Best Defense (1984): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1984, Best Defense is an action and comedy film directed by Willard Huyck, running about 94 minutes. “Unfortunately, they're both on our side.” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. Wylie is a lazy engineer. Landry is a Sergeant specialising in Armour. They have never met but their lives become entangled when Landry must take the tank Wylie designed into combat. Wylie is waiting for his employer to go out of business when he meets another engineer who gives him a disk with the plans for a system that will save his employer. The other engineer is dead moments later leaving Wylie with the disk and credit for the design. Suddenly Wylie is no longer a hack, but the saviour of his company and finds his life is no longer the same.

Who’s in it. Best Defense stars Dudley Moore as Wylie Cooper, Eddie Murphy as Lieutenant T.M. Landry, Kate Capshaw as Laura Cooper and George Dzundza as Steve Loparino, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 4.2/10, Best Defense has proved divisive with audiences. It went on to earn $19.3M at the box office.

Where to watch. In US you can rent or buy it from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies and YouTube. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Best Defense page.

If you liked it. Fans of Best Defense tend to enjoy The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Inception and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.