World War III

product has arrived and was exactly as expected

!!!Quality sound and picture!!Loved this TV movie back then..love it now.

I was ten years old when WORLD WAR III debuted on television. I was lusting for some good ole slam-bang, commie-slaughtering action, and in that regard I wasn't disappointed. This two part TV movie, however, offers a helluva lot more than bloody combat sequences. It's a frightening, really almost terrifying speculative look at how the Cold War might have ended with a red-hot bang.The story begins sometime in the "near future" (which, since the flick was shot in '82, presumably means the late 1980s), with the Soviet Union being wracked by food riots caused by a U.S. led grain embargo. In response, and without the knowledge of the moderate Soviet leader Secretary Gorny (Brian Keith), KGB boss Gen. Rudenski (Robert Prosky) sends an elite Soviet unit led by Col. Voroshin (Jeroen Krabbe) to a remote part of Alaska.Their mission? To blackmail the U.S. into resuming grain shipments by threatening the Alaskan oil pipeline with destruction.The fly in the Soviet ointment is a disgruntled U.S. Army officer named Col. Jake Caffey (David Soul), who has been exiled to Alaska for being too smart, too independent, and a pain in the a** generally. When a patrol of National Guardsmen goes missing, Caffey rapidly discovers the cause, and, divining Voroshin's mission, hunkers down at the pumping station which is the Red Army man's objective. Cut off by the weather from any hope of rescue, he has to hold out at all costs. As a brutal, no-quarter fight erupts at the station between the outgunned National Guard and the elite Red Army commandos, the American president McKenna (Rock Hudson) frantically attempts to negotiate with his opposite number, Gorny. With neither man willing to back down, and with Gorny's hands tied by the KGB, the world slides closer and closer to a general war nobody wants but nobody seems able to avoid.I am now 40 years old, and I expected that when this film FINALLY was released by the WB Archie Collection in DVD, it would seem incredibly dated and clunky. And in all honestly, it does have all the hallmarks of a TV movie: outbursts of silly writing, second-rate production values, shallow characterizations, and some general cheesiness. But on the whole I was astonished at how effective it is all the way through. The violence is extremely brutal and graphic, with lots of blood, screams and close-ups on the faces of dying men and women -- there are several massacre sequences at the beginning that shocked me as a boy of ten (used to cartoon-style violence) and were still pretty gruesome to watch even now. While the supposedly elite Soviet commandos act more like blundering Cylons for most of the story, the combat sequences are by and large well done, and I might add, so are the tete-a-tete sequences between Gorny and McKenna. The music, by Melle, is occasionally shrill and discordant, but with its brooding synthesizers also evocative and reminiscent of Tangerine Dream's score for THE KEEP (another Robert Prosky film). And the acting deserves special mention. While I found it hard to get to know either Voroshin or Caffey very well, I was extremely impressed by Rock Hudson's performance: his deep-voiced, hard-mannered self-assurance crumble by degrees as he sees the whole world slide closer and closer toward the abyss. Brian Keith is also very good as the hamstrung Gorny. And Robert Prosky is, well, Robert Prosky -- always a delight. Hell, this flick even has Herbert Jefferson in it (you can't go wrong with "Boomer" from the old BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.)It would be easy to nitpick more flaws, but also pointless, because on the whole, WORLD WAR III does exactly what it says it will -- make the viewer watch as intelligent, dedicated men make one miscalculation after another until there seems absolutely nothing left to do but push the button. The Cold War is long over, but the lingering fear of looking out a window and seeing a mushroom cloud bloom over the city remains...and its just that fear, skillfully and responsibly exploited, that makes going to this particular war so much horrifying fun.

Love it very much

I bought this from amazon.com as my German based amazon did not offer it at all. They only offer a strongly cut version (about 100 min less!!),needless to say that it is not worth even spending a second on it. Whereas the US full length version is outstanding quality regarding still actual plot and detailed plot development with awesome characters and impressive ,unavoidable development/escalation of the plot. Not to forget the performers,who are really great. A real cold war period thriller! I saw this film/ series being a child in the 80s for the first time ...and it kept me impressed since then till now.My brain has been kept captured,still remembering fractions/scenes up to today, without remembering the whole film anymore....it did really made a big impact on me. Needless to say, that as someone, who raised up during cold war period and in an area where troops of various Nato countries had been deployed, this plot could have turned out to become bloody reality at any second!If you expect hightech, fast motion visual effects of today blockbusters,then you could get disappointed somehow...you'll surely will! There is blood, realistic, impressive ..but no computer animated slaughterhouse scenes, or exaggerated scenes only to be shown for mainstream reasons.. But if you would like to take a look back how times have been once, if you want great actors gripping the audiance, a thrilling plot and the outcoming certainity,that this all could still happen today, in the future, if we forget about certain attitudes, ideas once developed..than don't even hesitate a second..get yourself this masterpiece! For sure, you then will also remember the famous Einstein statement, that he does not know with what kind of weapons the third world war would be fought, but that he is sure the fourth world war would be fought again with stones... Thanks again,that this full length version is available!

Good movie.

Re-mastering did not produce a quality video.

"World War III" is one of the best Cold War thrillers of all time. It ranks up there with the movies "Fail Safe," "Dr. Strangelove" ("or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb"), "By Dawn's Early Light," and "Twilight's Last Gleaming." It stars the great actors Rock Hudson, Brian Keith, David Soul and Cathy Lee Crosby. I saw this video on YouTube and planning to download it, but it was removed due to a "Community Strike" against the user who had uploaded the movie. I'm glad that I have a copy of this great movie on DVD which demonstrates on how political, diplomatic, and military moves can lead to Nuclear War. Any politician (no matter which country that they live in) should be required to watch this movie because it shows on how political, diplomatic, and military posturing could lead to military and diplomatic miscalculations, misjudgments, misperceived prejudices, idiosyncrasies, etc. This is the same things that Barbara Tuchman pointed out in her book, "The Guns of August" on how World War I was stumbled into by Imperial Germany, France, the Austria-Hungary Empire, and Imperialist Russia in 1914.

Not a very pleasant subject but a must see for people interested in the Cold War era.

Remember watching this back when it originaly aired on the TV. It was a very good Brian Keith was great as the harried Russian Premier. I was strange seeing David Soul outside his Starsky and Hutch role, but I really enjoyed him in this. It was nice watching it again after all these years.

A great Cold War era film, although it appears a bit 'dated' watching it today. It still shows how easily it is to start a nuclear war when one side misinterprets the actions of the other side. Thank you.

superbe film avec david soul dommage qu il ne soit pas en francais .vivement je racheterais la version francaise si elle sort

First televised in I think the 1980s about a special kgb unit thatInvades Alaska they idea is to capture an oil pipeline to ransomSince the usa has with held grain to the user ,David soul is sent out to investigateWhen a national guard unit goes missing.............The. Dvd is not available in the UK to purchase but isAvailable as region region free in the states. Picture quality is very good