Who Dares Wins (1982)

Directed by

Ian Sharp

Genre

action film, thriller film, political thriller film

Country

Australia, United Kingdom

Runtime

2h

Rated

R

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 51 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A British SAS captain goes undercover to infiltrate a terrorist group that is planning an attack on American diplomats. The film is a fictionalized version of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege.

tensefast-pacedsuspensefulgrittyaction-packedpatrioticserious

What happens

Who Dares Wins (released as The Final Option in the US) is a 1982 British action thriller film directed by Ian Sharp and starring Lewis Collins, Judy Davis, Richard Widmark, Tony Doyle and Edward Woodward. The film is loosely based on the actions of the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) in the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege; however, the plot makes considerable fictionalised departures from the actual siege and its background, and instead follows SAS Captain Peter Skellen as he infiltrates a terrorist group planning an attack on American diplomats. The film's title references the motto of the SAS. Euan Lloyd, the film's producer, witnessed the Iranian embassy siege first-hand and was inspired to make a film based on it, moving quickly to prevent someone else from developing the same idea. An initial synopsis, created by George Markstein, was then turned into a novel, The Tiptoe Boys, by James Follett in 30 days. Meanwhile, chapter-by-chapter as the novel was completed, it was posted to Reginald Rose in Los Angeles, who wrote the final screenplay. Who Dares Wins was released in the United Kingdom on 26 August 1982 and, after U.S. President Ronald Reagan reportedly enjoyed the film, in the United States on 16 September 1983 as The Final Option. Though it was one of the highest-grossing films released in Britain in 1982, the film was a box-office bomb and was released to negative reviews, as well as criticism for its portrayal of the nuclear disarmament movement, though the action sequences received some praise. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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