Breach of Conduct (TV Movie 1994) Poster

(1994 TV Movie)

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6/10
Actually not a bad little thriller.
vertigo_1412 July 2004
From the promotional poster, Breach of Conduct looks like a pretty stupid movie. But this low budget made-for-tv thriller directed by Tim Matheson turned out to be better than I had anticipated.

The story is that of a psychotic military commander, Andrew Case (Peter Coyote) who runs a pretty autocratic military base. He is an eerie fellow, possibly schizophrenic. If above all else, he values being in charge no matter what.

He's got this scam going, where he takes the officer's wives out to this bunker in order to fullfill his unusual sexual fantasies. It looks like everyone who knew about it, went along with it. And Helen Lutz (Courtney Thorne-Smith), the new wife on the base, should not be mistakened for the bubbly, helpless type. Because she's about to risk her life to try to stop Case's crimes, which proves to be quite a dangerous task when no one is willing to challenge Case for the sake of their own careers (and lives) even though they may believe Lutz.

The movie presents itself in a rather tricky fashion for the viewer. I forgot that I was watching a thriller when, in the introduction, you just see this panicked housewife, Lutz, trying to locate her husband on the base as well as get herself settled in the strange, new town (okay, so yeah, that's the beginnings of a thriller--the suspicious eerieness of the visitors who approach Lutz). And when Lutz is seduced by Case, or however you want to describe it, it looks like just a dreamy love story and one movie that could follow that route. But it doesn't, and once Case's sick mentality is revealed to Lutz, the fun begins.

It is not the most wonderful thriller, and does borrow on some formula, but for a low budget made-for-tv thriller, it does the job.
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5/10
Trust and all that
kosmasp8 January 2023
No pun intended - a neat little thriller that is quite predictable to say the least. I doubt you won't be able to say where this is going early on. But it is not so much about the destination, but the road ahead ... and the road(s) taken. Still not the best thriller out there - what it does have going for it: the main "villain". Great actor whom you may have seen in other stuff before ... or after seeing him here! He is better than the part he has to phone in here.

That all being said, if you are down for a thriller of the week ... well you could do worse I reckon. The army background gives us some interesting set pieces ... other than that, the by the numbers thing is ok too.
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2/10
You've got to be kidding me
onosideboard11 January 2007
This movie was so far-fetched that it wasn't enjoyable. I saw it during a "guilty pleasure" afternoon on the couch in front of Lifetime Movie Network, so I was even in the mood for cheesy early-90's chick flicks, and this one was just abominably terrible. The entire premise was ridiculous, the things that happened, from start to finish, were ridiculous, the resolution was ridiculous. Stupid, stupid, movie.

The acting wasn't terrible but it wasn't great--just forgettable.

Do not waste your time unless you feel like being blown away by ridiculousness.

I mean, I know sometimes movies require you suspend your disbelief, but this goes so far into unbelievable that it's not entertaining, it's just dumb.
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2/10
Appalling dross.
crudram12 January 1999
So, this Colonel, he's so desperate to make this young army wife his mistress, he'll go to any lengths, stealing insurance details, altering her husbands schedules, running down innocent corporals. Right. The bounds of reality are stretched so far you end up not caring by the end. The final showdown is weak as the power crazed Colonel Case decides to storm a nuclear bunker on his own. The dozen or so Military Policeman around him unable/unwilling to stop him despite the fact he has cold blooded murder on his mind.

Made for TV all over and only really rescued by a decent performance by Courtney Thorne-Smith as the object of the Colonel's desire.
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Takes long time to get nowhere
guilfisher-128 May 2007
I felt sorry for Peter Coyote in this. Given an almost impossible role to play and giving as much honesty this fine actor could give. Writing didn't help. Tim Matheson directing it was okay. Courtney Thorne-Smith was awful. Melodramatic in her acting and absolutely clueless in what the movie was all about. A bimbo with a purpose. Tom Verico as her husband kept a straight face throughout the picture. Tom Mason was in a fog most of the time as was the movie. Hard to believe this could happen, but I guess anything goes, right? This went nowhere. I was hoping the leading lady would get killed along the way and we could just end the trite. Mr. Coyote gets high praise for handling the most ridiculous role ever written for an actor to play.
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3/10
Insulting...
knotheadusc28 May 2007
I have to say... as an Army wife I found this movie entertaining. I also found it highly insulting. The story is certainly interesting... a colonel goes haywire and uses officers' wives to satisfy his needs. But unfortunately, this flick simply has NO basis in reality. There's no way a colonel would get away with what's depicted in this film. What's more, it really insults the professionalism of military officers and makes them look bad. It's not based in truth AT ALL.

Watch this movie if you're interested in being entertained. But PLEASE don't assume that anything in this movie is based on truth. It's not. There's nothing at all about this movie that's truthful.
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7/10
Lock & Load! We're Going In!
sol121813 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS** Not at all that bad of a movie, if you see just how ridiculously entertaining it is, that has to do with this maniac colonel in charge of a giant ammo dump, Camp Benton, in the middle of the Nevada Desert that even includes nuclear weapons. We already see at the start of the movie "Breach of Conduct" a young woman, obviously the wife on a soldier at the base, die form an overdose of barbiturate's. We don't really realize why she did herself in until a bit later where we see that the commanding officer of the army post Col. Andrew Case, Peter Coyote. Col.Case is an absolute madman with delusions of grandeur who thinks that he's God's gift not only to women but to the future and safety of the United States of America as well.

Having transfered from Ft Bragg to Camp Benrton the Lutz's Lt. Ted Lutz and his pretty wife Helen, Tom Verica & Courtney Thorne-Smith, never realized what they were in for with the commander of the base Col. Case who turned their lives, mostly Helen, into a living hell. Being mad as a hatter and all full of himself Col. Case got to Helen right away laying down the law, his law, to her that he and only he's the law of the land, or of Camp Benton. This militaristic lunatic soon demands that Helen do whatever he, his highness Andrew Case the all powerful supreme and exalted leader, tells her to do or else!

At first acting as if he just wants to be friendly Col. Case becomes almost unbearable towards Helen. Getting her husband Let.Ted Lutz transfered out of the base Col. Chase can now have his way with her without any interference from the outside world. Putting the screws on Helen by trying to get her to be his next military conquest, everything with this crazed lunatic has to do with war and military operations, Helen feels that the only way to survive this madman is to escape from the base. Helen is soon to find out it just isn't that easy with the colonel having the ammo dump under a total lock-up like a high security prison.

Showing Helen his private pad, a reinforced steel and concrete bunker some 100 feet underground, that can withstand a direct hit from a thermonuclear explosion makes Helen finally realize that this guy is not only completely out of his head but a danger to her the men he commands and entire country. Now desperate in stopping this lunatic Helen tried to go through the proper channels to get him arrested and put away before he can cause any more damage that he already had. Col. Case running the entire camp as well as it's surrounding towns like a ruthless dictator has Helen instead of himself get arrested. Using a bogus medical report Col. Chase has Helen declared mentally unstable that lands her inside base hospital to be shot up with drugs and made into a mindless zombie that he could easily control.

Helen escaping from the hospital and Col. Case's clutches with the help of the kindly and conscientious Cpl. Reed, Keith Amos, has the now totally nuts Col. Case go completely bananas. Running down Cpl. Reed with his command limousine killing him and then when Helen and her friend another army mans wife Paula (Beth Toussaint), whom Col. Case also physically and sexually abused, take over Chase's command bunker he orders a massive military assault! Chase's bizarre behavior shocked the soldiers under his command including the base doctor Dr. James ,Tom Mason, who the insane Col.Case beats to within an inch of his life for disobedience.

With no one, after the soldiers under his command mutinied, on the base left for him to command the hysterical Col.Case now armed to the teeth, and like Rambo, goes it alone to put an end to this disobedience and attack on his supreme and God-given authority, by two housewives? To Col. Chase surprise he's soon to find out that he isn't exactly the super macho fighting man that he always envisioned himself to be.

If you don't take this movie seriously you can really find it well worth watching as some kind of comedy about army or military life, like the TV shows Sgt. Bilko and F-Troop, which I feel that it was really intended to be but somehow along the way started to take itself seriously.
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2/10
Not good
kairikristin26 September 2019
This movie was bad, but Peter Coyote was really hot! Courtney Thorne - Smith was ok.
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8/10
worth watching
tarpoff30 November 2002
This was a surprisingly enjoyable movie. Peter Coyote always does a nice job and Courtney Thorne-Smith was wonderful; and additionally, she looks great! The story is interesting and the movie is tightly directed. Good job all the way around!
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Conduct Unbecoming
DrPhilmreview29 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Did Scott Abbott the writer or executive producer Sheldon Pinchuck save Peter Coyote's life sometime? Do they have dirty pictures of Courtney Thorne-Smith? That's the only explanation I can see for these two agreeing to be in this picture.

Coyote plays a dictatorial commander of an Army base in the middle of nowhere who uses his power to force his officer's nubile wives to have sex with him. Courtney Thorne-Smith is the new girl in town and she's not willing to play that game.

Tim Matheson does a decent job directing, but what can you do with a unbelievable anti-military stalker film that has no concept of how things really work in the Army? Perhaps Coyote, Thorne-Smith and Matheson agreed to do "breach of Conduct" because they figured "what the heck, no one will ever see it".

In my case, I wish they were right.
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8/10
This Should Have A Better Rating
BenTramerLives7812 April 2023
Courtney Thorne-Smith and Peter Coyote are brilliant in this made for television thriller directed by Tim Matheson. Thorne-Smith stars as an army wife who is new to the army base where her husband (Tom Verica) is stationed. She soon meets and is harassed by Commander Case (Coyote). Coyote is superb as the villain and Thorne-Smith shines as the wife in distress. These made for T. V. thrillers are sometimes cheesy and over dramatic, but this is a well made film with terrific performances. Thorne-Smith was given a chance to show off her acting chops, and she did it wonderfully. I would recommend fans of drama to check it out, because it's a very entertaining drama.
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10/10
Better than it sounds...
sigure7 May 2002
A basic "Damsel in Distress" film, but with better direction, writing & performances than one would expect. The script is corny, but tight, & the entire film is involving, despite yourself. I think it's worth seeing, on a late night, when you just want to relax & have fun.
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10/10
I would have loved to have seen the Colonel rot in prison
Jameyg153 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Instead of the Colonel taking his own life, I would have loved to have seen him finally get arrested and serve prison time for sexual assault, harrassment, delerection of duty as an officer, etc.
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