By Dawn's Early Light

1990 "Four people... Three minutes... Two choices... One chance for survival."
6.9| 1h41m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 19 May 1990 Released
Producted By: Daniel L. Paulson Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A nuclear warhead launched by Soviet insurgents protesting the waning Cold War destroys the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. The destruction sets off a race between American and Soviet politicians to prevent a nuclear holocaust. While the U.S. president feverishly works to keep the military and political machine from going into overdrive, various subordinates panic. When the president is believed to be killed in a helicopter crash, zealous advisers take over.

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Director

Jack Sholder

Production Companies

Daniel L. Paulson Productions

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By Dawn's Early Light Audience Reviews

Cortechba Overrated
Jacomedi A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!
Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
benjaminwg Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure I took my mother to go see this and remember being confused as to why the poster said it was Not Rated. It wasn't at the theater for very long, but the 35mm print looked AMAZING. I vividly remember them banking to get a look at the mushroom cloud. The visual effects were excellent. This story, the performances, and those visuals have stayed with me for many years. I wish it would get a quality transfer from whatever 35mm prints may still exist or a transfer of perhaps one of the post-VFX inter- positives. I doubt the owners would pay to redo the optical composites digitally from the original "plates" and scan the 35mm negative, but that would obviously be ideal. RIP Powers Boothe.
Syl This made for television movie is about the Soviet Union during the Cold War years attacking America with nuclear bombs. The cast is first rate with Emmy winners James Earl Jones and Powers Boothe along with Rebecca DeMornay, Martin Landau, Rip Torn, Darren McGavin, Peter McNichol, Nicolas Coaster, Daniel Benzali, and others. The film is outdated now sincere Cold War has been over for some time. The film shows the fear of nuclear attacks during the Cold War. The film shows the possibility of life and terror. I didn't get the ending of the film at all as to what really happened to the planes. They do give you final notes about what was going on. Thank God, it's not based on reality.
savagesteve13 I don't know anything about Norad, SAC, ALC, or have been a nuclear submariner so sue me. The movie depicts us as we want our military leaders to be...ones that don't want war. The loose cannon in the fray is the psychotic vice president and the everybody else trying to reverse the end of the world. Liberal propaganda? If it is, then the conservative view is that if we tossed enough nukes at the USSR in the movie we could have won! Ooookay, sure yeah right thats how you win mutually assured destruction wars. Geez some folks that comment on here are nutjobs.I liked the acting, and I found it far more gripping than fail safe or any other nuclear war movie since it concentrated on the people rather than the nukes. If you are a nuke lover who gets aroused at the sight of an LGM-118A taking off than this movie's not for you. Low budgets don't necessarily mean low quality cinema. Another low budget flick about nuclear war I highly recommend along with this one is "Miracle Mile". Another leftist tree hugging commie loving movie you rightwing nuke missile shaft stroking types will hate.
jeff-1094 As a former nuclear submariner, I'm frequently annoyed when the producers of military movies just make stuff up in the name of dramatic expediency. I can also overcome this annoyance when the dramatic aspect of the film is worth expediting. Shoving in authentic military lingo can get in the way on occasion. This film was poorly researched, poorly acted, poorly written and poorly directed. It was a pure bruckheimer-esquire hack job whose only redeeming quality is its short running time. Everyone associated with this film should be ashamed. Their families should be ashamed. I can't believe this film got a higher rating than 'The Day After'. At least 'The Day After' was well researched, even if the acting was spotty.How you can take a dramatic theme like an ongoing nuclear standoff, great actors like James Earl Jones and still end up with a giant piece of garbage so lame that calling it hackneyed melodramatic drivel is far too generous a complement. If I ever meet Mr. Sholder, the director of this film, I will simply turn away and mutter to my doting family 'that man is dead to me.'