Under Fire is a 1983 American political thriller film set during the last days of the Nicaraguan Revolution that ended the Somoza regime in 1979.

Russell then returns to his hotel, where he attends a "Bon Voyage" party for his friend Alex Grazier, who is giving up covering foreign conflicts to take a lucrative job as a news anchor in New York.

Alex's article about the conflict in Chad is paired with Russell's photography to land a cover story in Time magazine.

The journalists then travel to Nicaragua to join the international press corps covering a conflict between the government of President Somoza and rebels led by Rafael, an underground figure who has never been photographed.

He and Claire meet Marcel Jazy, a French spy who is closely connected to Somoza, who tips them off that they might find Rafael in León, even though the press corps believes the fighting is shifting to Masaya.

Lost on their way back to the hotel, Alex asks government troops for assistance, but they are paranoid and execute him in the street while Russell takes pictures.

Though the film is largely fictional, it was inspired by the murder of ABC reporter Bill Stewart and his translator Juan Espinoza by Nicaraguan National Guard troops on June 20, 1979.

[3] ABC cameraman Jack Clark was shooting "incidental" footage, and caught the entire episode on tape.

The footage was shown on national television in the United States and became a major international incident, undermining what remained of dictator Anastasio Somoza's support.

The US Government had already stopped military aid to Nicaragua and its National Guard in 1978, but the incident was the final straw for the Carter Administration's relationship with Somoza,[4] whose regime fell on July 19.

It's silly enough to use a real, bloody war as the backdrop - the excuse, really - for the raising of the consciousnesses of a couple of mini-characters.