Who Dares Wins (film)
1982 British film / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who Dares Wins, also known as The Final Option, is a 1982 British political 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.
| Who Dares Wins | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the film's UK cinema release | |
| Directed by | Ian Sharp |
| Written by | Reginald Rose |
| Produced by | Chris Chrisafis Euan Lloyd Raymond Menmuir |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Phil Meheux |
| Edited by | John Grover |
| Music by | Roy Budd |
Production company | Richmond Light Horse Productions / Varius |
| Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors (UK) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 125 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £5 million[3][4] |
| Box office | £544,051 (UK)[5] $2,666,973 (US)[6] |
Euan Lloyd, the film's producer, witnessed the Iranian Embassy siege firsthand 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.[7]
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.