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Assassination

Play trailer Poster for Assassination PG-13 Released Jan 9, 1987 1h 28m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 20% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
A Secret Service agent (Charles Bronson) and the president's wife (Jill Ireland) flee from a senator's (Michael Ansara) hit man.

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Assassination

Critics Reviews

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David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Filmmaker Peter R. Hunt delivers a sluggish and hopelessly low-rent thriller that boasts little in the way of compelling attributes... Rated: 1.5/4 Jul 16, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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alan g It must be nice having a rich husband who can finance movies show his no talent wife can star in them. Bronson should have donated the money to charity. Or maybe paid for acting lessons for Jill Ireland. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/24/24 Full Review David H The movie was terrible!!! As usual Bronson's wife Jill Ireland's acting ruined Bronson's acting. The movie was too predictable, the chases unbelievable, and ofcourse Bronson was bullet proof from point blank range. Charlotte Chang's acting wasn't much better than Ireland's. The plot of the movie was thought up by Mickey mouse. Bronson loved his role because he was irresistible to all females. I only saw one other review on this movie besides mine. I guess we were the only two people who watched the movie all the way to the end, or everyone else tried to forget they even saw it. Why Charles Bronson insisted on giving Jill Ireland so many parts in his movies is behond me. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A movie with many working titles — My Affair With the President's Wife, then The President's Wife and The Assassin — star Charles Bronson set the record straight: "Someone thought the original title might be insulting to the presidency of the United States, so they changed it. There's an assassination involved so they stuck with that. They didn't want to scare off people who come to see my films with a title like President's Wife. It's not what people expect from one of my pictures." It was also Bronson's wife Jill Ireland's first in three years following an operation for breast cancer. She told The Ottawa Citizen, "I'd thought the cancer might have ended my acting career. They (Menahem and Yoram) asked me to do the film at my birthday party last year and it was the best present I could have received." Jay Killian (Charles Bronson) is a senior member of the Secret Service and he's upset that instead of guarding President Calvin Craig, he's been put on the detail of the First Lady, Lara Royce Craig (Jill Ireland). Neither of them likes the other at all, but they have to work together when she's targeted by someone potentially in the White House itself. Meanwhile, Killian has to keep his relationship with co-worker Charlotte Chang (Jan Gan Boyd) alive. The final theatrical film of director Peter Hunt (he would make the TV movie Eyes of a Witness in 1991; he's best known for On Her Majesty's Secret Service) and writer Richard Sale, as well as the last of sixteen movies that Ireland and Bronson would make together, Assassination feels like the end of an era. It was near the end of the glory years of Cannon as well, as music from Invasion U.S.A. gets re-used and whole pages of the script were torn out to cut the budget. The best part of this? When Chang asks Killian why he doesn't want to move in with her and he answers, "I don't want to die from a terminal orgasm." Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Boy oh boy, are we sure Bronson didn't direct this one himself...? Seriously, he is basically untouchable and irresistible. I can buy that in most action movies, as there's suspension of disbelief and all that, but it's harder to swallow with an actor that's in his twilight and one that is in the position his character is in this movie. Regardless, it's fun enough if you're looking to get your Bronson fix. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 08/24/18 Full Review Audience Member Charles Bronson & Jill Ireland star in their final film together, this run of the mill action thriller from 1987. The plot may be basic but it's a good enough one to build action sequences upon. Bronson is a secret service agent put in charge of the first lady's (Jill Ireland) protection detail as she becomes a target for assassination. The film however has bad writing and is very sloppy made. Bronson's performance is wooden, & Ireland's comes off as extremely annoying. Jill Ireland was battling cancer when this was being filmed and it shows as she looks extremely drawn in. A decent enough plot to build a good pace and decent action sequences make this an enjoyable film. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Love Bronson but this movie is a little too silly to be believable. It's too hard to believe any real first lady would act like that, and the reason behind the plot to have her killed seemed a little far fetched. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Assassination

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Movie Info

Synopsis A Secret Service agent (Charles Bronson) and the president's wife (Jill Ireland) flee from a senator's (Michael Ansara) hit man.
Director
Peter Hunt
Producer
Pancho Kohner
Screenwriter
Richard Sale
Production Co
Paramount
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 9, 1987, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
May 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$5.5M
Runtime
1h 28m
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