Best Defense 1984 | 80's Movie Guide

Taglines: Unfortunately, they're both on our side. Best Defense movie storyline. Wylie is a lazy engineer. Landry is a Sergeant specialising in Armour. They have never met but their lives become entangled when Landry must take the tank Wylie designed into combat. Wylie is waiting for his employer to go out of business when he meets another engineer who gives him a disk with the plans for a system that will save his employer. The other engineer is dead moments later leaving Wylie with the disk and credit for the design. Suddenly Wylie is no longer a hack, but the saviour of his company and finds his life is no longer the same. Best Defense is a 1984 American comedy film starring Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy, Kate Capshaw, George Dzundza, Helen Shaver, Mark Arnott, Peter Michael Goetz and David Rasche. The original music score was composed by Patrick Williams. It was released by Paramount Pictures. About the Story 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. Best Defense (1984) Directed by: Willard Huyck Starring: Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy, Kate Capshaw, George Dzundza, Helen Shaver, Mark Arnott, Peter Michael Goetz, David Rasche Screenplay by: Robert Grossbach, Gloria Katz Production Design by: Peter Jamison Cinematography by: Donald Peterman Film Editing by: Sidney Wolinsky Costume Design by: Kristi Zea Set Decoration by: R. Chris Westlund Art Direction by: Bo Welch Music by: Patrick Williams Distributed by: Paramount Pictures Release Date: July 20, 1984