The Ambassador (1985)

The U.S. ambassador (Robert Mitchum) to Israel secretly attempts to open peace negotiations in the Middle East by reaching out to the Palestinian Liberation Organization without telling the Israeli government. But what he doesn't know is that his wife (Ellen Burstyn) is having an affair with a PLO leader (Fabio Testi, GARDEN OF THE FINZI CONTINIS) until he's blackmailed with a piece of film showing his wife and her Palestinian lover having sex. Very loosely based on Elmore Leonard's novel 52 PICK-UP, this film switches the genders of the book's protagonists. In the book, it's the husband who's having the affair and it takes place in Detroit, not Israel. Curiously, only one year later John Frankenheimer made a more faithful adaptation of Leonard's book under its original title. But this misguided dud weighs down the film with its political message of peace in the Middle East, a noble and admirable sentiment but ultimately the film seems to be exploiting the Middle East situation rather than an honest plea for peace. Directed by J. Lee Thompson (CAPE FEAR). With Rock Hudson (in his last film role) and Donald Pleasence.