This Canadian--made film was aired as a 2 part, 4 hour miniseries on Jan. 12--13 on CBC. It tells the story of the Avro (actually A.V. Row Corporation) "Arrow", a Canadian designed, state--of--the--art jet bomber, which never went into full production because the government withdrew its support and ordered the planes already produced cut up for scrap, throwing 14,000 people out of work, and leading to the "brain drain" of engineers to the U.S. in the late 50's and the 60's. Canadians are still very proud of the "Arrow" and very bitter about its demise.

Michael's scene: Eisenhower and Diefenbaker (the Canadian Prime Minister) go fishing somewhere in Canada and the "Arrow" project gets shafted as a result of their "discussions".

(The landscapes suggests that the scene was probably shot somewhere in the eastern prairies in the vicinity of Winnipeg where most of the film was made.) Secret service types are "crawling" around the edge of a lake while the two leaders are out in a small boat, decked out in suitable outdoor's gear, fishing. Ike (our Michael) is talking the merits of various kinds of bait, and then he and Dief chat about politics, recession, budgets, and (of all things!) "Sputnik"--and Ike says their satellite is going to be bigger. Then Ike/MM switches stream and asks Dief whether he has given any thought to the purchase of BOMARC missiles (which were being manufactured in the U.S.at the time). Dief starts complaining about the "Arrow" which has run over budget by hundred's of millions of dollars. This gives Ike the opportunity to dismiss manned bombers as obsolete technology and plug the merits of unmanned missiles. Then Ike lectures Dief a bit and suddenly drives it home with a smile, Namely, if the Canadians go with the BOMARKs, the Americans will help the Canadians install them in the high arctic (i.e. way outside population centers); otherwise, the Americans will be forced to put them up just south of the border. Dief sputters and points out that in that case the bombers would be brought down over Canadian cities. Ike tells him to think about the missile option because its best for both countries.

The scene is quite short, but pivotal to the plot since Dief goes back and axes the Arrow. However later in the evening, our 10 o'clock national news program had a segment on the movie and made it clear that this particular scene was artistic license; that while American aerospace firms undoubtedly wanted the business, no one blackmailed Canada into scraping the "Arrow" project. It was the personal decision of Dief. However, it is indeed true that he did order all the planes already produced cut-up for scrap metal, act of vindictiveness against the A.V. Row management team as is shown in the last scene of the movie, and rather ironic in view of Michael's views that all is sweetness and light north of the 49th parallel..

Although Michael was on for only a few minutes, he did his small part with his usual finesse. The way he played the role was quite effective (and in retrospect a trifle sinister): this very affable man sitting on this fine, sunlit lake engaged in the harmless pastime of fishing, cooly painting this very unpleasant picture of what would happen if Dief didn't make the "right" decision. It was much more effective than if he had been heavy--handed and played it as the blatant bully.

Thanks so much for the information about this mini-series and the review of Michael's performance.

If you have seen a live performance, movie, book or TV appearance and would like to send a review just e-mail: Debbie

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