The main antagonist of the film was portrayed by Andrew Divoff, who has mentioned that his role as Luis Cali was his favourite role as a bad guy. Schlesinger dropped out of the project and the script was rewritten to be set in the US with different villains. The school was a European boarding school and the villains were Palestinian terrorists. The first screenplay was written by David Koepp who wrote it for director John Schlesinger. The film was based on the novel of the same name by William P. Richard Travis as Frank Ingram, a Campus Police Officer.Jerry Orbach as Albert Trotta (uncredited).George Perez as Ricardo "Ricky" Montoya.Keith Coogan as Jonathan "Snuffy" Bradberry.In the end, the students are freed, the surviving terrorists are arrested and Billy joyously reunites with his friends. With Parker's wound bandaged, he and Billy gain a better understanding of each other. Luis wounds Parker, but Billy elbows him in the abdomen, giving a commando the chance to shoot Luis, killing him. Parker and commandos converge on Luis and Billy. Overwhelmed by the assault and unable to blow up the school, Luis takes Billy at gunpoint and holds him in Gould's office. Meanwhile, Billy and his friends sabotage the remote control receiver for the detonator, overpower their guards and lead the students and Gould to the secret basement chamber. FBI Hostage Rescue Team personnel (trailed by Parker), supported by the Army and armed with the information provided by Billy, covertly infiltrate the school and begin taking out the terrorists. Knowing they must act before Luis can learn of his father's death, the authorities undertake a rescue mission. Luis tries to impress upon Parker, who comes to retrieve the body, that it was an accident, but Albert takes revenge by having Enrique Cali killed in prison. He overpowers a guard, steals a submachine gun and opens fire on another terrorist, but is killed in the exchange. Joey, contemptuous of his father, refuses to go. Joey's father, New Jersey mob boss Albert Trotta, arranges for Joey to be released. They won't allow Billy to return, but with Parker's encouragement, he escapes and rejoins the students just in time to be counted, preventing the killing of Gould and four students in response. The students, under Billy's leadership, use their expertise in skirting authority to collect tactical information about the occupying forces, which Billy covertly brings to the authorities on the outside. Robert Gould, demanding his father's release in exchange for the hostages and institutes hourly headcounts. He releases the school faculty except for the cooks and the headmaster, Dr. Luis warns the authorities he will set off the explosives should they attack the school. Thorpe arms the explosives with a detonator wired to a remote control gadget Luis tapes to the back of his hand. The State Police, FBI and US Army are called in, keeping their distance to avoid provoking the terrorists. Underestimating the threat, the local Sheriff attempts to intervene but is repelled by heavy weapons fire. With Phil nowhere to be found but with the sons of numerous influential individuals in his grasp, Luis takes the entire school hostage. They set up lookout posts with heavy firearms and rig the campus with C-3 explosives. Unaware of this, Luis Cali and his men invade the school to capture Donoghue, killing a campus police officer and a faculty member who intervenes. Phil's father is the Federal Judge presiding over Enrique Cali's trial, so the entire family is taken to a safe location as a precaution. A group of pranksters led by Billy Tepper that includes Billy's best friend Joey Trotta, Hank Giles, Ricardo Montoya, Jonathan Bradberry, and Phil Donoghue are carefully watched over by their teachers and the stern but well-meaning Dean Parker. In the United States, the Regis High School is a prep school for teenage boys with wealthy and influential parents, many of whom have been expelled from other schools. They escape by helicopter, and with the weapons and logistics assistance of Luis's second-in-command, an American named Jack Thorpe, they enter the U.S. He demands the release of his drug kingpin father, Enrique Cali, only to learn that his father has already been extradited to the United States to stand trial. In Barranquilla, Colombia, terrorist Luis Cali has taken over the Palace of Justice with a team of mercenaries.