Product Details

• Actors: Sean Astin, John Cirigliano, Clotilde Courau, Jim Curley, Ryan Cutrona
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: August 29, 2000
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792165209
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,028 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Deterrence" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Deterrence offers a welcome throwback to such sweaty-palmed chamber pieces as Fail-Safe and Twelve Angry Men, and in his debut as writer-director, Rod Lurie, a West Point graduate and former film critic, has crafted a taut, one-set drama that would have been ideal for live television. With its provocative what-if scenario and a sharp cast confined to a claustrophobic space, this movie's more clever than coherent, but it grabs your attention for 103 briskly paced minutes.

The year is 2008, and U.S. President Walter Emerson (Kevin Pollak) has something to prove. He wasn't elected (he took office upon the death of the previous president), and he needs a pivotal boost in a current primary election. While he and his entourage are trapped under heavy snowfall in a tiny Colorado diner, Emerson must decide whether to unleash a nuclear arsenal on the son of Saddam Hussein, who has invaded Kuwait and taken hundreds of American lives. With his chief of staff (Timothy Hutton), top advisers, and a cluster of terrified diners, Emerson sorts through his options as tensions come to a boil.

This all works well on the surface, and Deterrence gains depth by depicting a president who is potentially as evil as his unseen enemy. But the film is almost fatally vague (clearly Lurie wants viewers to bring their own interpretation to these events) and ends with a twist that's too contrived to be dramatically satisfying. Until that point, however, Deterrence will certainly keep you engaged. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OY! Guess who's the next Pres?, September 1, 2000

By	Pedro A. Pla-Davila (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

Call it dejá vu. When I first saw the previews to this movie I was hooked on its premise. First Jewish U.S. president (Hmm... Don't we have a Jewish VP candidate...? Weapons of Mass Destruction, a Middle East crisis, nukes...and the occupant of the Oval Office is stuck in a... I won't spoil it! It's a really great flick. You'll approach the ending with an air of disbelief. Though its end is a little unorthodox for the type of movie, "Deterrence" turns out to be a great yarn. If you're into good acting, good drama (based on real life, by the way) and international affairs, THIS,! is the DVD to buy. Call it, "Primary Colors" meets Kubric's "Dr. Strangelove." I highly recommend it.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST POLITICAL THRILLERS IN YEARS, August 16, 2001

By	David A. Coughlin "surrealdave" (BROCKTON, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Deterrence [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you love political thrillers like 7 Days in May, Failsafe, The Bedford Incident, ect. then you will throughly enjoy Deterrence.Its basically set in a roadside diner where the dialogue and the suspense are the center of the movie, not special effects.It is very similar in that regard to 12 Angry Men.The movie begins with Kevin Pollack (a good character actor) as the new President of the United States, swinging through Colorado during the capaign primary there when he, his advisers, secret service detail ect. get holed up in a diner when a blizzard strikes..While there, he learns from CNN on the Tv there that the son of Saddam Hussein has overrun U.S. positions in the middle east and is going to again invade Kuwait and Saudi Arabia..Since its Saddam's son you know this is the future, 2008 but every other detail in the movie is strictly current era, i.e. no ray guns..Anyway, the President is stuck in this diner, and has to fight this crisis with only 4 secure cell phones at his disposal, repel massive Iraqi armored divisions while all the U.S. forces are tied down in Korea in a crisis there..This is the beginning of the movie and the brinksmanship between leaders, and countries which threatens global thermo-nuclear war.If you love political thrillers like the ones mentioned above then you will lovbe this film too..It was made by a first time director and graduate of West Point..It got overlooked at the theatre and on video by mainstream people.It has become an underground or cult classic with intelligent people who enjoy suspenseful thrillers that don't have to cost 200 million dollars to make..This movie is almost a throwback to the classic cold war thrillers of the 50's and 60's when good acting, writing, and directing was emphasized rather than big explosions.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fanciful plot developments but well done, September 10, 2000

By	D. Thomas Longo Jr. (Delmar, MD USA) - See all my reviews

The Vice President has become President by appointment a la former President Ford. He has been President only four months, and is campaigning for election for the first time in his own right. In Colorado during primary season, a blizzard maroons him and his small entourage in a diner. Then, stuff hits the fan in another part of the world possibly presaging major nuclear calamity. How does he handle it?

That is the plot premise and the story unfolds well-acted and grippingly. It was like a book one can not put down. There are numerous byplays - the Secret Service and the people in the diner, the President and his staff, the Prez and foreign heavies, the press, and so forth. A low-budget affair, shot almost entirely in that diner and with nil whiz-bang special effects, writing and acting carry the day.

Yes, what happens in this tale stretches the imagination, and only for that reason do I give this film four stars vice five. Still, if you like stories which grab and hold you, this compact film is worth your time.