A U.S. Marine Corps colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.
Burt Lancaster
as Gen. James Mattoon Scott
Kirk Douglas
as Col. Martin "Jiggs" Casey
Fredric March
as President Jordan Lyman
Ava Gardner
as Eleanor Holbrook
Edmond O'Brien
as Sen. Raymond Clark
Martin Balsam
as Paul Girard
Andrew Duggan
as Col. William "Mud" Henderson
Hugh Marlowe
as Harold McPherson
Whit Bissell
as Sen. Frederick Prentice
Helen Kleeb
as Esther Townsend
George Macready
as Christopher Todd
Richard Anderson
as Col. Murdock
