Who Dares Wins (1982) (2025)

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1982

Directed by Ian Sharp

Synopsis

The 60 second war begins now!

When SAS Captain Peter Skellen is thrown out of the service for gross misconduct due to unnecessary violence and bullying, he is soon recruited by The People's Lobby, a fanatical group aiming to hold several US dignitaries hostage. But Skellen's dismissal is a front to enable him to get close to the terrorist group. Can he get close enough to stop the Lobby from creating an international incident?

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  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Details
  • Genres
  • Releases

Cast

Lewis Collins Judy Davis Richard Widmark Edward Woodward Robert Webber Kenneth Griffith Maurice Roëves Ingrid Pitt Patrick Allen Tony Doyle Jonathan Duttine Rosalind Lloyd Norman Rodway Bob Sherman Albert Fortell Mark Ryan Paul Freeman Aharon Ipalé Stephen Bent Richard Coleman Nigel Humphreys Oz Clarke Peter Geddis Raymond Brody Andrew MacLachlan Jon Morrison Trevor Byfield Michael Forrest Don Fellows Show All…

DirectorDirector

Ian Sharp

ProducersProducers

Euan Lloyd Ron Purdie Raymond Menmuir

WriterWriter

Reginald Rose

Original WritersOriginal Writers

James Follett George Markstein

CastingCasting

Esta Charkham

EditorEditor

John Grover

CinematographyCinematography

Phil Meheux

Assistant DirectorsAsst. Directors

Michael Murray Bill Westley

Executive ProducerExec. Producer

Chris Chrisafis

LightingLighting

John Tythe

Production DesignProduction Design

Syd Cain

Art DirectionArt Direction

Maurice Cain Jim Morahan

Set DecorationSet Decoration

Robin Tarsnane

Visual EffectsVisual Effects

Nick Allder

StuntsStunts

Bob Simmons Greg Powell Frank Henson Dorothy Ford Del Baker Tip Tipping Graeme Crowther Jazzer Jeyes

ChoreographyChoreography

Anthony Van Laast

ComposerComposer

Roy Budd

SoundSound

Graham V. Hartstone David Crozier

MakeupMakeup

Neville Smallwood

HairstylingHairstyling

Jeanette Freeman

Studios

Varius Entertainment Trading A.G. Richmond Light Horse Productions

Countries

Switzerland UK

Language

English

Alternative Titles

The Final Option, Comando, Commando, Das Kommando, Chi osa vince, S.A.S. Los invencibles, ファイナル・オプション, A S.A.S. kommandó, Den sidste udvej, S.A.S. Els invencibles, SAS特种部队, SAS 특공대

Genres

Action Thriller

Themes

War and historical adventure Exciting spy thrillers with tense intrigue Explosive and action-packed heroes vs. villains Military combat and heroic soldiers Bravery in War Political drama, patriotism, and war Show All…

Releases by Date

Sort by

  • Date
  • Country

Theatrical

26 Aug 1982
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (3)Germany12
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (4)UK18

27 Aug 1982
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (5)Ireland18

25 Nov 1982
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (6)Australia

12 Jan 1983
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (7)France

11 Aug 1983
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (8)South Korea12

23 Sep 1983
  • Who Dares Wins (1982) (9)USAR

Releases by Country

Sort by

  • Date
  • Country
Who Dares Wins (1982) (10)Australia
25 Nov 1982
  • Theatrical
Who Dares Wins (1982) (11)France
12 Jan 1983
  • Theatrical
Who Dares Wins (1982) (12)Germany
26 Aug 1982
  • Theatrical12
Who Dares Wins (1982) (13)Ireland
27 Aug 1982
  • Theatrical18
Who Dares Wins (1982) (14)South Korea
11 Aug 1983
  • Theatrical12
Who Dares Wins (1982) (15)UK
26 Aug 1982
  • Theatrical18
Who Dares Wins (1982) (16)USA
23 Sep 1983
  • TheatricalR

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  • Review by pirateneckbeard ★★★ 6

    This has everything a patriotic Brit youth could want from a film. from a field of S.A.S. training and kicking keister to beating up on these peacenicks thinking they can change the world by killing those in power to get rid of nukes. Luckily we have one of the finest in Cpt. Peter Skellen(Lewis Collins) willing to woo ladies into the bedroom for the nations interest.
    I do have to say that it's a pretty good cast and the action isn't bad but for what it is it does feel a tad long and a little dated but there are some solid shots. I feel like if I caught this when I was young I would have been totally engaged…

  • Review by matt lynch ★★★ 1

    Amusing imperialist/jingoistic propaganda, really, which I don't have any problem with at all, and while it lacks the bite of something like THE DOGS OF WAR it pays off with an almost stupidly blunt didacticism, with scenes like Richard Widmark winning a policy argument with the terrorists who've taken him hostage, the weird conservative paranoia over anti-nuke groups, and Judy Davis being totally rad as the leader of a bomb-throwing leftist terror cell. Three cheers for the SAS, guv, our boys'll shoot anyone. I've said it before but British commando movies are universally hilarious.

  • Review by Goliwadekar ★★★★

    A two hour marketing campaign for British Army's Special Air Service under the guise of a political thriller. And you know what? I lapped it up.

    What a first rate film about misguided souls this is! An undercover officer is killed during a vocal support of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The British surveillance learns that a terrorist group has leeched itself with the CND and is conspiring a new way to attack. This brings the arrival of SAS captain Peter Skellen to try and find a solution. The version I saw had a more poetic title, "The Final Option". He meets a group of radicals called People's Lobby, trying to make a change and bring about change.

    The film has…

  • Review by Keith G ★★★★ 5

    AKA: The Final Option
    Captain Peter Skellen (Lewis Collins) is discharged from the elite Special Air Service for bullying and torturing two foreign officers who are guests of the regiment. It's all a big ruse though to help Skellen infiltrate a terrorist cell, which has itself, infiltrated the anti-nuclear peace movement. His first target are the leaders of the People's Lobby, Frankie Leith (Judy Davis) and Rod Walker (John Duttine). Using his charm(??, more like smarm), he begins a relationship with Frankie, giving away too that he is a disgraced former SAS operative, impressing Frankie enough for him to be offered a job in the lobby as a security consultant. It quickly becomes clear that intelligence about a terror attack…

  • Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★★

    Films from the early eighties now hold a bit of a nostalgia factor for me. I've reached that age where those distant memories of my teens and the films I saw back then fill me with that warm fuzzy feeling where even if you know that the movie might be a bit dodgy quality-wise, you can't help but have fond memories of it. Who Dares Wins definitely comes into that category, with hardly the best acting to ever grace the screen made up for with thrilling action and the suaveness of one Lewis Collins.
    For anyone who didn't know, "Who Dares Wins" is the motto of the Special Air Service or S.A.S. This film inspired by the Iranian Embassy Siege…

  • Review by HKFanatic ★★★★★ 2

    "Who Dares Wins" AKA "The Final Option" is not a film I would have even heard of, if it weren't for the small cult following it maintains on Letterboxd. And yet it feels custom-engineered for sickos for me. This is basically a jingoistic, Cannon Films-style action movie farce, only if you vacuum sealed it from any attempts at humor, stretched out the runtime, and played everything as serious as a heart attack; there are no wisecracks here, no cheeky oneliners before our hero rolls out of the way of an explosion. Just a methodical, process-oriented depiction of what happens when a tough SAS operative (Lewis Collins) goes undercover inside a radical leftist organization with the aim of foiling their terrorist…

  • Review by Rock

    The old cliche is that action movies are only as good as their villains, and the one here is easily the best part of the affair. Judy Davis plays the leader of an anti-nuclear terror cell who puts on avant garde stage shows to protest in favour of nuclear disarmament on top of taking over the US embassy and generally kicking ass and wearing great outfits, including a fuzzy blue sweater with a squirrel on it. If anything, the movie realizes that it made her cooler than the actual SAS commandos we're supposed to be rooting for and tries to recalibrate with its funniest scene, where US Secretary of State Richard Widmark, while being held hostage by her and her…

  • Review by Andrew Liverod ★★★★ 3

    Lewis Collins plays Peter Skellen, an SAS trooper, who goes too far during a training mission and leaves the service rather than be RTU'ed. Skellen with time on his hands and chip on his shoulder joins up with a far left-wing political organisation who want to step up from the usual protests (the anti-cruise theatre piece is hilarious in it's liberal hippy artiness!) to full-blown terrorist acts.

    Who Dares Wins (The Final Option in the US) was made back in 1982 when men had names like Peter and Terry and Rod, moustaches were rife and there were real political and social movements and not just the fart in a hurricane Facebook whinging that most of us are guilty of nowadays.…

  • Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★½ 9

    Here's Stewart Lee on 1982's Who Dares Wins;

    "Who Dares Wins, my most hated film, was released in 1982. Former TV hardman Lewis Collins plays Peter Skellen, who is an SAS man rather than a chart-topping 1970’s MOR singer, attempting to infiltrate a thinly disguised offshoot of the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament and prevent a terrorist outrage. It has bad acting, bad dialogue, terrible music and a crass title sequence. But it also sets out to demonise the 80’s soft-left using impossible stereotypes and barely concealed right-wing polemic. It is like a Daily Mail version of an action movie. Not only is Who Dares Wins rubbish, it is also evil, and an example of that cinematic rarity, the commercially released…

  • Review by Michael501 📺 ★★★

    1982 In Review - August
    #22

    It's suspected that a peace/anti-nuke organization in UK has some extremists willing to use terrorism. The action will probably be against an embassy in London. The SAS/Special Air Service try to get the organisation infiltrated.

    Who Dares Wins is an entertaining if not slightly confusing action film. It stars Lewis Collins, at the peak of his powers. Lewis Collins was better known for playing Bodie in the TV series The Professionals, which was one of my favourite growing up.
    The film was certainly made to cash in on the famous Iranian Embassy siege a mere year before they released this, which was televised live in Britain as the SAS stormed the building. Who Dares…

  • Review by Wes Edwards ★★½ 1

    The thriller Who Dares Wins (aka The Final Option) is an uneven work. It sets up a juicy premise, of violent extremists hiding out in anti-nuclear groups in London, and the director shows a lot of skill with action sequences. Just when it might go deeper into political intrigue, it delivers a clunker of a dialogue scene that makes you wonder how the movie ever got made.

    It's bumpy but entertaining, I guess. The movie seems like an excuse to dramatize the siege of an embassy by terrorists--and to imagine the boot-in-the-ass response that follows it.

    Those scenes do have some punch. They're staged well and they make this watchable.

    Beyond that, was this movie trying to say something about…

  • Review by GoldMod ★★★½

    The original "Tacticool" movie, a "ripped from the headlines" trashy docudrama actioner, not too dissimilar to the 1986 Cannon Group film The Delta Force in some respects.

    Original released as Who Dares Wins, the SAS motto by the way, it was picked up for US distribution by MGM as The Final Option, a title more blatantly referencing the quasi-nuclear scare text of the film. This could be considered something of a reactionary film akin to Red Dawn if not for the film's patient runtime and pacing, as well as a certain level of British studio stuffiness. There's some lip service given to greyer moralities but that's about in terms of depth, somewhat odd for a film that defies being categorized…

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