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Chevy Chase, Gregory Hines, and Wallace Shawn all play small-time arms dealers who get involved in a scheme to sell the “Peacemaker” drone to the dictatorship that has seized control of the Latin American country of San Miguel. After Shawn commits suicide, Chase and Hines are joined by his widow, who is played by Sigourney Weaver. Selling the Peacemaker should be easy except that Hines has a religious epiphany and becomes a pacifist and Chase himself is starting to have qualms about the way he makes a living. As his brother-in-law puts it, something bad seems to happen in every country that Chase visits.
Deal of the Century has the unique distinction of being one of the two films that director William Friedkin did not acknowledge in his autobiography, The Friedkin Connection. When Friedkin was asked why he left it out of his book, Friedkin said that he didn’t consider Deal of the Century to be a “Friedkin film.” He wanted to do a Dr. Strangelove-style satire while the studio wanted a board Chevy Chase comedy. The studio won, Friedkin was not given final cut, the movie bombed, and Friedkin didn’t see any reason to revisit the experience of making it.
Deal of the Century is a disjointed film. The best scenes are the one that are probably the closest to Friedkin’s original vision. These are the scenes set in weapons expos and that highlight the commercials designed to sell products of mass destruction. But those scenes are dwarfed by scenes of Chevy Chase being pursued by cartoonish guerillas in San Miguel and Gregory Hines overacting after getting baptized. Chase has a few good smartass scenes at the start of the film, some of which are reminiscent of his career-best work in Fletch. But he loses his way as the film goes on and his change-of-heart never feels convincing. The film ends with a burst of special effects that are unconvincing even for 1983.
Deal of the Century may have been directed by William Friedkin but he was correct to say that it is definitely not a Friedkin film.
Through the Shattered Lens 