Product: Special Bulletin (TV-Movie) [VHS] (1983)
Rating: 5.0
If you've ever seen it, I know you remember it well
So there I was, sitting in my apartment in Chapel Hill (Carrboro, actually), flipping channels on the TV, when I came across this breaking news report about a group of crazy liberals threatening to detonate a nuclear device in Charleston harbor. It's sort of embarrassing, but I have to admit that it scared the bejesus out of me for a few minutes - until I flipped over to CNN and the networks and saw that they weren't covering any such story, asked myself what the heck the RBS network was, and realized that I was tuned in to the Lifetime Channel. (The movie originally aired on NBC in 1983, but I have no memory of that original broadcast.) Fifteen minutes into the film, I should note, a disclaimer does appear on the screen assuring viewers that the events being dramatized are not in fact happening. It certainly made for interesting conversation the next day, and I have been dying to see this film again ever since then (it still hasn't been released on DVD).The beauty of Special Bulletin was the fact that the movie was designed to play exactly as if it were an actual live news event - complete with technical problems, reports from correspondents in Charleston and Washington, D.C., announcements from political leaders, etc. Watching it again now, I have to laugh about it because it's obviously low budget and some of the acting really wasn't all that good. Still, it boasts a brilliant concept for a film, and, now that I've finally rediscovered this movie, I know I'll be watching it on and off for many years to come. Even when you know it's fiction, it still makes for compelling viewing.As for the story, you have this group of five terrorists (led by two former defense scientists) who take over a tugboat in Charleston harbor, engage in a firefight with the Coast Guard, take two Guardsmen as well as a journalist and his cameraman hostage, and demand a live network feed. In an effort to get the hostages released, the RBS network gives them what they want, at which time they demand that all trigger devices on nuclear weapons housed in the Charleston area be brought to them for destruction. This act of unilateral disarmament, they argue, will surely inspire the Soviets to follow their lead. If their demands are not met, they then announce, they will detonate their own nuclear device right there in Charleston. Government spokesmen cast doubts upon the truth of the threat early on, but the tension soon ratchets up as more and more evidence comes to light indicating that this terrorist threat could very well be frighteningly real.The film raises a number of fairly obvious and important questions. Should a network be permitted to hand over a live feed to terrorists, for any reason? What would the government do in such a case of nuclear blackmail? Would we stick to our policy of never dealing with terrorists, even if it meant the destruction of a major American city? Would the government undertake the logistical nightmare of evacuating such a large city? At one point, the network hosts even get in to a debate with the terrorists themselves about the influence of the media on something like this.Obviously, Special Bulletin now looks and feels its age, but the issues it addresses are more pertinent than ever before - and it still delivers quite a thrilling conclusion. This made-for-TV movie will always be a cult favorite in this reviewer's heart.