Friendly Fire is an American television movie first broadcast on the ABC network on April 22, 1979. Watched that night by an estimated 64 million people, Friendly Fire went on to win four Emmy awards, including Outstanding Drama Special. The movie tells the real-life story of Peg Mullen, a woman from rural Iowa who works against government obstacles to uncover the truth about the death of her son Michael, a soldier killed by American "friendly fire" in the Vietnam War in 1970. Mullen's husband Gene is played by Ned Beatty. Friendly Fire is based on the 1976 book of the same name, written by C. D. B. Bryan, which in turn was adapted from a series of New Yorker magazine articles Bryan had written about the Mullens and their ordeal..