The Rise and Fall of 'Deal of the Century' (1983): A Timeline of Hollywood Chaos
A look back at the troubled production, critical failure, and forgotten legacy of William Friedkin’s 1983 misfire Deal of the Century.
How Deal of the Century Became One of the 1980s’ Most Forgettable Hollywood Fiascos
A fiasco is a funny thing. It takes many shapes. Failure has a million fathers, and that could not be more true of the 1983 feature-film flop Deal of the Century. Director William Friedkin, coming off The Exorcist and Sorcerer, was desperate to break out of the mold he’d built for himself. He envisioned a darkly comic takedown of the military-industrial complex — a thumb in the eye of the money-grubbing war-profiteers who thrived on perpetual conflict.
With what was arguably the hottest comedy star of the moment, Chevy Chase, on board, Friedkin believed he had the talent and momentum to deliver the political satire he wanted. But as the saying goes: when we make plans, God laughs. And in this case, God had a good long chuckle at William Friedkin’s expense.
What follows is the timeline of how everything went wrong — and where Deal of the Century stands today.
A TIMELINE OF THE FAILURE
Late 1970s – Early 1980s: William Friedkin Wants a Satire
Still riding the notoriety of The Exorcist, Sorcerer, and Cruising, Friedkin wanted to pivot into new territory. He had done horror, action, and controversy. Now he wanted a dark, angry satire about the weapons business. Writer Paul Brickman — who would soon create Risky Business — delivered a script with real bite: a wicked commentary on defense contractors and the absurdity of modern warfare.
Friedkin imagined something sharp, acidic, and fearless, almost Dr. Strangelove for the Reagan era.
Warner Bros., meanwhile, saw an opportunity for a broad Chevy Chase comedy.
That gap in vision would eventually become a canyon.
1982: The Project Slips Out of Friedkin’s Hands
As production neared, studio pressure increased. Warner Bros. wanted a commercial comedy — not bleak satire, not political commentary, but what they believed audiences would pay to see: Chevy Chase being Chevy Chase.
Friedkin resisted. He wasn’t a traditional comedy director, and he certainly wasn’t interested in neutering the film’s political edge. Tensions escalated.
Eventually, Friedkin was pushed out of active creative control, even as his name remained attached to the project. What had begun as a filmmaker-driven satire slowly morphed into a studio-designed commodity. Every attempt to “fix” the film only stripped it further of identity, tone, and purpose.
1982–1983: Chevy Chase Realizes the Movie Isn’t Working
In later interviews, Chevy Chase has openly listed Deal of the Century among his worst films. On set, he reportedly sensed early that the film wasn’t working. It wasn’t slapstick, wasn’t dry irony, wasn’t sharp satire — it was stuck in a no-man’s-land between genres that undercut his natural comedic instincts.
Meanwhile, Sigourney Weaver and Gregory Hines each seemed to be performing in entirely different versions of the movie — a clear sign of its fractured tone.
Fall 1983: Warner Bros. Panics Before Release
Test screenings were disastrous. Audiences didn’t know whether the film wanted them to laugh or feel uncomfortable. The jokes didn’t land. The political bite had been dulled into mush. Studio notes demanded edits, then re-edits, and more trims.
By release, Deal of the Century played like a once-coherent idea that had been triaged into confusion — flashes of satire surrounded by hesitant comedy and abrupt tonal shifts.
November 1983: Critics Drag the Film Across the Concrete
The reviews were brutal. Critics labeled the film:
• “Toothless satire”
• “A comedy without laughs”
• “A film that doesn’t know what it wants to be”
Major outlets — The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times — all agreed the movie was muddled and lifeless despite its cast. Many argued that not even Friedkin could have shaped a consistent film out of the studio-warped material.
Critics at the time weren’t fully aware of the behind-the-scenes turmoil. Friedkin, ever the veteran, didn’t publicly trash the film — not until years later in his memoir, where his near-total silence about the project spoke volumes. Others have since confirmed his disdain and detailed how the studio took the film from him.
Audiences stayed away. The film vanished almost immediately.
Mid-1980s to 1990s: A Forgotten Punchline
As Chase’s fame surged and Sigourney Weaver ascended thanks to Ghostbusters and Aliens, Deal of the Century became a footnote — the movie everyone pretended never happened. Friedkin distanced himself entirely, signaling that the finished film didn’t reflect his intentions.
It didn’t gain cult status. It didn’t build ironic appreciation. It was simply… forgotten.
WHAT CAUSED THE CHAOS?
1. Clashing Visions
Friedkin and Brickman wanted a razor-sharp satire.
The studio wanted a marketable Chevy Chase vehicle.
The result landed uncomfortably between both extremes.
2. A Director Mismatched to the Final Version
Friedkin excelled at tension, realism, and grim intensity — qualities ill-suited to the broad comedy Warner Bros. demanded. He believed The Exorcist was funny, which says plenty about his uniquely dark comedic instincts. Studio interference certainly didn’t help him find the tone he was seeking.
3. A Star Mismatched to the Material
Chevy Chase thrives in deadpan absurdity, not half-hearted political satire. His instincts were at odds with Friedkin’s harsher vision. Chase wanted to be charming; Friedkin wanted him to embody the soulless rot of the defense industry. Neither got what they wanted.
THE LEGACY TODAY
Deal of the Century occupies a strange place in 1980s cinema. It isn’t notorious enough to be infamous. It isn’t strange enough to be a cult classic. It isn’t good enough to rediscover, and it isn’t bad enough to be fun.
It is, in the truest sense, a fiasco — one without passion, memory, or myth.
A film forgotten by audiences, dismissed by critics, and disavowed by its director and star. A movie that failed as a satire, failed as a comedy, and failed even as an interesting failure.
Deal of the Century is a fiasco — a gloriously unremarkable, almost entirely forgotten and forgettable fiasco.
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