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Deterrence Photos

Timothy Hutton, Ryan Cutrona, Kevin Pollak, Joe McCracken and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

View All Photos (12)

Movie Info

The President of the United States finds himself snowed in at a Colorado diner. The President must confront a national crisis and impending war when Iraq invades Kuwait. Trapped in the snowbound diner, faced with the prospect of a two-front war, the President has less than two hours to decide whether to deploy the ultimate weapon.

Rating:

R (Violence|Language)
Genre:

drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Rod Lurie
Producer:

Marc Frydman, James Spies
Writer:

Rod Lurie
Release Date (Theaters):

Mar 10, 1999 wide
Release Date (Streaming):

Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA):

$144.6K
Runtime:

1h 41m
Production Co:

Battleplan Productions, TF1 International, Moonstone Entertainment
Sound Mix:

Surround

Cast & Crew

Kevin Pollak
President Walter Emerson

Timothy Hutton
Marshall Thompson

Sheryl Lee Ralph
Gayle Redford

Sean Astin
Ralphie

Clotilde Courau
Katie

Badja Djola
Harvey

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for Deterrence

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (21)

A president wrestles with another Iraq war.

December 22, 2010 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
Quote not available.

February 22, 2001 | Rating: 3/4

Susan Stark
Detroit News
Having Deterrence unfold on a single set only adds to the film's artificiality.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 2.5/5

Stephen Holden
New York Times
It may be a little too dour, a little too self-inflated.

January 1, 2000

Ernest Hardy
Film.com
The plot twists fall about as weightily as the fake snow.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: D | Full Review…

Steve Daly
Entertainment Weekly
The film begins and ends with footage of FDR intoning "I hate war," something the film takes two interminable hours to say.

January 1, 2000 | Full Review…

Jessica Winter
Village Voice
Lurie quickly glazes over one important bit of backstory in the early going, a point that is crucial to understand some motivation.

July 16, 2005 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com
Quote not available.

June 30, 2005 | Rating: 1/5

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Taut and intense. Pollak is outstanding.

March 26, 2004 | Rating: 4/5

Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com
Quote not available.

March 20, 2003 | Rating: 1/5

Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
To it's credit, the film doesn't pull many punches . . .It really gets the message across that when you threaten someone with nukes, you'd better be ready to pull the trigger.

March 20, 2003 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Brian Mckay
eFilmCritic.com
With a strong cast and smart script, Lurie conjures up an engaging scenario with little more than chicken wire and string.

October 24, 2001 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium

View All Critic Reviews (39)

Audience Reviews for Deterrence

Mar 13, 2011

I really REALLY like this one. The premise is simple, in a snowed in diner in the middle of Colorado the president gets stuck on the way to an air force base. The possibility of nuclear war ensues.

Ken S Super Reviewer
Jan 02, 2005

[font=Century Gothic][color=darkslategray] "Deterrence" is a movie set in the year 2008 during the Colorado presidential primary. During which, the presidential party is stranded in a diner in the middle of a blizzard. At which point, there is a news alert about Iraq invading Kuwait. "Deterrence" is a throwback to cold war thrillers such as Fail-Safe. Now, this movie is undeniably tense throughout(led by a fine performance with Kevin Pollak as the President) but the ending is a copout. [/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=#2f4f4f] The movie has a larger problem which is that this movie was made in 1999 and the world has changed immensely since then. So, it's impossible to imagine Uday Hussein leading an invasion of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia now, much less breathing. In fact, it's hard to imagine Iraq presenting this much of a threat now, and not taking terrorism into question.[/color][/font]

Walter M Super Reviewer