Cheap Under Fire (DVD) (Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Gene Hackman) (Roger Spottiswoode) Price

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Customer Reviews of Under Fire

When the Frenchman (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) is about to be executed by the Sandinistas he says that Samoza is a butcher too, but in 20 years we will know who is right. It has been 20 years and we now know that the cause that this movie glorifies was a colossal failure. The fall of the Berlin wall made this film's perspective laughable. In recent years Nicaragua has been moving towards freer markets. So much for the revolution.

The passage of time has revealed the absurdity of how those who made this movie saw these events. Nolte, Harris, and Hackman delivered fine performances, but hindsight makes it hard to take this film seriously, as its producers obviously intended. You can watch these actors deliver fine performances in other films, so there is no need to entertain the absurd portrayal of Marxist inspired revolutionaries in Under Fire.

Thought-provoking look at war
This flick should have won a lot of oscars - for screenplay, direction, acting, cinematography and music. Nick Nolte, Joanna Cassidy and Gene Hackman are riveting as war zone journalists; Ed Harris plays a mercenary soldier just right, with hedonistic aplomb.

One interesting aspect that runs through the film is how multi-national corporations profit no matter who wins at war; they'll always be there reaping profits. Another long thread running through the film is how American foreign policy is designed to broaden and protect OUR interests without taking into wider consideration the impact we have on the citizens of other countries, particularly the developing countries or those nations governed by unpopular dictatorships.

I saw this flick 20 years ago and it's stayed with me ever since, the mark of a good movie. This film is what propelled me to earn degrees in international relations and journalism. Most films these days are for teenagers, but not this one. It's complex and thought-provoking and entertaining throughout. I want my wife to see it.

Danger, adventure and history. But romance is silly.
This 1983 film is about journalists in war-torn Nicaragua where President Somoza is losing his power to Sandinista guerillas. Nick Nolte, Joanna Cassidy and Gene Hackman are cast as the journalists. They all love the adventure of their assignments and view the wars as way to establish esteem by having a story on the cover of Time magazine. They're also involved in a love triangle. In the meantime there is the real tragedy of the war going on around them. Nick Nolte has to make some hard choices about his integrity and it made me think about what I might do in the same situation. Ed Harris is cast as an American mercenary and made me aware that such people really do exist.

There's danger and adventure and history here - all rolled up into one film. I just wish they left out the silly romance that slowed down the action. I was much more interested in the politics which seemed an over-simplified "good guys versus bad guys" story. All the actors did a competent job with the exception of Joanna Cassidy who tried hard but just wasn't believable. The cinematography was great though and really gave me a feeling of the place they were in. Some of the opening scenes were set in Africa, and these, too, were excellent.

I generally liked this film but stop short of giving it a high recommendation. I just couldn't care about the characters or the particular war in progress. Good but not great.