By Dawns Early Light - 1990 - Full movie YT

"By Dawns Early Light" (1990)
Full movie
Duration: 83 mins.

Here's something for the weekend. It came up in my YT feed and I watched it the other night.

It's Ok, although I'm no expert in Cold War nuke tactics. Maybe those in the Forces can debunk much of the movie.

With James Earl Jones, I just had to watch it and I wasn't disappointed.

Favourite quote:
"Will somebody give me a cigarette... A REAL CIGARETTE!!"

It's quite frightening how quickly a nuclear attack and retaliation can escalate and become out of control when the chain of command is broken or taken over by egotistical maniacs.

Lots of chest puffing, military jargon, but also many illustrations of human emotions and qualities come through - good and bad.

Finally, I love the cheesy codes used for the DEFCON levels.

Oh, please be patient until the very end, I think it's worth it.

Anyway, no more spoilers...

YouTube description:

A non-NATO nuclear missile is fired from Turkey at USSR, where it detonates. Soviet response is automatic as it's seen as a NATO missile. Can continued escalation be avoided? We follow the US president and a bomber crew. An interesting tale about world powers playing a dangerous game of nuclear brinkmanship. Based on the 1983 novel "Trinity's Child", written by William Prochnau. The film is one of the last to depict the events of a fictional World War III before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Starring: President: Martin Landau. Cassidy: Powers Boothe. Moreau: Rebecca De Mornay. Alice: James Earl Jones. Condor: Darren McGavin. Fargo: Rip Torn. Sedgewick: Peter MacNicol. Harpoon: Jeffrey

Enjoy!

Yeah i have that film..

maybe you would like this hidden gem.


full film
ok.ru...

a reply to: Encia22

Thanks, I have it qued for later. YT suggested yesterday after I watched a Bridge To Far.
youtu.be...


As I'm now seeing the irony of what I posted this morning.

a reply to: Fisherr

Cheers, looks intriguing, but it's in Russian... I can't see a language option.

I remember this movie it was an HBO production, right around when they started making movies. It's a tad dated but it had good actors in it, along with James Earl Jones, Darren McGavin, Powers Booth, Dean Stockton, and Rebecca DeMornay. It was a fine enough movie with a damn good ending.

Let's just hope Biden's advisors don't want to cut the head off the Russian "chicken"

a reply to: Bigburgh

Damn it, it's not available where I am... I'm going to have to go dark web to find it... 😉

Gene Hackman is great... if I can't find it, I can always fall back on the French Connection.

Thanks anyway!

a reply to: putnam6

James Earl Jones was in Dr. Strangelove as a B-52 crew member remember?


Another excellent cold war movie.

originally posted by: Bigburgh
a reply to: putnam6

James Earl Jones was in Dr. Strangelove as a B-52 crew member remember?

Another excellent cold war movie.

I did not know that? always been a fan of JEJ though it has been decades since Ive seen Dr. Strangelove. Perhaps a cold war movie binge with Fail-Safe, Hunt for Red October, and speaking of Hackman we got Crimson Tide

One of my favorites, just watched it a couple of weeks ago for the umteenth time...

Also check out the 80's - The Day After.

The Day After

a reply to: putnam6

That James Earl Jones is a Cold War Lovin Mother.

a reply to: elevatedone

Another good one.
youtu.be...

a reply to: Bigburgh

Holy hog, what happened to you??!!

And of course...RAND Corp...

Lt. Lothar Zogg: "Uh... bomb door circuits negative function. The lights are all red."

"Major Kong, is it possible this is some kind of loyalty test, you know, give the go-code and, then, recall, to see who would actually go?"
"Hey, where'd Major Kong go?"

Gotta luv the 80's fear propaganda. Yea, The Day After, one of my favs too.

A Bridge Too Far, Warning Sign, Threads (1984), The Atomic Cafe (1982)
bflix.ru...

an excellent movie and IMO quite realistic.
well except for the critical bomber disobeying orders.
in real life IMO most of them would follow the orders without question or hesitation.
along with alot of the nukes (due to ICBM and SLBM) would give little time for them to question anything.
much less them refusing having any effect.
alot is automated response plans.

btw another good story is in book form called LEVEL SEVEN



Level 7 (novel) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org... › wiki › Level_7_(novel)
Level 7 is a 1959 science fiction novel by the Ukrainian-born Israeli writer Mordecai Roshwald. It is told from the first-person perspective (a diary)

an excellent story why automating war is our doom

scrounger

a reply to: scrounger

Thanks for your input and the link to the book.

Yep, I thought the bomber squadron wouldn't have abandoned the mission either, but I guess the movie wouldn't have had the same level of drama.

a reply to: Encia22

One of my favorite movies from this time is "WWIII" staring Rock Hudson as the president, Brian Keith as Soviet Premiere, David Soul as Col Caffrey

The plot is that president Mckenna has imposed a grain emabargo, along with other countries on Soviets for their misdeeds

The embargo has caused food shortages and civil unrest in USSR

A cabal in the Kremlin has parachuted a special forces "desant" platoon into Alaska. The Soviets ambush a National Guard unit on manuevers. Col Caffrey is sent to find the missing men. Linking up with the remainder of the National Guard unit they discover one of the men barely alive who lives long enough to give them a clue as to the attackers

They discover the Soviet force and begin shadowing it while reporting to Washington what they found. McKenna is in a bind, unable to reinforce the stranded National Guard because of bad weather. He needs time, while calling a surprise
alert to DEFCON 3. Caffrey and National Guard observe the Soviet force as it move towards it objective which they discover is a pump station on the Alaska pipeline Seizing the pump station can destroy the pipeine. Mckenna tells them he needs time, Using 2 Huey Helicopters able to get ahead of the Soviets and fortify the pump station beating off several attacks. MCkenna has confronted the Soviet Premiere withe the incursion, the Premiere is informed of the plan and told to support it or else. Back at the pump station Caffrey is running out of ammo and men. McKenna and Soviet Premiere conduct a secret summit to resolve the issue which fails. At the pump station the Soviet commander meets with Caffrey
to discuss a cease fire. The Political officer throws a grenade into the middle killing them The Soviets overrun the defenders , while back into world, increasing numbers of incidents between Soviets and USA result in Kremlin ploters to assassinate the preniere and take over. The Soviets them launch a first strike against the US fearing the US will strangle them

Movie ends with Armaggeddon

a reply to: firerescue

I saw that one as a child

it was well done , especially for a tv movie

scrounger

a reply to: Encia22

Looks like the old YT is no more.

Here's a new one.

a reply to: Encia22

Sadly most of the cast members have passed away since

a reply to: Encia22

Unfortunately this may be played out for real with the events in Ukraine ...........