Screenpix is currently streaming the obscure 1984 thriller "The
Ambassador". Despite it's impressive cast, the film was barely seen in
the United States and had only sporadic distribution in other parts of
the globe. The movie was a production of the Cannon Group, the now
legendary schlock factory owned and operated by passionate Israeli movie
buffs Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan. Cannon specialized in building
often sub-par movies on limited budgets around stars with name
recognition. Usually backed by sensationalist ad campaigns, Cannon
became the toast of the film industry for churning out product at an
almost surreal pace. Initially, Cannon was awash with cash but as
moviegoers tastes became more sophisticated their ratio of
misses-to-hits increased and ultimately the company folded. Although
Cannon is synonymous with low-end action films and tasteless comedies,
the company did occasionally seek to elevate the quality of its output
by producing higher grade productions. "The Ambassador" was one such
instance. It was ambitious in terms of aspirations even if it fell short
of delivering on them.
The film was shot entirely in Israel and was based on Elmore
Leonard's crime novel "52 Pick-Up". However, when Leonard learned that
the screenplay by Max Jack had discarded virtually all of the characters
and set-pieces from his book, he disowned the film. (Curiously, Cannon
would make this up to Leonard by producing a more literal version of the
novel a couple of years later. It was released under the book's title
and Leonard wrote the screenplay.) The titular character is Peter Hacker
(Robert Mitchum), the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Hacker is an idealist
who is determined to use his influence to bring about a two-state
solution to the Middle East crisis that will allow Israelis and
Palestinians to finally coexist peacefully. However, he not only has to
overcome skepticism from mainstream people on both sides, there are also
fringe terrorist groups determined to undermine his efforts. The film
opens with Hacker and his embassy security man Frank Stevenson (Rock
Hudson) attempting to broker a secret meeting in the desert between
armed Palestinian and Israeli combatants. Against all odds, both parties
send representatives but a terrorist group attacks by helicopter and
slaughters most of the attendees. Undeterred, Hacker concentrates on
courting young people on both sides in the hopes that he can convince
them to use peaceful means to settle their differences. Hacker has other
pressures in his personal life: his wife Alex (Ellen Burstyn) is
suffering from alcoholism and makes a spectacle of herself at a high
profile social occasion. More disturbingly, she's been carrying on an
anonymous affair with a local Palestinian merchant, Mustapha Hashimi
(Fabio Testi). He doesn't know that his lover is the wife of the
American ambassador and she doesn't know that he is a bigwig in the
Palestinian Liberation Organization and is under constant surveillance
by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. It turns out someone has
secretly filmed the lovers in bed. Hacker receives a phone call
threatening to release the film unless he pays a million dollars ransom.
This sets in motion a complex but interesting plot in which Hacker and
Stevenson work to find the culprits and retrieve the film by any means
necessary. The trail leads to mysterious and dangerous characters who
attempt to assassinate Hacker even as he doggedly continues his
obsession with finding a peaceful solution to Middle East violence.
"The Ambassador" features the three principals in very fine
performances. An aging Mitchum still shows charisma and can deliver the
goods in terms of a dramatic performance, despite the fact that he was
said to be drunk throughout much of the shoot. Burstyn (in a role
originally intended for Elizabeth Taylor) gives a daring performance for
an actress over 50 years old by appearing topless in several scenes.
Hudson, in his final feature film, cuts a handsome figure. He was still
in fine athletic shape and performs quite a few action scenes with
credibility. Mores the pity that the AIDS that would take his life
within the next year was probably already beginning to take its toll on
him. Donald Pleasence appears fleetingly but impressively as the head of
the Mossad. The direction by the once-esteemed J. Lee Thompson is a
step up from the celluloid claptrap he had been churning out for Cannon
in recent years. It's also interesting to note that 22 years previously,
he and Mitchum had teamed for the classic thriller "Cape Fear". "The
Ambassador" has plenty of well-staged action scenes and Thompson makes
the most of capitalizing on the Israeli locations, bringing a good sense
of exotic atmosphere to the production. The script is more problematic
because some aspects of the story stretch credibility. Ambassadors are
to follow directions from the administration they serve. Peter Hacker is
constantly freelancing by taking on well-intentioned but absurd secret
missions and rendezvouses. In reality, he wouldn't last a day in the
job. The film ends with a bloodbath but tries to mitigate the shock by
tacking on a feel-good ending that comes across as contrived."The Ambassador" is certainly not a classic but it is worth viewing and deserved a better fate. Sadly, the main plot involving peaceful co-existence in the Middle East, remains as elusive today as it was in 1984.
