Without Warning: The James Brady Story | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama |
Based on | Thumbs Up by Mollie Dickenson |
Screenplay by | Robert Bolt |
Directed by | Michael Toshiyuki Uno |
Starring | Beau Bridges |
Theme music composer | Georges Delerue |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producer | David Puttnam |
Producers | Fred Burner Alma Kutruff (associate producer) Steve Norris (production executive) |
Production location | Texas Medical Center |
Cinematography | Bobby Bukowski |
Editor | Peter C. Frank |
Running time | 88 minutes |
Production companies | Enigma Productions HBO Pictures |
Distributor | HBO |
Release | |
Original network | HBO |
Picture format | Color |
Audio format | Stereo |
Original release | June 16, 1991 |
Without Warning: The James Brady Story is a 1991 American television film directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno and starring Beau Bridges as James Brady, the White House Press Secretary who was shot during the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. [1] The film is based on Mollie Dickenson's 1987 biography about Brady titled Thumbs Up. [2]
In 1980, Ronald Reagan is elected president. However, he is in need of a press secretary, and two men are the choice for the job: James (Jim) Brady and Lyn Nofziger. Later, Brady finds out he has the job. Jim is in office for 69 days. On March 30, 1981, Reagan visits the Washington Hilton Hotel for an AFL-CIO speech. At first, Jim is unsure if he would be attending due to low press, but after finding out the president will not be answering his own questions, he decides to attend the event. The president leaves the hotel after the speech, along with his guards and staff, including Brady. Waiting outside the hotel by the press is John Hinckley Jr. While Jim is walking towards the press, Hinckley pulls a Röhm RG-14 .22 caliber revolver, and begins firing at the president. Jim is struck by the first bullet, passing through underneath his brain and shattering his brain cavity, exploding on impact. Three others are also wounded, one including President Reagan.
At home, Jim's wife, Sarah, finds out of the shooting by television, with a report saying James Brady had died. When arriving at the hospital, she finds her husband is still alive but in serious condition. After surgery, Jim begins a long recovery, which includes many more surgeries, seizures, regaining speech, rehabilitation and more. As many people sign petitions to have Jim sent home after many months, Dr. Art Kobrine is unsure he is ready to leave the hospital due to his actions. Finally, in May 1982, Jim is sent home. Wheelchair bound, He is met with many challenges, which gives him and Sarah both difficulties with their new life. One day, Brady goes out and buys a kite, having Sarah take him to a friends cottage on the beach along with their son, Scott. After many failed attempts to get the kite going, Jim gives up in a rage, causing him and Sarah to have a fight. Later that night, Jim and Sarah apologize to each other, with Jim telling her he will need her for the rest of his life. The movie ends with Jim and Sarah in Congress, explaining why the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act will save many lives and keep handguns out of the wrong hands.
Bridges won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. [3] He also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. [4]
The film was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. [5] Robert Bolt was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special. [6]
James Scott Brady was an American public official who served as assistant to the U.S. president and the seventeenth White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, Brady became permanently disabled from a gunshot wound during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, just two months and 10 days after Reagan's inauguration.
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, often referred to as the Brady Act or the Brady Bill, is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States, and imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases, until the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was implemented in 1998. The act was appended to the end of Section 922 of title 18, United States Code. The intention of the act was to prevent persons with previous serious convictions from purchasing firearms.
John Warnock Hinckley Jr. is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinckley wounded Reagan, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy. He critically wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady, who was left permanently disabled in the shooting.
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Brady: United Against Gun Violence is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and against gun violence. It is named after James "Jim" Brady, who was permanently disabled and later died in 2014 as a result of the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt of 1981, and his wife Sarah Brady, who was a chairwoman of the organization from 1989 until her death in 2015.
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Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 7, 2003, at 7065 Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the television industry. He is the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and elder brother of fellow actor Jeff Bridges.
On March 30, 1981, President of the United States Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession.
Sarah Jane Brady was a prominent advocate for gun control in the United States. Her husband, James Brady, was press secretary to U.S. president Ronald Reagan and was left permanently disabled as a result of an assassination attempt on Reagan.
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