Main Cast: Carol Burnett, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston, Dennis Erdman, Timothy Hutton
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 146 minutes
Plot
The Emmy-winning TV movie Friendly Fire was adapted by Fay Kanin from the fact-based book by C.D.B. Bryan. Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty play Peg and Gene Mullen, the parents of a young soldier who is killed in Vietnam. Dissatisfied with the "official" version of their son's death, Peg and Gene conduct a soul-wrenching investigation of their own. Only after months of military stonewalling does the truth come out: their son was accidentally killed by "friendly fire" from American artillery. This revelation leads to Peg Mullen's full-scale embracing of the anti-war movement. Even allowing for the grimness of the story, Carol Burnett's taciturn performance wears on the viewer after a while (one wonders if Peg Mullen ever smiled before her son died). Far better within the framework of the film is the superbly detailed performance of Ned Beatty as Gene. Friendly Fire was originally offered on April 22, 1979, as an ABC Theatre presentation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bernard Behrens - Dietrich; Nicolas Coster - Carl; Howard Culver - Newscaster; Charles Cyphers - Tom Loomis; Michael Flanagan - Father Shimon; Mary Gregory; Hilly Hicks - Willis Huddleston; Sherry Hursey - Mary Mullen; William Jordan - Col. Byron Schindler; Virginia Kiser; Sierra Pecheur - Mrs. Hamilton; Jack Rader - Sgt. Fitzgerald; Ford Rainey - Hamilton; Jenny Sullivan - Mrs. Bryan; Mark L. Taylor - Capt. Bannock; Kevin Hooks; David Keith - Young Hamilton; Phillip Richard Allen - Ralph Jenner; Vernon Weddle - Col. Georgi; Robert Wahler - Alan Hulting; Fanny Spies - Pat Mullen; Steve Bonino - Prince
Credit
Lawrence G. Paull - Art Director, Kirk Axtell - Art Director, David Greene - Director, Michael Economou - Editor, Martin Starger - Executive Producer, Leonard Rosenman - Composer (Music Score), Kirk Axtell - Production Designer, Harry May - Cinematographer, Fay Kanin - Producer, Philip Barry Jr. - Producer, Fay Kanin - Screenwriter, D.B. Bryan - Book Author
Friendly Fire is an American television movie first broadcast on the ABC network on April 22, 1979. Watched that night by an estimated 64 million people,[1]Friendly Fire went on to win four Emmy awards, including Outstanding Drama Special.[2]
The movie tells the real-life story of Peg Mullen (played by Carol Burnett), a woman from rural Iowa who works against government obstacles to uncover the truth about the death of her son Michael, a soldier killed by American "friendly fire" in the Vietnam War in 1970. Mullen's husband Gene is played by Ned Beatty.
Friendly Fire is based on the 1976 book of the same name, written by C. D. Bryan, which in turn was adapted from a series of New Yorker magazine articles Bryan had written about the Mullens and their ordeal.[3]
