American TV series or program
| In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco |
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| Genre | Crime
Action
Drama
Thriller |
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| Written by | Phil Penningroth |
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| Directed by | Dick Lowry |
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| Starring | Tim Daly |
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| Theme music composer | Mark Snow |
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| Country of origin | United States |
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| Original language | English |
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| Executive producer | Kenneth Kaufman |
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| Producers | Ann Kindberg
Dick Lowry
Wendell Rawls |
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| Production location | Tulsa, Oklahoma |
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| Cinematography | Frank Beascoechea |
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| Editors | Anita Brandt-Burgoyne
Jeff Cahn |
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| Running time | 98 minutes |
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| Production companies | Patchett Kaufman Entertainment
World International Network |
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| Network | NBC |
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| Release | May 23, 1993 (1993-05-23) |
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In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco is a 1993 American made-for-television action drama film starring Tim Daly that aired on NBC on May 23, 1993.
Synopsis
The film portrays the events leading up to and at the start of the Waco siege.
Production
Filming took place in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area.[1]
Reception
Todd Everett of Variety.com noted that, even though it was already being filmed during the actual series of events, the film is "an engrossing affair, with no signs of hasty production".[2] John O'Connor of The New York Times also noted the rapid production of the film that aired "little more than a month after the Texas fire that claimed the lives of David Koresh and 71 other people" and determined that "the elapsed time between news story and television docudrama grows ever shorter as networks scramble to exploit a seemingly inexhaustible based-on-fact marketplace."[3] Due to this fact, Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times points out that the film does not focus on the final storming of the compound on April 19 but rather "the initial storming of the Mt. Carmel compound 51 days earlier" and concludes that "Phil Penningroth's script provides a rationale not only for the initial assault but also for the more controversial one on April 19 that resulted in mass deaths".[4]
Penningroth's regret
Screenplay writer Phil Penningroth has regretted his involvement with this telefilm, calling it pro-ATF "propaganda" in the years since its premiere, expressing his feelings in an August 2001 article he wrote for the online magazine Killing the Buddha.[5]
