By Dawn's Early Light
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Movie Reviews of By Dawn's Early Light
Movie Review: Good Stuff.
Summary: 4 Stars
Hmm. I have to start by saying that it's been a long time since I saw this film, but would really love to see it again. As other reviewers have mentioned, it may be low budget made for TV fare, but the cast is pretty impressive and although some of the dialog is rather stilted, it is well acted and the overall effect is tense and they get a good mix of "action" and tension build. This is a good film.
The film wastes little time in getting down to the action which is good, the main weak link for me is the love interest between Booth and DeMornay, which to be honest is not required. The same tensions between the by the book aircraft commander and his co-pilot would have worked just as well if they had not been romantically involved or indeed if they had been 2 men (or women). The B52 crew goes a little nuts, but it is impossible to predict the reaction of people in this situation if their families had just been killed. There is genuine tension in the scenes involving the crew.
For me, the standout performance is the ever-dependable Martin Landau, as the tortured President trying to make sense of the situation and divine the intentions of his opposite number. Obviously he learned much during his command position on Moon Base Alpha.
Its nice to see some of the reviewers that were involved in the US air force give this film the thumbs up as well, I also crewed battlefield nuclear weapons and found the command and control sequences of the film also quite realistic, as I understood them to be at the time.
So all in all, highly recommended Cold War techno-thriller type film that would keep the Tom Clancy brigade occupied for a couple of hours.
Movie Review: Good movie for the price.
Summary: 4 Stars
My friend gave me "The Day After" as a gift, and after watching that movie I was interested in seeing other Cold War era movies. This movie was cheaper than "Fail Safe" and from the reviews, it sounded okay, so I bought it. I'm glad I did.
As noted in other reviews, "The Dawns Early Light" revolves around a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. Thinking that they were attacked by NATO, the Soviets launch a limited nuclear attack on the U.S., then the Soviet Premier FAXes/e-mails the President and tell him that it was a big mistake (I guess there was no direct line red phone).
The U.S. armed forces go on alert and launch in response, even as their bases are being bombed. Later, the U.S. President talks with the Soviet Premier to discuss options of limiting the overall damage, having decided that the attack was a mistake. But, while the attack on the U.S. was said to be a mis-understanding, Soviet fighters kept attacking the bombers and U.S. ships were being torpedoed.
References are made about China attacking the U.S.S.R., but it seemed a little odd that the U.S. President didn't have direct communication with the leaders of other NATO countries, or any reports of what was happening outside of the U.S. The U.S. President may be able to stop the U.S. attack, but what about China?
I noted what I thought was a vailed reference to "Star Trek" when the General, played by James Earl Jones, tells the pilot of his aircraft "Smitty" that he needs full power out of his engines, to catch another plane within five minutes.
This movie would be a good addition to a Cold War era collection.
Movie Review: Cut the Head Off of the Communist Chicken!
Summary: 4 Stars
First, I am not qualified to evaluate how realistic this scenario was at the time this film was made. I do not have the necessary political and military background.
Overall, the film is very grim (as it should be). The scenario is that a limited nuclear exchange takes place very early on in the film due to a series of mistakes/miscommunications/misperceptions on both sides. Most of the film is centered around avoiding a full nuclear exchange. Even if successful, the damage and death toll is still tremendous.
Some other reviewers have criticized the dialogue and that gets to the point of this review. So far over 60 people have reviewed this film but nobody has mentioned the most memorable line in the film:
"Cut the head off of the Communist Chicken!"
This is perhaps the most hilarious line I have ever heard in a movie! The context of this line is that it summarizes/concludes a colonel's plan to kill the soviet leadership with a nuclear warhead. The line is delivered in a firm and serious manner which makes it even funnier. I have to conclude that the film director inserted this line into the dialogue as a form of black humor.
The rest of this film is 100% serious.
Overall I enjoyed the film, I thought it was decent. Perhaps the film is not realistic - I will leave that for those with a military background to evaluate. However, for the typical person on the street's perspective, the film is believable.
Movie Review: By Dawn's Early Light Comments
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this movie. It's storyline was plausible for the era except for the part about how not ready our military forces were for this event. During the Reagan era, our forces were on extraordinarily high alert because the Soviets were a credible threat to our way of life. As a member of the US Air Force during that era, I recall all the exercises we played in just in case of that fateful event. Thankfully, it never happened. Our forces, intelligence resources, and early warning systems would have given us much more time to react to the threat depicted in this movie than the movie leads us to believe. That said, here are the positives.
Powers Boothe's crew were realistic in the lines they "read". I think in the event of a nuclear war, if air forces are airborne, air crews would be saying nearly the same things as the movie shows us. The tactic of releasing a nuke before some mountains and using the same mountains to shield your aircraft from the blast/shockwave is questionable but makes the movie more exciting. And, I think showing a weak president remaining at the White House is a possible scenario, since he could take cover underneath the same; but a sane president would've evacuated to his safe haven to unleash American nukes on the enemy.
Still, it's a good movie, worth the money, makes one think about one possible way a nuclear war COULD happen, and didn't waste time with character introductions.
Movie Review: Late Cold War Drama
Summary: 4 Stars
Dramas based upon the cold war have a long history stretching back to the 50s. Most of the good ones were from early in the era. This one comes from near the end but it is a surprising good one.
The story is fairly predictable. Because of a misunderstanding, a nuclear conflict is initiated. There are various opportunities to draw things back but, because of a few bloodthirsty types, usually in US, the conflict continues to escalate and the horror continues to increase.
The show continues a few stereotypes:
Pilots are self centered and vain.
Women don't have the commitment to accomplish a hard mission.
Praying/Christian types are war mongers.
The Soviet Union isn't all that bad.
The US Navy is morally and intellectually superior to the other service (OK, this one is just my bias)
Nuclear wars are absurdly easy to trigger.
Despite the predictability, the film works. It is interesting, it has some interesting characters, it presents some horrible possibilities and there are some really honorable people. James Earl Jones in particular gives a strong and honorable performance as the airborne commander of the Looking Glass plane.
This is not very enlightening or edifying but it was interesting. Its worth watching if you have nothing better to do.