Movie Review: Deadline (1987)

Also Known As: War Zone; Witness In The War Zone  

Genre: War Drama  

Director: Nathaniel Gutman  

Starring: Christopher Walken  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: The setting is 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon to oust the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). American television reporter Don Stevens (Christopher Walken) arrives in Beirut and meets Mike Jessop (Hywel Bennett), another veteran jaded foreign correspondent. Don's plan to sit out the war drinking in his hotel room is disrupted when he is selected to interview a high-ranking PLO official, who makes a bombshell announcement. Don finds himself at the centre of a storm in a lawless city, with numerous factions locked into a volatile, violent, and increasingly vicious conflict.

What Works Well: This relatively low budget Israeli production carries echoes of other journalists-in-war dramas from the era, including Salvador, Under Fire, and The Year Of Living Dangerously. Director Nathaniel Gutman captures Beirut's anarchy during the Israeli invasion, with the potential for death around every corner and various militias competing for control of destroyed city blocks. The script just about maintains coherence, impressively capturing shadowy machinations while drawing upon actual events including the PLO withdrawal from Beirut, the explosion that assassinated a president-elect, and subsequent massacres at Palestinian refugee camps.  

What Does Not Work As Well: Christopher Walken is a lanky presence as a generally disinterested reporter, but the characterizations are flimsy and the cast underpowered. Some of the plot points are beyond credible, and in the second half Stevens appears to cheat death or benefit from wild coincidences every few minutes. The budget limitations are generally patched-up, but narrative choppiness and sub-par audio quality persist.

Key Quote:

Mike Jessop (talking to Don Sevens): This is Beirut. No one needs a reason to kill anyone. Here you don't kill who you want. You kill who you can.

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