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Under Fire
Three U.S. journalists get too close to one another and their work in 1979 Nicaragua.
1983 · Directed by Roger Spottiswoode · 128 min · Drama · War · Screenplay in the scene database · 5 frames
Tagline
The first casualty of war is the truth.
Plot
Russell Price is a photojournalist covering a military conflict in Chad, where he runs into Oates, a mercenary he knows. Russell then returns to his hotel, where he attends a "Bon Voyage" party for his friend Alex Grazier, who is giving up covering foreign conflicts to take a lucrative job as a news anchor in New York. It is revealed that Russell is having an affair with Alex's girlfriend, fellow journalist Claire Stryder. Alex's article about the conflict in Chad is paired with Russell's photography to land a cover story in Time magazine.
The journalists then travel to Nicaragua to join the international press corps covering a conflict between the government of President Somoza and rebels led by Rafael, an underground figure who has never been photographed. Russell is arrested for no legitimate reason and spends a night in jail. He and Claire meet Marcel Jazy, a French spy who is closely connected to Somoza, who tips them off that they might find Rafael in León, even though the press corps believes the fighting is shifting to Masaya.
They go to León and cover an intense rooftop gun battle between rebels and government troops. Russell meets rebels led by Pedro who gives him a baseball to take to Dennis Martinez. After more fighting, Russell again meets Oates, who is now fighting for the Nicaraguan government. Afterwards, Oates shoots Pedro in the back, killing him, but Russell does not reveal Oates' location, in order to avoid picking a side in the conflict.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Ron Shelton, Clayton Frohman
- Cinematography: John Alcott
- Edited by: Mark Conte
- Music: Jerry Goldsmith
- Produced by: Jonathan T. Taplin
Cast
- Nick Nolte as Russell Price
- Gene Hackman as Alex Grazier
- Joanna Cassidy as Claire
- Ed Harris as Oates
- Jean-Louis Trintignant as Marcel Jazy
- Richard Masur as Hub Kittle
- Alma Martinez as Isela
- René Enríquez as President Anastasio Somoza
- Hamilton Camp as Regis Seydor
- Jenny Gago as Miss Panama
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: Spanish, English, Japanese
- Studios: Orion Pictures
- Themes: husband wife relationship, war correspondent, 1970s, revolution, war photographer, nicaragua
More by Roger Spottiswoode
On this film
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