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List Price: $24.96 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 28967
Released: March 16, 2004 |
| Our Price: $16.78 |
| Used Price: $8.49 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Satirical look at television news reporting, in which an ace reporter tries to hunt down a missing nuclear missile, for sale on the black market.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 16-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVD
Description of Wrong Is Right:
Actually, wrong is just wrong in this leaden spoof of media irresponsibility. Written and directed by Richard Brooks, this film is a sorry attempt to one-up the near-perfect Network. In this 1982 satire, Sean Connery plays a network correspondent who finds himself using and being used by terrorists, government officials, arms dealers, and the like while trying to scoop the competition. In some ways, this film looks positively prescient in its depiction of media ruthlessness, anticipating by more than a decade the rise of the kind of tabloid TV that has spread like a virus. But the writing is so flat that Connery barely escapes with his dignity, something that can't be said for a supporting cast of second-raters that includes Robert Conrad and John Saxon. --Marshall Fine
Wrong Is Right Reviews:
Connery Excels in Prophetic Media Satire 
2009-04-20 - A critical and commercial failure, "Wrong Is Right" (1982) was simply ahead of its time. Writer-director Richard Brooks' fast-moving, globe-trotting media satire has an eerie resonance when viewed today. Sean Connery delivers one of his most underrated performances as the Cronkite-inspired TV journalist, with George Grizzard's "Bush-league" President Lockwood a standout among the supporting players. Watch for the ending in which Connery tosses off his toupee!
The Man With the Deadly Lens
2009-01-24 - Sean Connery was on top form in Richard Brooks' undervalued Wrong is Right (released outside the US as The Man With the Deadly Lens in a bizarre attempt to convince international audiences it was Connery's then impending comeback as James Bond!), a colossal box-office disaster in 1982 that suddenly seems relevant all over again as Connery's superstar TV reporter finds himself mixed up in various Middle East schemes involving two stolen nuclear bombs, terrorists, the CIA, an election campaign and chequebook journalism. Very much in the vein of The President's Analyst, albeit far less psychedelic, it's filled with great swipes at political double speak ("You deny it?" "Of course not: to deny it would be to admit that there was something to deny.") and the politics of celebrity (and vice versa) and holds up remarkably well.
Sadly no extras but a decent 1.85:1 widescreen transfer.
Wrong is Right 
2009-01-08 - Excellent satire, starring Sean Connery and featuring Robert Conrad as the inimitable General Wombat. I don't know if someone was gazing into a crystal ball as they wrote the screenplay, but the movie was discomforting almost thirty years ago and is downright spooky now.
The "BROOKS CODE"
2006-06-04 - From the standpoint of film making this is a confused movie and is a very disappointing outing for the "great late director Richard Brooks". It's seems almost as if Brooks intentionaly sabotaged his own film. To this day I can not account the editing and disjointedness. I can only dream about what it could have been.
On the other hand I have "loved" this film for years. In many ways it is like a puzzle that you just can't get the last couple of pieces to fit correctly. In segments the film and many of the performances are outstanding as "Black Comedy" each in their own right. Somehow despite the muddle of the film, it still has a powerful impact!
Than there is Prophetic nature of the materail! In the early 1980's "no one" would ever have taken many of the events depicted seriously. Yet 20 years later here we are. Every American needs see this film!
Note:
Wrong Is Right is based on a Charles McCarry's 1979 novel "The Better Angels" about an Arab oil prince, who launches terrorist war againist the west. The real question is why isn't this book in print?
You Won't Go Wrong With This Film!
2004-07-13 - A buried treasure, Wrong Is Right - as so many others have commented - is one of the rare pieces of fiction that predates the facts. Kudos to Richard Brooks for accurately predicting modern day media and international politics from the vantage point of 1981.
The movie is criticized for its apparent uneveness - swaying back and forth between thrilling drama and outright humor. As it stands, the screenplay is pure political satire. Some can stomach it, others can't. I maintain that it's a great film but, released in 1982, no one could comprehend its subject matter of a near future with society in chaos. Nevertheless, Wrong Is Right is a fascinating motion picture that deserves a second look. Beyond the seemingly dated facade of 1982 is a timeless tale of sinister world leaders and terrorists, an intrepid newsman, and the neverending quest to spin the truth.
