\/strong>(1983).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB <\/a>\u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Film: Near-Perfect Transfer: \u00a0Excellent Extras: Excellent Label:\u00a0Twilight Time Region:\u00a0All Released:\u00a0\u00a0October 14, 2014 Genre:\u00a0 War \/ Drama \/ Action Synopsis:\u00a0Three journalists encounter brutality and murder during the Nicaraguan Civil War in 1979. Special Features:\u00a0\u00a0Audio Commentary #1: director Roger Spottiswoode, assistant editor Paul Seydor, photo journalist & film consultant Mathew Naythons, and film historian & producer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3099,545,3100,3098,3101,3103,3097,3102,3096],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2B7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9989"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10062,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989\/revisions\/10062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}