[Another passenger on her plane was ambitious LA TV reporter Richard "Dick" Thornburg (William Atherton).In one midwestern town""s classroom at JFK High School, a teacher (Jayne Brook) asked for positive contributions about what to do and suggested writing one""s Congressmen, while a daydreaming 5th grade (?) boy named Jeremy (Damian McLawhorn), sketching a picture of his favorite superhero, proposed instead to write to Superman.The Russians began to ship their warheads to Cuba on an ocean-going Soviet vessel - expected o arrive in one week.German: What? Do you know who I am?Rick: I do.You""re lucky the bar""s open to you.German: This is outrageous.I shall report it to the Angriff.Italian-born Guillermo Ugarte (Peter Lorre), a slimy North African black market dealer in extra-legal items, weasels his way into the gambling room.The film""s character, Hollis Mulwray, was loosely derived from LA""s real-life water engineer William Mulholland (the General Manager of LA""s Bureau of Water Works and Supply), who orchestrated the purchase of water rights and the piping of water from the High Sierras into Los Angeles by an aqueduct hat flowed through the now-valuable San Fernando Valley north of LA.