Regan and Gorbachev talk nukes

Put Jeff Daniels, Jared Harris, and J.K. Simmons in the same movie, and you’ve created interest - at least among those who value capable acting. In The Brink of War, Daniels plays Ronald Reagan; Harris appears as Mikhail Gorbachev, and Simmons portrays George Shultz, Reagan’s Secretary of State. In 1986, Reagan and Gorbachev met in Reykjavik for a summit meant to tackle issues of nuclear disarmament. The Brink of War offers a dry, sometimes prosaic account of a meeting disrupted by Reagan's insistence on including a human rights discussion Gorbachev had no interest in having. Gorbachev also objected to Reagan’s plan to build a Star Wars defense system for the US., even after Reagan suggested that Gorbachev could use US technology to build his own missile shield. The summit failed, but a year later it produced the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. That means the movie must focus less on a triumphant outcome than on the back-and-forth between the two leaders. Aside from Simmons…

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