Condition Red

By Dawn's Early Light is tautly paced and very suspenseful.

It chronicles a mistaken nuclear exchange and the aftermath. The cast is very strong and extensive. There is much intrigue at work in BDEL and it involves players you wouldn't expect.

My complaint about BDEL involves some improbable happenings in the relationship between pilot Booth and co-pilot de Mornay. There is early establishment that Booth is the alpha of the pair. That is quickly and inexplicably reversed very soon after. Suddenly de Mornay is ordering Booth around and he follows instruction with no hesitation. Second, de Mornay has one eye exposed to a nuclear flash. She says she is blind in that eye. No more mention of the injury for the rest of the film. No visible evidence of the retinal burns. No red eye. No swelling. No watering. Nothing resulting from this painful injury. Baffling.

Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this 1990 HBO production. Back in the day....

This movie was one that makes you really think about our leaders and what type of decisions they would make in regards to our Nations defense in time of war. It would actually scare the hell out of me if this is what is is really like.

Hell, dealing with some of these same type people I have in the military scares the crap out of me.

The movie had it's share of sub-plots that all made their way into the big story made the film better.

However, had this film been based on acting alone, it would not have done so well. The acting in some parts had seemed to be a bit overdone and unrealistic. Thank god for the decent story line or this movie would have truly flopped.

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.

Having flown on board NEACP and the now defunct Looking Glass as well as worked in the former SAC underground Command Post, I could not help but reminisce of the 'old' days in Blue. From the EAM's (Emergency Action Message) to the SIOP (Single Integrated Operation Procedures) procedures, the feel of authenticity was great. This is not the best of apocalyptical films I have seen and the acting left something to be desired (Powers Boothe HAS done better) While I disagree with the way the NCA (National Command Authority) was portrayed, it's still not too bad a movie. Better acting, remove the sexual issue between the Pilot and the Co-Pilot, and much better special effects would have made this a better film.

This film is, in my mind, all about what could happen if terrorists got their hands on nuclear weapons and technology did not take account of it. Russia's automatic retaliation to the strike on Donetsk triggers utter political turmoil as Russia realise, too late, that they are victims of terrorism, rather than under US attack. The big mistake was not keeping China informed of what was happening.

The acting in this film is excellent. Most of it seems very plausible, but would anyone really agree to a limited retaliation? Of course, the Soviet Union probably could not have made much contribution to rebuilding back then, so maybe it would be more plausible for the time.

The mind battle between Condor and the real President is excellent. This is a "must see" film for anyone interested in world politics.