Saturday, December 7, 2013

Cold Possible War Reminds Me of Cold War Possible War

Whenever folks start to raise the possibility of combat in the Arctic, all I can think of is this cheesy 1982 television movie: World War III [See here for short NY review]. I mentioned it last night on twitter, and folks were surprised not to have seen it.  Of course, they didn't, it was a one time mini-series.  But it made an impression, burned into my head, so that many of the images in the trailer resonate today.

I forgot that Boomer of the original Battlestar Galatica was in it, but it looks like he gets killed early.  [No, I am not posting Spoiler for something that is more than thirty years old].  But David Soul facing down the sympathetic Soviet officer while the apparatchik's back home refuse to back down in this game of chicken served cold?  That I remember.  I also remember the ending--WWIII.  Ooops.



I had forgotten that there had been a break down in civil-military relations on the Soviet side, and I had also forgotten that random Colonel (in this case, Soul) got to speak on the phone with the President (Rock Hudson!).  So much cheesy goodness in a 2 minute trailer.  It is not worth the 200 minutes, however.  I can assure you of that.

Anyhow, that is the flashback TV tale of the weekend.





No comments: