Themes: Terrorism, Fighting the System, Escape From Prison
Main Cast: Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Charles Durning, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Winfield
Release Year: 1977
Country: US/WG
Run Time: 146 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Soured on America by his experiences as a POW in Vietnam, General Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster) hopes that his government will someday tell the truth about the Southeast Asian debacle, thereby allowing his country to embark upon a healing process. Regarded as a dangerous embarrassment by the higher-ups, Dell is framed on a manslaughter charge and sent to prison. Escaping with three hardened convicts (Paul Winfield, Burt Young, and William Smith), Dell takes over an SAC base, threatening to launch nine Titan missiles if his demands that top-secret Vietnam files be made public are not met. Thus, the fate of the world rests in the hands of the mentally unbalanced Dell, his former superior General MacKenzie (Richard Widmark), and U.S. president David Stevens (Charles Durning). For this picture, Edward Huebach and Ronald M. Cohen adapted Walter Wager's novel Viper Three. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Burt Young - Garvas; Joseph Cotten - Renfrew; Roscoe Lee Browne - Forrest; Charles Aidman - Col. Bernstein; Leif Erickson - CIA Director; William Smith - Hoxey; Bill Walker - Willard; David Baxt - Sgt. Willard; Glenn Beck - Lieutenant; Ed Bishop - Maj. Fox; Phil Brown - Rev. Cartwright; Gary Cockrell - Capt. Jackson; Don Fellows - Gen. Stonesifer; Garick Hagon - Driver Alfie; David Healy - Maj. Winters; William Hootkins - Sgt. Fitzpatrick; Richard Jaeckel - Capt. Stanford Towne; Ray Jewers - Sgt. Domino; Charles McGraw - Gen. Peter Crane; Vera Miles - Victoria Stevens; Lionel Murton - Col. Horne; Gerald O'Loughlin - Brig. Gen. Michael O'Rourke; Morgan Paull - 1st Lt. Louis Cannellis; John Ratzenberger - Sgt. Kopecki; Shane Rimmer - Col. Franklin; Simon Scott - Phil Spencer; Alan Moore; Thomasine Heiner - Nurse Edith; Bill Marshall - Attorney Gen. William Klinger; Robert O'Neil - Briefing Officer; Roy E. Glenn, Jr. - White House Servant; Weston Gavin - Lt. Wilson; Ronald Lee - Sgt. Rappaport; Robert MacLeod - State Trooper Chambers; Robert Sherman - Maj. Le Beau
Credit
Werner Achmann - Art Director, Thomas S. Dawson - Costume Designer, Wolfgang Glattes - First Assistant Director, Robert Aldrich - Director, Michael Luciano - Editor, Irving Rosenblum - Editor, Maury Winetrobe - Editor, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Billy Preston - Songwriter, Rolf Zehetbauer - Production Designer, Robert B. Hauser - Cinematographer, Merv Adelson - Producer, Helmut Jedele - Producer, Henry Millar - Special Effects, Willy Neuner - Special Effects, John K. Wilkinson - Sound/Sound Designer, Ronald M. Cohen - Screenwriter, Edward Huebach - Screenwriter, Walter Wager - Book Author
A doomsday thriller with political overtones that never got the recognition it deserved, Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) offered a good score by Jerry Goldsmith that is very nicely presented on this CD, with the composer conducting the Graunke Symphony Orchestra. The music does share some elements in common with Goldsmith's score for Alien (which dates from around the same period) in its use of frantic, running scales and percussive effects on the strings, as well as ominous calls on the brass, while at other times it seems to echo elements of his music for Patton, with its use of a trumpet call; and at yet other moments, the music acquires an almost Copland-like elegiac tone. As with most of Goldsmith's work, the music is always fascinating, and the playing and recording are of a very high standard. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Jerry Goldsmith (Conductor), Jerry Goldsmith (Producer), Joel Goldsmith (Producer), Joel Goldsmith (Mastering), Graunke Symphony Orchestra (Performer), Arthur Morton (Orchestration), Jimmy Fitzpatrick (CD Release Supervisor), Ford A. Thaxton (Associate Producer), Nick Vidar (Mastering), Reynold da Silva (Executive Producer), Stephen Pettman (Artwork), Stephen Pettman (Design), David Stoner (CD Release Supervisor)
Twilight's Last Gleaming is a 1977 film directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark. It is loosely based on the 1971 novel, Viper Three, by Walter Wager. It tells the story of Lawrence Dell, a renegade USAF general, who escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana, threatening to launch the missiles and start World War III unless the President, played by Charles Durning, reveals the real reason why America fought in the Vietnam War.
A split screen technique is used at several points in the movie to give the audience insight into the simultaneously occurring strands of the storyline.
