''Best Defense'' is a 1984 American

action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...

, starring

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. He first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-perf ...

and

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

. The original music score was composed by Patrick Williams. It was released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. The film follows the lives of two different characters, who never interact. One of the two sub-plots involves an engineer who tries to develop a new

gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining Orientation (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in ...

for tanks, and eventually uses the design plans of a murdered competitor. The other subplot involves a tank commander who accidentally wanders into a war zone while trying to navigate a poorly designed tank. The film was released on July 20, 1984, grossing a total of $19 million at the box office, and received negative reviews from critics.

Plot

The film takes place as two parallel plots separated by a couple of years: In 1982, Wylie Cooper (Moore) is an engineer developing a

targeting system Targeting is the process of selecting objects or installations to be attacked, taken, or destroyed in warfare. Targeting systematically analyzes and prioritizes targets and matches appropriate lethal and nonlethal actions to those targets to crea ...

on a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. In 1984, Murphy is US Army Lt. T.M. Landry, an American tank commander sent to

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

to demonstrate the "XM-10 Annihilator," America's latest

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

, which is equipped with Cooper's system. Because of the tank's poor design and shoddy construction, Landry and his crew are barely able to control or navigate the XM-10 before it leaves the proving grounds and wanders into a combat zone during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Cooper and Landry never directly interact during the film, but the plot shows how the decisions made by Cooper affect Landry's tank. Cooper, an engineer for a troubled

defense contractor A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military or intelligence department of a government. Products typically include military or civilian aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and ...

, is in charge of designing the "DYP-gyro," a

for the army's new tank. The company's future hinges on the success of the project. Cooper's gyro fails a crucial test, dooming the company. Downtrodden, Cooper later crosses paths with another engineer named Frank Holtzman (Noonan) who has also designed a DYP-gyro. Holtzman, fearful of what will happen in his meeting with Jeff (Rasche), a deep-cover KGB agent, secretly hides the plans in Cooper's briefcase. After Holtzman is murdered, Cooper discovers the plans. Cooper's co-worker and best friend Steve Loparino (Dzundza) later puts Cooper's name on the plans, and when the "new" gyro works, Cooper is hailed for saving the company. In 1984, Landry's tank comes under fire from Iraqi jets, leading Landry to plead that he does not belong in this war, shouting "I'm from

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

!" at the attacking planes. Back in 1982, Cooper is contacted by Jeff who tries to obtain the DYP plans. The

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, knowing that Cooper took credit for somebody else's work, forces him to act as bait for Jeff in a set-up operation. The set-up nearly fails - Jeff is killed during a gun battle, and Cooper himself is shot. Realizing his mortality while being put on an ambulance, Cooper confesses to Clair (Shaver), an attractive co-worker, that he stole the DYP. This triggers an angry response from Clair and also from his wife Laura (Capshaw) who, arriving on the scene, realizes that Cooper has been cheating on her. Surviving the bullet, Cooper receives even worse news from a co-worker: the DYP-gyro he claimed credit for will not work, because it will cause overheating in the WAM, another critical component, crippling the tank's fire control and, in a combat situation, dooming the tank. The film reaches its climax in a sequence weaving between 1982 when a more conscientious Cooper, having recovered, confronts his employers about the flaws in the DYP, while in 1984, Landry attempts to fire the main gun while under attack by an Iraqi

gunship A gunship is a military aircraft armed with heavy aircraft guns, primarily intended for attacking ground targets either as airstrike or as close air support. In modern usage the term "gunship" refers to fixed-wing aircraft having laterally-mo ...

. As had been predicted, the DYP causes failure in the WAM, suggesting that Wylie's protest was ignored. Instead, the camera cuts to the innards and shows that the DYP has been redesigned according to an idea that Cooper had in 1982 while fixing one of his son's toys. The redesign works, enabling the tank's air defense rockets to launch and destroy the Iraqi gunship. The film ends with Cooper and Landry as heroes in their respective jobs.

Cast

as Wylie Cooper *

as Lieutenant T.M. Landry * Kate Capshaw as Laura Cooper * George Dzundza as Steve Loparino *

Helen Shaver Helen Shaver (born February 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress and film and television director. After appearing in a number of Canadian movies, she received a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress for her performance in the romantic drama '' In P ...

as Clair Lewis * Mark Arnott as Harvey Brank * Peter Michael Goetz as Frank Joyner * Tom Noonan as Frank Holtzman *

David Rasche David Rasche ( ;) (born August 7, 1944) is an American theater, film, and television actor who is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the 1980s satirical police sitcom '' Sledge Hammer!''. Since then he has often played characte ...

as Jeff the KGB Agent * Paul Comi as Chief Agent * John Hostetter as Quirk, Dynatechincs

Production

The film did not originally feature

's character, and was solely a

film. The film's preview screenings were received poorly, and the studio suggested filming a role for Murphy, who was at the peak of his popularity. Murphy's part was almost completely unconnected from the rest of the film, and his character never even comes into contact with any of the main cast. There had been a scene filmed during the re-shoots which featured Moore and Murphy's characters meeting, but it was cut from the film. Additionally, several other scenes that were important to the original plot were cut in order to fit the newly shot scenes with Murphy into the film, thus contributing to the film's poor reception and reputation as a "meandering mess."

Reception

The movie received negative reviews from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. It opened strong at No. 2 behind ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

'' with $7.8 million but quickly lost steam, and grossed a disappointing $19.2 million. It was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Picture, losing to ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

''. The immense losses suffered by theater owners on the film led to the outlawing of blind bidding contracts in Pennsylvania and the overall decline of the practice. When Murphy hosted ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' about five months after the film was released, he admitted in his opening monologue that he knew the film was awful and did it for the money: "After I did '' 48 Hours'' and ''

Trading Places ''Trading Places'' is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod. Starring Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the film te ...

'', all these scripts started coming from everywhere, and I picked up a script called ''Best Defense''. There's a movie that sucked real bad! At first, I wasn't going to do it because I read the script, and I felt like I was an actor at first. But the money they gave me to do ''Best Defense'', y'all would have done ''Best Defense'' too, OK? ... I was like, 'What?! How dare you give me a script like this! Oh, that much money? Let's go!' ''Best Defense'' turned out to be the worst movie ever done in the history of anything, and all of a sudden, I wasn't that hot no more. So, I called up the producer of ''Saturday Night Live'', and I go, 'Um, you still got my dressin' room?'" Footage of David Rasche from this film was successfully used as a screen test for his lead role in the 1986 comedy TV series '' Sledge Hammer!''

References

External links