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Deterrence

  • 19991999
  • RR
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
Deterrence (1999)
  • Drama
  • Thriller
The President of the United States must deal with an international military crisis while confined to a Colorado diner during a freak snowstormThe President of the United States must deal with an international military crisis while confined to a Colorado diner during a freak snowstormThe President of the United States must deal with an international military crisis while confined to a Colorado diner during a freak snowstorm
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Rod Lurie
  • Writer
    • Rod Lurie
  • Stars
    • Kevin Pollak
    • Timothy Hutton
    • Sheryl Lee Ralph
Top credits
  • Director
    • Rod Lurie
  • Writer
    • Rod Lurie
  • Stars
    • Kevin Pollak
    • Timothy Hutton
    • Sheryl Lee Ralph
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 85User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
    • 50Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Photos7

    Deterrence (1999)
    Deterrence (1999)
    Kevin Pollak in Deterrence (1999)
    Deterrence (1999)
    Kevin Pollak in Deterrence (1999)
    Timothy Hutton, Kevin Pollak, and Rod Lurie in Deterrence (1999)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Kevin Pollak
    Kevin Pollak
    • President Walter Emerson
    Timothy Hutton
    Timothy Hutton
    • Marshall Thompson
    Sheryl Lee Ralph
    Sheryl Lee Ralph
    • Gayle Redford
    Clotilde Courau
    Clotilde Courau
    • Katie
    Badja Djola
    Badja Djola
    • Harvey
    Sean Astin
    Sean Astin
    • Ralph
    Mark Thompson
    Mark Thompson
    • Gerald Irvin
    Michael Mantell
    Michael Mantell
    • Taylor Woods
    Kathryn Morris
    Kathryn Morris
    • Lizzie Woods
    Ryan Cutrona
    Ryan Cutrona
    • Agent Dexter
    Joe McCrackin
    • Agent Williams
    Scoot Powell
    • Noah
    J. Scott Shonka
    J. Scott Shonka
    • Captain Coddington
    Jim Curley
    Jim Curley
    • Admiral Miller
    • (as James Curly)
    Rigg Kennedy
    • Howard
    James Handy
    James Handy
    • Lancaster…
    Graham Galloway
    Graham Galloway
    • George Carvelli…
    John Cirigliano
    • Martin Keller
    • Director
      • Rod Lurie
    • Writer
      • Rod Lurie
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The combination to unlock the nuclear suitcase is 08061945 (August 6, 1945), which is the date the United States dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.
    • Goofs
      The President sends a B-2 Spirit bomber, however when shown the bomber is definitely a F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter
    • Quotes

      President Walter Emerson: I didn't say anything about abort mission, I said hold position. Don't play your fucking game with me admiral!

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Erin Brockovich/Onegin/Final Destination/Deterrence (2000)
    • Soundtracks
      Ghosts
      Written by Noah Stone

      Performed by Noah Stone

    User reviews85

    Review
    Top review
    Should have been better than it was
    Overall, the film is pretty good for a low budget FAIL SAFE set in a diner, though I have to admit that I'm glad I saw it on a screening video rather than on the big screen. It plays well, as a good made for cable movie, but not as a big screen feature. The entire film is set in one interior location with the only visual images of the outside world coming from television broadcasts that the characters watch in the diner. A film can be done well shot in one location, as Hitchcock proved, but writer/director Rod Lurie isn't quite up to the challenge and the film sometimes feels sluggish. The film opens with a montage of clips of speeches by former presidents, and one future fictitious one, decrying war, intercut with a view of Earth from space, as the opening credits come up. For some pretentious reason the first five minutes of the film, setting up the support characters in the diner, is shot in black and white and only switches to color with the entrance of the president (Pollak) and his entourage. The locals who inhabit this Diner are one-dimensional stereotypes. There is the weathered and wise old black cook, the ignorant racist trucker, and the dizzy French Canadian waitress. We only know that she's French Canadian because one of the patrons identifies her accent, though her accent shifts back and forth from Southern drawl to a Midwest (Fargo) accent. The film would have been a lot better had these characters been erased from the screenplay all together. Perhaps it had to be set in a diner because the budget couldn't cover a war room or White House set. The crisis story is believable and much of the dialogue between the president and his advisors is well written. Timothy Hutton, as the president's old friend and advisor, has a nice short monologue about the Los Alamos tests and the destruction of Baghdad that does more to evoke the scale of the situation than anything else in the film does. To be fair to the film, I watched it a twice before jotting this down. There was a twist at the end of the film that I thought was out of place the first time I saw it that made sense upon my second viewing. The president has an ace up his sleeve and I thought it was preposterous that he would hold back information from his staff just so the film could surprise the audience at the end. But on second viewing I saw where he advises his staff off screen away from the other characters. Stock footage is used often, and usually pretty well, during the news reports that come into the diner. Though sometimes they should have avoided using stock footage all together. (An F117 is not a B2 bomber and the detonation footage from the Bikini Atoll has been used a thousand times already and detracts from the emotional impact of the moment) It's a fairly clever script that would do well, minus some of the support characters, as a one-act play. It's definitely worth renting when it comes out on video. As for seeing it in the theaters…it's good to see studios like Paramount putting out small original films like this…but I wish it could have been done better for the big screen.
    helpful•10
    6
    • Brendan3
    • Feb 28, 2000

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 10, 2000 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Amenaza nuclear
    • Production companies
      • Battleplan Productions
      • Moonstone Entertainment
      • TF1 International
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $800,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $145,071
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $23,318
      • Mar 12, 2000
    • Gross worldwide
      • $145,071
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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