4 Star

Bunkers, Bombs and the White House.

From celebrated director Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, The Flight of the Phoenix) comes the shiny Blu-ray edition of this tense post Vietnam War and in the midst of the Cold War film.

November 1981 and President David T. Stevens (Charles Durning, The Sting, Tootsie) has to turn down a request from an old friend.

Whilst in Montana three escaped convicts stop and commandeer a military pickup truck. The leader is former General Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster, The Train, Conversation piece, From Here to Eternity) and with him are Willis Powell (Paul Winfield, The Terminator, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan), Augie Garvas (Burt Young, Rocky) and Hoxey (William Smith, Conan: The Barbarian).

There has been meticulous planning and the four escapees manage to reach their objective and gain entry to Silo 3, a US Army ICBM secret installation in rural Montana.

Once inside they secure the base but have to lose Hoxey as he is a loose cannon. Dell knows everything to do with Silo 3 as he helped design and build the system. Once inside the control room deep in the depths of the Earth his plan fires into action.

The White House is informed that General Dell has at his fingertips nine nuclear missiles and he has demands that shake the President and his aids to the core. It is down to Gen. Martin MacKenzie (Richard Widmark, The Alamo, Pickup on South Street) to sort this messy situation out.

This film is one that was overlooked when it came out in 1977, but it is an intense political thriller that will have the conspiracy theorist in you questioning what really did happen back in the Vietnam War. Lancaster is superb as the steady thinking hostage taker as he deals with all the Presidents men.

Special Features:

·         High-definition digital restoration

·         Uncompressed PCM audio on the Blu-ray

·         English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

·         Aldrich Over Munich Robert Fischer’s feature length documentary on the making of Twilight’s Last Gleaming

·         A 36-page booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Neil Sinyard, an interview with Aldrich from the time of the film’s release, and archival imagery

Available to Order Online Now.