''Twilight's Last Gleaming'' is a 1977
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
directed by
Robert Aldrich
Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His notable credits include '' Vera Cruz'' (1954), '' Kiss Me Deadly'' (1955), '' The Big Knife'' (1955), '' Autumn ...
and starring
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
and
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, ''Kiss of Death'' (1947) ...
. The film was a West German/American
co-production, shot mainly at the
Bavaria Studios
Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film.
History
The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the F ...
.
Loosely based on a 1971 novel, ''Viper Three'' by
Walter Wager
Walter Herman Wager (September 4, 1924 – July 11, 2004) was an American crime and espionage-thriller novelist and former editor-in-chief of '' Playbill'' magazine. The movie '' Telefon'', starring Charles Bronson, was inspired by his novel of ...
, it tells the story of Lawrence Dell, a renegade
USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
general who escapes from a
military prison
A military prison is a prison operated by a military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and member ...
and takes over an
ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...
silo in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
, threatening to launch the missiles and start
World War III
World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...
unless the President reveals a top secret document to the American people about the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
A
split screen
Split screen may refer to:
* Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts
* Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen
* ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001
* Split-Screen Level, a bug in the vid ...
technique is used at several points in the movie to give the audience insight into the simultaneously occurring strands of the storyline. The film's title, which functions on several levels, is taken from "
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the ...
", the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
:
:''O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, / What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?''
Plot
After escaping from a military prison, rogue Air Force General Lawrence Dell and accomplices Powell, Garvas, and Hoxey infiltrate a
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
ICBM complex that Dell helped design. Their goal is to gain control over its nine
Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
nuclear missiles. The infiltration does not go as planned, as the impulsive Hoxey guns down an Air Force guard for trying to answer a ringing phone. Dell then shoots and kills Hoxey. The three then make direct contact with the US government (avoiding any media attention) and demand a $10 million ransom and that the President go on national television and make public the contents of a top-secret document.
The document, which is unknown to the current president but not to certain members of his cabinet, contains conclusive proof that the US government knew there was no realistic hope of winning the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
but continued fighting for the sole purpose of demonstrating to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
their unwavering commitment to defeating Communism.
Meanwhile, Dell and his two remaining men remove the security countermeasures to the launch control system and gain full control over the complex.
While the President and his Cabinet debate the practical, political, personal, and ethical aspects of agreeing to the demands, they also authorize the military to send an elite team led by General MacKenzie to penetrate the ICBM complex and incinerate its command center with a low-yield
tactical nuclear device. Just as the device is about to be set, the commando team accidentally trips an alarm, alerting Dell to their operation. A furious Dell responds by initiating the launch sequence for all nine missiles. As the military and President Stevens watch the underground missile silo launch covers begin to open, they agree to call off the attempt and the launch is aborted with mere seconds to spare. During this time, the captive Air Force guards attempt to overpower Dell and his men, resulting in the death of Garvas and another guard.
Eventually, the President agrees to meet the demands, which include allowing himself to be taken hostage and used as a
human shield
A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The use of human shields as a resistance measure was popula ...
while Dell and Powell make their escape from the complex. As the President leaves the White House, he asks the
Secretary of Defense
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...
to release the document should he be killed in the process. US Air Force snipers take aim and shoot both Dell and Powell, but also accidentally shoot the President, who with his dying breath asks the Secretary of Defense if he will release the document. The Secretary cannot bring himself to answer.
Cast
*
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
as General Lawrence Dell
*
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, ''Kiss of Death'' (1947) ...
as General Martin MacKenzie
*
Charles Durning as President David Stevens
*
Melvyn Douglas
Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy ''Ninotchk ...
as Secretary of Defense Guthrie
*
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sab ...
as Secretary of State Renfrew
*
Paul Winfield as Willis Powell
*
Burt Young
Gerald Tommaso DeLouise (born April 30, 1940), known professionally as Burt Young, is an American actor, author and painter. He played Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino in the ''Rocky'' film series. He was nominated for ...
as Augie Garvas
*
Richard Jaeckel as Lieutenant Colonel Sandy Towne
*
Roscoe Lee Browne
Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and director. He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward ...
as James Forrest
*
William Marshall as Attorney General Klinger
*
Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Gerald Stuart O'Loughlin Jr. (December 23, 1921 – July 31, 2015) was an American television, stage, and film actor and director who was primarily known for playing tough-talking and rough-looking characters. He is best known for Ed Ryker on ''T ...
as Brigadier General O'Rourke
*
Leif Erickson as Ralph Whittaker
*
Charles Aidman
Charles Leonard Aidman (January 21, 1925 – November 7, 1993) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Early life
Aidman was born in Frankfort, Indiana, the son of George E. and Etta (Kwitny) Aidman. Aidman graduated from Frank ...
as Bernstein
*
Charles McGraw as Air Force General Crane
*
William Smith as Hoxey
*
Simon Scott as General Phil Spencer
*
Morgan Paull
Morgan Paull (December 15, 1944 – July 17, 2012) was an American actor most notable for playing Dave Holden in the Ridley Scott film ''Blade Runner''.
Early life
Morgan Paull was born to a wealthy family in Wheeling, West Virginia and ...
as First Lieutenant Louis Cannellis
*
Bill Walker Bill Walker may refer to:
Australian rules football
* Bill A. Walker (1886–1934), Australian rules footballer for Essendon
* Bill Walker (Australian footballer, born 1883) (1883–1971), Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy
* Bill J. V. Wal ...
as Willard
* David Baxt as Sergeant Willard
* Glenn Beck as Lieutenant
*
Ed Bishop
George Victor Bishop (11 June 1932 – 8 June 2005), known professionally as Ed Bishop or sometimes Edward Bishop, was an American actor. He was known for playing Commander Ed Straker in ''UFO'', Captain Blue in '' Captain Scarlet and the Myst ...
as Major Fox
*
Phil Brown as Reverend Cartwright
* Gary Cockrell as Captain Jackson
*
Don Fellows as General Stonesifer
* Weston Gavin as Lieutenant Wilson
*
Garrick Hagon as Alfie, The Driver
* Elizabeth Halliday as Stonesifer's Secretary
*
David Healy as Major Winters
* Thomasine Heiner as Nurse Edith
*
William Hootkins
William Michael "Hoot"Austin Mutti-MewseObituary: William Hootkins ''The Guardian'', November 14, 2005, accessed December 13, 2012. Hootkins (July 5, 1948 – October 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for supporting roles in Hollywood b ...
as Sergeant Fitzpatrick (as Bill Hootkins)
*
Ray Jewers
Ray Jewers (15 October 1945 – 3 October 1993) was a Canadian actor.
Filmography
Film
* ''Twilight's Last Gleaming'' (1977) as Sgt. Domino
* '' A Bridge Too Far'' (1977) as U.S. radio operator
* '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) as USS Wayn ...
as Sergeant Domino
* Ron Lee as Sergeant Rappaport
* Robert Sherman as Major LeBeau
*
John Ratzenberger
John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)[About John](_blank)
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...
as Sergeant Kopecki
* Robert MacLeod as State Trooper Chambers
*
Lionel Murton as Colonel Horne
* Robert O'Neil as Briefing Officer
*
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer (born Shane Lance Deacon; May 28, 1929 – March 29, 2019) was a Canadian actor and screenwriter who spent the majority of his career in the United Kingdom. The self-proclaimed "Rent-A-Yank" of the British entertainment industry, he ...
as Colonel Alexander B. Franklin
* Pamela Roland as Sergeant Kelly
*
Mark Russell
Mark Russell (born August 23, 1932) is an American political satirist and comedian. He is best known for his series of semimonthly comedy specials on PBS television between 1975 and 2004. His routines were a mix of political stand-up humor cover ...
as Airman Mendez
* Rich Steber as Captain Kincaid
* Drew W. Wesche as Lieutenant Witkin
* Kent O. Doering as Barker
* Allan Dean Moore as Sperling, Sharpshooter
*
M. Phil Senini as Sharpshooter
* Rick Demarest as Sparrow
* Gary Harper as Air Force Sergeant Andy Keen
Production
Development
''Viper Three'' by Walter Wager was published in 1971. Film rights were purchased that year by Lorimar Productions.
Lorimar were known for making TV series like ''
The Waltons
''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...
'' and ''
Eight is Enough
''Eight Is Enough'' is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who ...
'' and TV movies like ''
Sybil
Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece.
Sybil or Sibyl may also refer to:
Films
* ''Sybil'' (1921 film)
* ''Sybil'' (1976 film), a film starring Sally Field
* ''Sybil'' (2007 film), a remake of the 19 ...
'' and ''
Helter Skelter''. They wanted to move into feature film production and ''Twilight's Last Gleaming''as it would be knownwould be their first.
According to Aldrich, Lorimar "couldn't get it
film of the novelfinanced. Every actor in town had seen itincluding Burt Lancaster... If you hadn't already seen it, you were going to see it. Or you knew one or two pictures that were kind of like it... There was no social impact. The kidnappers had no interesting motivation. The reasons they wanted to get the President weren't even PLO-type reasons. They just wanted the money. That didn't seem to me to make much sense."
["I CAN'T GET JIMMY CARTER TO SEE MY MOVIE!"
Aldrich, Robert. Film Comment; New York Vol. 13, Iss. 2, (Mar/Apr 1977): 46-52.]
Lorimar took the project to Aldrich, who said he "wondered what would happen if you had an
Ellsberg mentality, if you had some command officer who came out of Vietnam and who was soured not by war protestors but by the misuse of the military... What would happen if you had a general who was angry at the political use of the armed forces?"
Aldrich told Lorimar he would do the film "if I could turn that story upside down".
Aldrich pitched his take on the material to
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
, who agreed to do the film.
Lancaster called the film "''
All the President's Men Part Two''... a very powerful political piece couched in highly melodramatic terms".
Financing
Lorimar took the project to a German company who agreed to put up two thirds of the budget. The finance came from German
tax shelter money.
Merv Adelson, head of Lorimar, described the movie as "the perfect formula picture... an action-adventure picture that appeals to the international market. Pre sell it to television and abroad. Have all our money back before it opens domestically."
[Small Movie Companies Gamble for 'One Big Hit': $50 Million Tied Up Depend on Distributors Different Kinds of Movies Fears for the Future By ALJEAN HARMETZ New York Times 21 Mar 1981: 11.]
Adelson would later become disillusioned with this formula because the films did not achieve much critical acclaim, and if they did not perform domestically Lorimar did not make that much money out of them.
Casting
Lancaster and Aldrich thought the President could be a
John F. Kennedy type. Lancaster approached Paul Newman to play the role, but he was not enthusiastic. So, Aldrich reconfigured the character as a
Mayor Daley type politician.
Script
The writers Ronald M. Cohen and Edward Huebsch wrote the script together over six weeks. Aldrich called it "the most unlikely marriage in the world. Huebsch's a little wizened old man, sixty-two, sixty-three years old, been in the political wars for forty years, probably the most knowledgeable political analyst in town - or at least up there with Abe Polonsky and Ring Lardner. And Cohen is a loud-mouthed, extroverted, young, smart-ass guy who knows that he votes Democratic... an extraordinarily gifted writer in terms of what people say and how they say it.
The script was originally 350 pages.
"If that movie's anti-American so is
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
," said Aldrich. "The most inflammatory statement in the movie is that it opts for open government."
Split Screen
Aldrich decided to use split screen and multiple panels. "I don't particularly like panels unless they're in a bread commercial. But I thought they fitted that particular movie. They cost me an extra half a year - half a year. But you couldn't tell that story in less than three hours without them."
Aldrich normally used Joseph Biroc as cinematographer but Biroc's wife fell ill before shooting so Aldrich used Robert Hauser.
Filming
Filming took place in Munich in August 1976.
Several scenes were shot with
Vera Miles
Vera June Miles (née Ralston, born August 23, 1929) is an American retired actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, most notably as Lila Crane in the classic 1960 film '' Psycho'', reprising the role in the 1983 sequel '' Psycho II'' ...
as the president's wife but were cut to save time.
Aldrich said he hoped the audience came to realise that the Lancaster character was crazy. "But I don't think we did it. The audience is so much for those guys getting away with it." He also did not feel it was ambiguous enough at the end as to whether the shooting of the president was intentional.
Reception
James Monaco wrote that ''Twilight's Last Gleaming'' "don't do much but play with paranoia".
Release
The film did
poorly at the box office.
In France it recorded admissions of 88,945.
[French box office results for Robert Aldrich films](_blank)
at Box Office Story
It was unsuited for videocassettes, because the split-screen effects do not work well in low resolution of that format. After the rights reverted to the film's German co-producers, a major remastering effort was done by Bavaria Media, who released a
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
edition, distributed in the United States by Olive Films in 2012.
See also
*''
Seven Days in May
''Seven Days in May'' is a 1964 American political thriller film about a military-political cabal's planned takeover of the United States government in reaction to the president's negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The ...
'' also stars Burt Lancaster as an Air Force general and ringleader of a group of U.S. Military leaders plotting a coup against the President.
References
External links
*
*
{{Robert Aldrich
1977 films
1970s thriller films
Allied Artists films
American thriller films
Cold War films
English-language German films
Films about fictional presidents of the United States
Films about nuclear war and weapons
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Robert Aldrich
Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith
Films set in Montana
Films shot at Bavaria Studios
Films shot in Germany
American heist films
West German films
American neo-noir films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films