Defence of the Realm (1985)

Director:

David Drury

Writer:

Martin Stellman (writer)

Release Date:

21 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

Just how far will a government go to hide the truth?

Plot:

After a newspaper reporter helps expose a Member of Parliament as a possible spy, he finds that there's much more to the story than that.

Plot Keywords:

Political | Cover Up | Journalism | Newspaper | Air Base

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Gabriel Byrne	...	Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen
Greta Scacchi	...	Nina Beckman
Denholm Elliott	...	Vernon Bayliss
Ian Bannen	...	Dennis Markham
Fulton Mackay	...	Victor Kingsbrook
Bill Paterson	...	Jack Macleod
David Calder	...	Harry Champion
Frederick Treves	...	Arnold Reece
Robbie Coltrane	...	Leo McAskey
Annabel Leventon	...	Trudy Markham
Graham Fletcher-Cook	...	Micky Parker
Steven Woodcock	...	Steven Dyce
Alexei Jawdokimov	...	Dietrich Kleist
Danny Webb	...	Danny Royce (as Daniel Webb)
Prentis Hancock	...	Frank Longman

Also Known As:

Defense of the Realm (USA)
A Birodalom védelme (Hungary) [hu]
A Defesa do Reino (Brazil) (cable TV title) [pt]
Atom, Lüge und was kommt danach? (Germany) (TV title) [de]
Button - Im Sumpf der Atommafia (West Germany) [de]
Conspiración para el silencio (Argentina) [es]
Dilema de um Jornalista (Brazil) (video box title) [pt]
Dossier confidenziale (Italy) [it]
Em Defesa da Nação (Portugal) [pt]
Em Defesa da Verdade (Brazil) [pt]
En defensa del reino (Spain) [es]
Für die Sicherheit des Königreichs (West Germany) [de]
Katastasi ektaktou anagis (Greece) [el]
Obrona królestwa (Poland) [pl]
Valtakunnan puolustus (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Lee International Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Enigma Film

Trivia:

The name of the airbase is never mentioned. However at one ponint Nick views a press clipping that states the (presumed) hit-and-run driving incident occurred in the village of Brandon. That's in Suffolk, adjacent to the US airbase at RAF Lakenheath. (However, the building Nick is seen parked outside when he asks, and is denied, permission to visit the base commander, is not at Lakenheath, it looks more like RAF Uxbridge which would have been easier to get permission to film at, and is also very close to the Shepperton studio where the film was made.)

Quotes:

[last lines]
Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen: [smiling at Nina Beckman] Well?
[Shortly followed by news commentators reporting on what Nick and Nina have found]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Howling III (1987)

Clever stuff

Well put together, and it will not do your paranoia any good at all! (But then, if you're not a bit paranoid, there's something wrong with you!)

Perhaps the characters could do with filling out a little, but on the whole, this is a very well-crafted thriller, to which you have to pay attention, as there are no big info-dumps or exposition: you have to work out a lot for yourself.