Best Defense
| Best Defense | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Steven Chorney
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| Directed by | Willard Huyck |
| Produced by | Gloria Katz |
| Written by |
Robert Grossbach (novel Easy and Hard Ways Out) Willard Huyck Gloria Katz (screenplay) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Patrick Williams |
| Cinematography | Donald Peterman |
| Edited by | Sidney Wolinsky |
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Production
company |
Cinema Group Ventures
Eddie Murphy Productions |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$18,000,000 (est) |
| Box office | $19,265,302 (domestic) |
Best Defense is a 1984 American comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy. The original music score was composed by Patrick Williams. It was released by Paramount Pictures.
The movie takes place as two parallel plots separated by couple years: In 1982, Wylie Cooper (Moore), is an engineer developing a targeting system on a tank for the United States Army. In 1984, Murphy is US Army Lt. Landry, an American tank commander sent to Kuwait to demonstrate "XM-10 Annihilator", America's latest main battle tank, which is equipped with Cooper's system. Because of the tank's poor design and shoddy construction, Landry and his crew are barely able to control or navigate the XM-10 before it leaves the proving grounds and wanders into a combat zone during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait (an unintentional foreshadowing of the Gulf War that occurred six years after the release of the film).
Cooper and Landry never directly interact during the film, but the plot shows how the decisions made by Cooper affect Landry's tank. (A cut scene showed both Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy together, but was edited out from the final film.)
Cooper, an engineer for a troubled defense contractor, is in charge of designing the "DYP-gyro", a gyroscope for the army's new tank. The company's future hinges on the success of the project. Cooper's gyro fails a crucial test, dooming the company. Downtrodden, Cooper later crosses paths with another engineer who has also designed a DYP-gyro. When the other engineer dies, Wylie takes the plans. A co-worker claims later puts Wylie's name on the plans, and when the "new" gyro works, Wylie is hailed for saving the company.
In 1984, Landry's tank comes under fire from Iraqi jets, leading Landry to plead that he doesn't belong in this war, shouting "I'm from Cleveland!" at the attacking planes.
Back in 1982, Wylie is contacted by Jeff, a deep-cover KGB agent who tries to obtain the DYP plans. The FBI, knowing that Wylie took credit for somebody else's work, forces him to act as bait for Jeff in a set-up operation. The set-up nearly fails - Jeff is killed during a gun battle, and Wylie himself is shot. Realizing his mortality while being put on an ambulance, Wylie confesses to Clair, an attractive co-worker, that he stole the DYP. This triggers an angry response from Clair and also from his wife who, arriving on the scene, realizes that Wylie has been cheating on her. Surviving the bullet, Wylie receives even worse news from a co-worker: the DYP-gyro he claimed credit for won't work, because it will cause overheating in the WAM, another critical component, crippling the tank's fire control and, in a combat situation, dooming the tank.
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