The Fourth War

Yes, stunning, as in stunningly silly. The only two saving graces were Tim Reid and Harry Dean Stanton. Even Roy Scheider couldn't save this. It's hard to believe John Frankenheimer was responsible for this mess.

Other than that it was great!

John Frankenheimer is an amazing director who has never been given the credit that he deserves. The Manchurian Candidate, Birdman Of Alcatraz, Seven Days In May and Black Sunday are among the great films that he has directed. This film deserves to be listed with them as well because it is a brilliant parable of what happens when two heroes only trained to fight in war have to live in a peacetime situation. Roy Schieder gives an awesome performance as a war weary colonel who just can't function in a peacetime setting. That very great character actor Harry Dean Stanton has a great scene where he chews him out. I think that the most chilling part of the film however is the one where Stanton quotes Albert Einstein when he was asked what kinds of weapons would be used in World War III and he replied that he did not know but that the fourth war would be fought with stones.

It's November 1988. Col. Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider) is newly assigned to a base in West Germany. He is a hardened warrior frustrated with the lackadaisical attitude of his soldiers. Most want him to relax his intensity as relationship with the Soviet Bloc warms up. He grows angry as a defector is shot dead by men under Czech Col. Valachev (Jürgen Prochnow) right in front of him at the border. He decides to go on his own infiltration mission into enemy territory.

This movie is obviously diffused by real world events. The Berlin Wall literally fell four months before the release of this movie. That's why an opening text was added to place this movie in 1988. The movie retains its logic in that sense but it loses its reality to the audience of its day. There was a few similar cold war thrillers that became out-of-date by the time they got released. It's not their fault but it cannot be discounted.

As for the movie itself, it has great potential as a dive into the psychology of an obsessed warrior but it becomes a clown crossed with Rambo. It's too silly and serious while being unrealistic all at the same time. The only action I truly love is the helicopter landing. The helicopter is hovering around with real intensity like it's going to hit the ground. The movie closes by paraphrasing Albert Einstein, "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." It misunderstands the quote by trying to tie it to that final fight. It's obviously an important theme for the movie which makes the flawed understanding a little problematic. All in all, the movie has problems and struggles to compete with real world events.

The premise of this film is totally off the wall. Yet it's good entertainment as two hardened soldiers fight their own personal war across the iron curtain. Almost too bad that the cold war is over because they don't make movies like this anymore. Roy Scheider and Jurgen Prochnow give the capable performances one would expect of them but the outstanding performer is Harry Dean Stockton as the US general.He was top notch.

It's really a silly idea for a movie. But what the heck. I enjoyed it!

A furiously intense story that takes place shortly after the Cold War where an American colonel (Roy Scheider - "Jaws") who has a troubled past, picks a fight with a high-ranking Soviet military officer, (Jurgen Prochnow - "Das Boot") that nearly escelates into a Tarantino-like standoff. Scheider and Prochnow are both good and so is Harry Dean Stanton ("The Straight Story"), who plays Scheider's superior officer and an old war buddy who is concerned about his friend. Director John Frankenheimer ("Ronin") is smart in making the film go smoothly and I got kick out of the scene where Prochnow and two other Russian officers briefly watch an American (college) football game on t.v., question it, and laugh at it.