Tension filled tale of a US Naval captain’s maniacal pursuit of a trespassing Soviet submarine that turns into a fatal obsession. Richard Widmark gives a strong performance as the captain who follows a logic based on sense of duty, patriotism and antagonism that ultimately pushes his adversary to desperate retaliation. The results of this quest are not good. As bleak an ending to this one as may be found in the genre of war films and speculative cinema. Some people just don’t know when to give up. In B & W.
Tag Archives: Cold War
WORLD WAR 3 – (1982)
Although this TV movie was released in 1982, it seems like history rolls around again and the Cold War is a timely topic again. War and aggression in the World. Some things never change.
A strategic United States “listening post” located near the Bering Strait becomes compromised by Russian agents masquerading as U.S. soldiers and suddenly a gateway opens up to an invading force to get onto American soil. Hostilities have been brewing between both countries as a result of a grain embargo that would have otherwise fed starving Russian masses and then some KGB machinations take place which result in assassination and, Voila! A standoff occurs between the two countries’ forces at an oil pipeline station. Only the fate of both nations and maybe the rest of the world hangs in the balance.
Nice turn by David Soul who is best known for his beefcake turn as one of the cops in “Starsky and Hutch”. He is tasked with the impossible role of being the commander of a tattered force of soldiers who are outnumbered by an invading horde. There are the echoes of the American Revolution where guerilla warfare must be resorted to in order to cripple a superior force trying to kill you. Not to be forgotten for his thespian skills is The Rock. Hudson, that is, as the guilt ridden POTUS, appalled at the thought of World War 3 and the ensuing exchange of nuclear arsenals that is inevitable. As you can well imagine, things don’t end well.