Defense of the Realm (1985)
Directed by David Drury
Written by Martin Stellman
Starring Gabriel Byrne, Denholm Elliott, Greta Scacchi
Release Date January 24th, 1986
Published January 24th, 2016
The age of the internet has made old-fashioned thrillers like 1985’s “Defense of the Realm” obsolete. This story of a crusading journalist wielding his typewriter for a just cause would only last about 10 minutes in this day and age with Gabriel Byrne’s heroic journalist posting his explosive expose of a government cover-up to the internet well before thugs could grab him and throw him in the back of a car to be potentially disappeared.
“Defense of the Realm” stars Gabriel Byrne as Nick Mullen, a slick, ambitious reporter who rushes headlong into a scandalous story about a politician, a call girl and a spy, failing to heed the warnings of a veteran journalist played by the wonderful Denholm Elliott. Needless to say, the stars in Mullen’s eyes prevent him initially from seeing the bigger, more dangerous story behind the scandal.
“Defense of the Realm” has a very old school charm to it. The quaint nature of a newspaper thriller is certainly part of that charm, we simply can’t make movies like this anymore. Modern audiences have a hard time accepting a story set before the time when their IPhone could have given Mullen’s explosive story a home online seconds after his editors conspired with the government to spike it.
Instead of having to play spy games with MI6 to get his story to the German and American papers, the Nicholas Mullen of today must simply hit send to send his story into the ether. A story like that of “Defense of the Realm” requires the kind of patience we no longer have today, the patience to wait and see what’s in the paper well after the news has happened.
Don’t get me wrong, modern Hollywood can still make a pretty good tick tock thriller but audience tastes now require a few more thrills than the site of Gabriel Byrne having a revelation over pictures in an old news story or clicking away on his beautiful old typewriter while knowing government spies are looking for any reason to bust down his door.
Director David Drury, then a first time director, now a veteran of British television, allows scenes to breathe unlike directors of today. Revelations are met with gasps and a flourish of score rather than camera and editing pyrotechnics. Everything about “Defense of the Realm” feels old school, and not merely because the film is now 30 years old.
“Defense of the Realm” was, according to TheNumbers.com, one of the first films released in 1985 and it was a great way to start a new year of 30 year movies. Be sure and check it out for yourself, it’s streaming on Amazon Prime, free to subscribers.
New this year in this 30 year feature, I’m going to attempt to recast these 30 year old movies for a more modern audience.
“Defense of the Realm”
Nicholas Mullen: played by Gabriel Byrne: re-cast: Eric Bana
Nina Beckman: played by Greta Scacchi: re-cast Julia Stiles
Vernon Bayliss: played by Denholm Elliott: re-cast Gabriel Byrne
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