THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (TV) 1997

Cast (in credits order)

Beau Bridges (Governor of Idaho) * Joanna Cassidy (Helena Newman)
Phil Hartman (The President) * James Earl Jones (Jim Calla)
Dan Hedaya (Mel Burgess) * James Coburn (Jack Buchan)
Elizabeth Peña (Christina) * Denis Leary (Vinnie Franko)
Ron Perlman ( Alan Manieski) * Shelley Malil (Congressman Singh)
Kevin Dunn (Jimmy Cannon) * Brian Keith (General Buford)
Kevin McCarthy (Chief of Staff) * Dick Miller (Eddie ONeill)
William Schallert (Secretary of Defense)
Catherine Lloyd Burns (Amelia Sims) * Jerry Hardin (Colonel McNally)

Directed by Joe Dante
Writing credits: Martyn Burke

Production Companies: Baltimore Pictures Home Box Office (HBO) [us]

Distributors: Atalanta Filmes (Portugal) Haut et Court (France) Home Box Office (HBO) Home Video [us] (video)

Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi / War

Filming Locations: Los Angeles & Sacramento, California, USA

Plot Summary

With a planeload of immigrant Pakastani orphans heading to his state for permanent relocation, the Governor of Idaho (Bridges) decides to defy the President (Phil Hartman) and close the state's border. News Net Television, a CNN-like cable news program that dominates the race for ratings by reporting on every possible political scandal or upset, quickly becomes involved and spins the racist act into an overnight media sensation, creating a divide in national opinion of both the Governor and the President. With a nervous country looking on--and the Governor romancing a NewsNet reporter (Leslie Pena) who's covering the story--it looks like Idaho may just start the second Civil War.