Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Sorry, this movie sucks

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

A great late career film from Robert Aldrich. Three convicts escape from a military prison and commandeer a nuclear missile silo in Montana, holding the US hostage until it exposes the country's true motives for its involvement in Vietnam. Aldrich, one of Hollywood's great liberals lays an anti-government stance on pretty thick while making a tense, highly enjoyable thriller. Burt Lancaster, as a general railroaded by the government on a murder-one rap, is the head con with Paul Winfield and Burt Young joining him as ne'er do wells with very short fuses. Charles Durning is a rather too good to be true President and his cabinet is populated by the likes of Joseph Cotten, William Marshall and Melvyn Douglas. They don't really have much to do (or say). The focus of the film lies in the test of wills between Lancaster and military goon Richard Widmark. It's a taut, highly suspenseful film despite Aldrich's inflammatory preaching. Lancaster is dynamite as a self righteous career soldier, disillusioned with his own government and demanding that it come clean. Winfield & Young offer great support and William Smith appears briefly as one of Lancaster's unlucky cohorts. Set in the US but filmed in Germany. Gerald S. O'Laughlin, Richard Jaeckel and Charles McGraw are in it too. The rousing score is by Jerry Goldsmith.

Set in 1981 (the near future for this 1977 release) former US Air Force General Lawrence Dell Burt Lancaster imprisoned for being an outspoken advocate against Vietnam, he is also framed on a manslaughter charge and sent to prison. he escapes with three inmates Paul Winfield, Burt Young, and William Smith and take over a nearby SAC base in Montana, Once in control of the base, and armed with the launch codes, Dell non-negotiable demands from the SAC Command Center that U.S. President (Charles Durning) reveal the truth about the Vietnam War to the American people by reading a National Security document on television. If his demands are not met Dell promises, at the turn of two keys, to send the nine Titan missiles to their targets in the Soviet Union. 'Twilight's Last Gleaming' Directed by Robert Aldrich. Boasts an all star cast, Richard Widmark, Melvyn Douglas, Roscoe Lee Brown. It's a shame that Warner have neglected to release this on DVD. a shame really since many more of Aldrich's films are available.became a vocal advocate of disclosing the truth behind US involvement in Southeast Asia and Indochina in the hope that a post-Watergate America would forgive its Regarded as a dangerous embarrassment by the higher-ups,

I love this movie - I love any nuclear warfare movie as it shows the deadly consequences. I have really huge collection from Strangelove, Day After, Testament, Day after Trinity, Bedford Incident, China Syndrome, you name it and this one is my favorite - it is so thrilling that I found myself rewinding it in numerous places. Even though it is a VHS copy, my copy is excellent, DVD quality.I think an obvious fault in this movie is when Dell, Powell, etc. get checked at the main gate. Only a name and soc sec no are given ??? This is totally implausible. The guard would either know who Sgt McKenzie was or probably have a photo list of each possible approved entrant to the silo. There is no way this could have happened.Another interesting movie insertion was the "gold" atomic bomb to blast out the silo doors. I believe gold is credible for use as a tamper (device to reflect neutrons back into the core for enhanced fission and gold is cleaner than uranium which is normally used. However, why the bubble levels???? This makes no sense to me. A small atomic bomb should be independent of horizontal or vertical position

This is one of the few films I saw in its original release in the theater where the audience actually applauded at the end. Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark were excellent, and the cast of actors is incredible. The film uses an innovative split screen effect throughout. The viewer sees what is transpiring in two, three and even four places simultaneously. This heightens the suspense, as we see approaching threats that the characters cannot. Lancaster's Dell character is superb. He basically dominates the entire film, if one can believe how he got stuck in prison in the first place. The end shocked most in the theater, but one can see it coming and understand that it could really happen, under the circumstances. Another governmental cover-up.I'm not sure if it is a spoiler, so I checked the box, just in case.