The supposed true story of businessman Ross Perot and his efforts to free some of his executives detained in Iran just as the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. Perot was the president of EDS (Electronic Data Systems) which had a contract with Iran to set up data processing systems. Two of his executives were detained by the Iranian government in a contract dispute with EDS.
Burt Lancaster plays the ex millitary officer, Bull Simmons who Perot hires to lead a team of company executives who travel to Iran to plan an escape. Simmons was a legendary special forces operative who knew Perot. The miniseries revolves around the efforts of Perot and Simmons to escape from Iran and travel cross country into Turkey and safety.
The miniseries was filmed in Mexico and also features Richard Crenna hilariously miscast as Ross Perot and the usual bunch of TV actors that rotated from one series to another. Andrew V McLaglen directed and for him the film has a little more pace and verve then usual. Lancaster was 73 years old and was definitely in the the twilight of his career. Television was kind of a last stop for aging Hollywood superstar actors.
Ken Folliet the author of the book and Sam Rolfe adapted the book into a screenplay and the story seems a little clunky and frankly kind of unbelievable. The miniseries runs 241 minutes.
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