Special Bulletin

Special Bulletin (1983)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Starring: Ed Flanders, Kathryn Walker, Roxanne Hart, Christopher Allport, David Rasche

From: Ohlmeyer Communications Company

Yes, I watched a TV movie last night, one aired on NBC back in 1983. I'll explain why I did so in the Letterboxd review below. I'll return tomorrow night.

I typically do not watch old TV movies. Sure, I am old enough to remember the days when the networks used to make TV films to show each Sunday night, but I usually didn't watch them. I certainly did not see this as a two year old when it made its debut. Rather, it was something I found out about via Letterboxd and last night via means I won't elaborate upon I checked it out.

Without Warning (the 1994 film shown on CBS that actually did cause an uproar despite them making it clear it was not real) was not the first TV movie which presented a faux real newscast of a major incident, as this did so 11 years earlier. In this case it was a fictional TV network-known as RBS-covering an incident in Charleston, South Carolina, where some terrorists force a local reporter and cameraman to come on a tugboat in the harbor and broadcast their demands; they aren't foreign but instead intelligent Americans who are terrified of nuclear weapons so ironically they construct their own nuclear bomb and if they aren't given all the detonators around Charleston (over 900, so they say) to be sunk in the ocean, up goes their bomb. We only see the story from the perspective of the newscast and it's not in real time. Rather, it's shown as segments of the newscast as the drama plays out over a little more than 24 hours of time.

While some parts are kind of goofy and the special effects are low-fi, otherwise this is a movie that unfortunately is still relevant today. Nuclear fears aren't as big a fear now but it is not so hard to believe there would be terrorists of different agendas who wish to make big demands and use the media to push their beliefs. The antagonists aren't Bond villains by any means; they're awkward, argue with each other, get stressed out, and otherwise are believable as smart people who are nevertheless way over their heads with this extremely dangerous ploy.

While there are barbs thrown at the way of the government, more often there are digs at the media; for example, how they cover huge events like this, their role in influencing the public and sometimes even those that commit such heinous acts, the insensitivity, all the conjecture that seems to be guesses at best and BS made up at worst, the hype/sensationalism, the exploitative nature, etc.

Sad to say this is still true in 2015, especially with all the cable news networks. CNN is the one that comes to mind first, as they had a rather gross 2014 from all I've heard. I certainly don't get my news from such biased sources that seem to be usually wrong anyhow. Imagining such an event being covered by them if it happened tomorrow... I am sure it would look a lot like what you saw in this movie, only a lot worse.

It was interesting to see some familiar faces in the cast, like Ed Flanders, Roxanne Hart, David Rasche, and in one of his first film roles, a 15 second appearance from Michael Madsen.

The reason why I rate it the way I do is that it's well-acted, it comes across as a legit news broadcast from the time period, and the story is always interesting and still applicable to today.