War Zone

The movie was not shot in Lebanon and the scenes of Beirut hotels were unrealistic. Slap a sign on the front of a facade to make it look like a Beirut hotel was laughable. Very few of the scenery resemble Beirut scenery. Even the license plates on cars were not always accurate. This work resembles a low budget movie.

My review was written in July 1987 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.

"Deadline" is a stilted topoical thriller about Middle East politics and violence. Told in the already overused format of a cynical journalist caught in a hotbed of conflicting factions ("Under Fire", "Salvador", Volker Schlondorff's "Circle of Deceit"), subject matter is intrinsically interesting but deadened by the lackluster direction of Israeli helmer Nathanil Gutman.

Christopher Walken has almost a one-man show as a cavalier correspondent for fictitious ABS news, dispatched to Beirut in 1983, fresh from covering a European fashion show. Though scoffed at by the longtime hnds on the scene, especially even more cynical Brit reporter Hywel Bennett, Walken quickly scores a coup by getting an exclusive interview with PLO moderate Yessin, who declares on auditotape that the PLO should have renounced terrorism as a policy long ago. Coming onthe eve of Arafat and other PLO leaders leaving Beirut, story is a worldwide bombshell.

Unfortunately, it is soon revealed that Walken has been duped, having interviewed an imposter. As he scurries to unravel the mess, both the imposter (Bassam) and Yessin are murdered. Walken becomes a reluctant hero, caught between warring parties and trying to warn everyone befoe the Christian Phalangists carry out the massacre of folks in the Palestinian refugee camps. Nobody trusts or believes this Cassandra and in a phony conclusion Walken walks away unscathed from the melee replete with exclusive footage of the massacre.

Walken tries to pep up the surprisingly bland proceedings with an exercise in method acting, an understandable solution to the problem of playing scenes with a monotone, sleepwalking supporting cas. His acting comes off merely as forced, with Hywel Bennett getting a few laughs as his foil. Local Israeli cast is dullsville.

Gutman directs limply, conjuuring up a couple of arresting imaes, such as an array of corpses laid out neatly when Walken goes to identify Bassam, but generally using bright, even lighting tha conveys no atmosphere at all. The concept of sudden violence breking out in an otherwise placid scene was done with far better effect in "Under Fire".

Tech credits are competent at a B-movie level. Picture was filmed under the title "Warf Zone", with British-based Yank Mark Forstater listed as producer, though his name has disappeared from the final screen credits.

It's probably fair to say that who ever reviewed this film in the first place was just being irresponsible. Deadline is in no way shape or form a documentary. If it were, maybe that would have made it a little more interesting.

The basic premise is, Walken, a journalist amidst a war is set up and fed false information. The information then ends up making national headlines. As the result, 'ace reporter" Don Stevens' reputation is on the line. Stationed in Beirut he has only till the end of the movie to save his reputation and present "good" news.

It's kind of confusing, and not much else happens. I found it interesting in that the Palestinians were not portrayed as savage terrorists, like most films from this era but that's about all. Deadline is no "Endless Night" or "Murder Elite" but then again, nothing ever is.

Pair Deadline up with Salvador and you might have a hot double feature, maybe just don't play Salvador first.

I was very disappointed while seeing this film, it contains awful historical mistakes, it alters the reality, it is completely different from the facts of war we have lived, its only purpose is to embellish the israeli invasion of LEBANON. The film settings resemble in no way the LEBANESE geography, and the script doesn't fit the LEBANESE local dialects. This films drops off the initial problem which is that the israelis are the ones who took the homes of the Palestinian and sent them to LEBANON and it focuses only on the militia financed by the israeli government. I watched this film, I consider it wasted 2 hours of my time, and I don't recommend it for viewers with scarce knowledge of the middle east problem and I consider it a racist movie classifying the Palestinian as a second class human who have no right to claim back their homes stolen by the israelis.

Back when Deadline was playing at the movies I went to see it with my husband. I have been a Christopher Walken fan for a long time. It really was a very good documentary in a way. But I rented it again about 2 years ago for my analysis of Hywel Bennett as an actor. I knew about Hywel's great ability as an actor from Shelly. I thought Hywel acted with a chip on his shoulders playing 2nd to Christopher Walken. He really looked and acted disgusted playing his role as the British reporter. It may be his personal life reflected through his acting. It was obvious to me as a great admirer of Hywel Bennett that he was in some kind of mental anguish. Perhaps like so many actors vanity got in the way of his professionalism.

It did not take me long to figure out that he had a face lift prior to being cast in Deadline. Before, when his face started to sag he held more heart into his roles. His acting has been superior to some American and British cast in other films such as "Endless Night", and "Murder Elite.

I'm writing a novel which I hope will some day soon be turned into a feature/future movie script. I hope someday I'll be able to get him casted as my main lead male for my novel. But, in the meantime he has to come out of his shell. He has Hollywood potential, but Hollywood has so far turned their backs on this veteran actor from Wales. Hywel take charge from here. Obviously you've let too many people give you professional advice which didn't work out to your expectations of a real Hollywood role call.

I have a dream of meeting this actor some day, but it will be under professional circumstances not as a fan Sincerely, Sakhu