Product Details

• Actors: Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen, Fulton Mackay
• Directors: David Drury
• Writers: Martin Stellman
• Producers: David Puttnam, Lynda Myles, Robin Douet
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: May 4, 1999
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792840917
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #334,023 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the politically charged atmosphere of Margaret Thatcher's Britain, newspaper reporters are hungry for the big story that will make them stars and their newspapers famous. Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne in his first starring role) is one such reporter for the London Daily Dispatch. A top member of Parliament (Ian Bannen) is the focus of the latest political scandal: he has been photographed with a prostitute who is known to have Russian contacts. Nick barrels into the scandal full-bore, despite warnings from his mentor (a deft Denholm Elliott). Nick receives a tip that makes his story a front-page item and he quickly becomes a celebrity himself. But as he soon discovers, there is much more to the story than he imagined. Director David Drury (Prime Suspect 3) keeps this highly complex, John le Carré-esque story moving swiftly. The clues are hard to find at times, but it is not because the story is told unclearly; rather, the filmmakers have decided that audiences can think for themselves and piece together the information along with Nick. An overlooked and truly entertaining thinking person's film. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute cracker, March 19, 2000

By 

Glyn Davies (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defense of the Realm [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The showbiz adage of 'never work with children or animals' was, within the British film industry, extended to 'never work with children, animals or Denholm Elliot'. He was, rightly, labelled a 'scene stealer' and with his passing, one of the 'true stars' were lost.

Gabrielle Byrne and Greta Scacchi star in this 1984 UK film, but the film, despite featuring a young Robbie Coltrane ( Cracker ), is forever Elliot's. Massively underrated, this film is a powerful indictment of the true 'powers that be'. Governments come and governments go, but the engine room remains in place, along with the stokers.

Is this a political thriller, a journalistic thriller, a shadowy thriller even - scary too, maybe ?. Probably all and more besides. It's very taut, very fast, very complex and, perhaps, very true to life ( the scary bit ). Underhand and double dealing are rife and little mercy is shown to the designated stooges. Elliot, as Vernon Bayliss, suffers no fools here and realising the enormity of the truth and confiding in nobody, pays a heavy price for his refusal to be swept along with the tide of seemingly incontrovertible proofs. Perhaps Fox Mulder saw this film and coined 'trust no-one' from Elliots' performance.

What is sure, though, is that a field day awaits conspiracy theorists who watch this. There is no sex, no violence and no profanity and I defy anyone to watch this film only once.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One you missed at the theatre., December 9, 2003

By 

Phil Watkins "wadcorp" (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defense of the Realm (DVD)

Saw this little gem when it originally was released theatrically. Needless to say, I was impressed.

Starring a terrific Gabriel Byrne (does this guy ever age?), it is a very tight story of a newspaper reporter (Byrne) who comes across a story of a Member of Parliament having an affair with a prostitute, who is also seeing a KGB agent.

But things are much more complex than they initially appear, and it becomes a much thicker paranoia thiller (one of my favourite themes). If you liked "The Parallax View" (1974) - or favour conspiracy theories - then you'll like this very British effort.

Watch for the gaggle of reporters camped on the Minister's doorstep. Durning the scene, a car backs into one of the reports, knocking him down. It is never explained...

The DVD transfer is exceptional, though in typical MGM fashion, there are no extras except for the original trailer.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thinking person's movie, November 23, 2003

By 

cmc (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Defense of the Realm (DVD)

Fast moving all too credible movie showing dealing with the issue of press freedom versus what should be considered secrets of the state.
Great casting. This is a gem that is surprisingly little known.