This movie's only missing two elements; good acting and good writing. It obviously had a liberal budget for a made-for-TV feature but it serves as an excellent illustration of the difference that those two missing elements really make in a movie.For a good lesson watch this thing and then, the same evening, watch "Fail Safe" with Henry Fonda, a movie with a tiny budget but enormous acting and writing talents. The difference between the two will be breathtaking, even to a novice.The shame of Dawn is that it actually featured some fine actors such as James Earl Jones (whose presence is limited to reciting some 11th grade dialog) and Martin Landau (whose character is unconscious for much of the film).

This film was recommended to me by a friend or (ex-friend as he has become to be known after this movie,)and I had high hopes for it, with stars such as rip torn and James Earl Jones.But this was truly awful, with truly awful acting and scriptwriting. The story could and should of been so much better, but it was soo bad, i actually signed up to IMDb, just to comment on it.Dropping nuclear bombs just to kill fighter jets? come on..... and classic lines like...."bogey's my are, them's bandits"......all the guy needed was the cowboy act and well it would be fantastic......I got 45mins & 36 seconds into this movie and then decided i really didn't care, fast forwarded to the last 5 mins, and pleased for the credit to come.However this was released onto DVD, ill never know......All i can summarise is, a truly awful movie, and one which makes you wish that a nuclear bomb had been dropped, just to save everyone from this movie.

Quite a good movie considering the fact that it appears to me to be a low budget film. I like films that hit upon this theme of Nuclear Warfare. This is a serious Dr Strangelove. For those of you that like this kind of movie though I would recommend "Threads" which I definitely prefer, it brings us the situation from the people's experience whereas this gets the political situation and military situation. Someone, we are not entirely sure who, drops a nuclear bomb and The Soviet Union who immediately blame the states by hitting back and then so on and so forth, how are we going to end it type of thing. there are some parts though which are utterly non convincing like the way the president survives and his poor acting, and also the pilot on a mission to blow a civilization with his loving girlfriend as co pilot.

The 2 rating provided IS generous - this has to be one of the worst movies ever- POOR acting, POOR storyline, POOR production....disjointed, unrealistic and filled with inane script and scenes alike. A few VERY feeble attempts to mimic FAIL SAFE (a classic!!!) - .... probably the most pathetic acting by James Earl Jones (gotta laugh at the stupid cigarette sequence) - what the hell was that all about? The two lead actors (pilot and co-pilot) gave the most out of character and grossly idiotic performances ever seen on film. Even Martin Landau disappoints, and as for Gavin Mcleod , duh... Right from the laughable intro motel scene to the final idiotic comment by deMornay this film will either immensely aggravate you or have you rolling in laughter as you watch scene after scene of idiocy and pure unadulterated garbage. Geez WAS this BAD!!!!