By Dawn's Early Light (1990)

A fanatical terrorist group explode a nuclear missile over a Russian city. This perpetuates a chain reaction of ever-escalating retaliation that could lead to a total nuclear holocaust. It's up to the blinded, but still savvy president (a typically fine performance by Martin Landau) and B-52 bomber pilots Cassidy (the always strong and commanding Powers Boothe) and Moreau (well played with sensitivity by Rebecca De Mornay) to avert this catastrophe before it's too late. Director Jack Sholder relates the gripping story at a brisk pace, ably crafts plenty of nerve-rattling tension, and maintains a tough gritty tone throughout. Bruce Gilbert's taut and smart script makes the chilling point that both basic human error and well programmed technology serving its purpose a bit too well combined together could easily bring about a nuclear apocalypse. The excellent acting by the tip-top cast keeps this picture humming: James Earl Jones as the no-nonsense Alice, Rip Torn as the hawkish Colonel Fargo, Darren McGavin as incompetent acting president Condor, Jeffrey DeMunn as the sensible Harpoon, Peter MacNicol as loyal aide Sedgwick, Nicolas Coster as ramrod General Redding, and Glenn Withrow as the unsettled Tyler. Alexander Gruszynski's slick cinematography provides an impressive polished look. An on the money nail-biter.

I saw this twenty seven years ago on HBO. It reminded me of the two movies from 1064,"Dr.Strangelove" and "Fail Safe" coincidently one actor was in this film along with "Dr.Strangelove". It really makes you think about how much our planet and all on it rely now, because of the Cold War, on computers, machines along with codes and just how fragile systems of former Cold War enemies along with a host of other nations are and those computers and machines function properly to prevent self induced extinction.

A B-52 bomber crew is scrambled into action. After the plane takes off there is a nuclear strike on their base. The unthinkable has happened. They look back thru their bomb scope, and the base is gone. One of the crewman can't believe it. He thinks the base is still there. His wife and children are - were - down there. He can't believe it and they can't convince him the base is gone. He refuses to take his position on the plane. He's consumed with grief. Inconsolable he ejects himself out the bomber without a parachute.Meanwhile the presidents helicopter has crashed and he's been injured. It's only been a limited nuclear war so far and he's determined to stop the war from escalating, the only problem is, he's no longer in control of the military.The bomber continues on it's way to Russia, minus one crewman. The flight is almost exactly like the flight of the bomber in the movie 'Dr Strangelove' - "It's just one bomber Demitri", "I don't know why it's so hard to find it", "they're trained for that Demitri". Except in this flight, the female pilot convinces the crew to turn around and not drop their bombs on Russia. It turns out their inaction keeps the war from escalating and the president is able to regain control of the military.

There have been many attempts to portray some of the overall horror of supposed conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. For many who have been in the forces, By Dawn's Early Light came very close to everything we were taught, everything we had to prepare for, if the real thing ever happened.Whilst some films seek to show the madness of nuclear conflict (Strangelove) and others try to portray what might happen if things went wrong (Fail-safe), By Dawn's Early Light shows the picture from both the crew doing their job, delivering nuclear ordnance, to the President trying to turn the war off whilst his successor, badly advised, seeks to strike back with all his might to destroy the enemy and win the war. In the end, the conclusion that both the crews and the executive branches reach, is that global thermonuclear war IS madness and that the only safe solution is not to play.In the film, the conflict is started with a renegade/terrorist attack on the Soviets. All we can hope, is that when the first terrorist nuclear weapon is used (probably on the west), the executive branch realise that the only solution is to find a way to a) take the weapons out of the hands of the irresponsible and b) try not to take retaliatory action.The performances by James Earl Jones, Rebecca De Mornay and Powers Boothe are exceptional. The film would have been better without the personal relationship between the last two, but even with the limited budget for special effects, they managed to pull off a believable and tense drama. If America ever has to commit to nuclear war, I hope they have men of the character of James Earl Jones's General. A man who follows orders, but is just as prepared to question if the orders are illegal and insane and act against them.