OBJECTIVES: Primary: To evaluate whether a combination of Zoladex and flutamide used as cytoreductive agents prior to and during definitive radiation therapy improves overall survival over radiation therapy alone in locally confined carcinomas of the prostate; Secondary: To compare the rates of disease-specific survival, clinical relapse (local progression and/or distant failure), freedom from prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure, freedom from second clinical relapse, freedom from second PSA relapse, and disease-free survival; To compare the prostate re-biopsy at two years; To measure the effect on sexual function.