From the opening credits and the musical intro, you know that this is going to be a bomb. I picked up this movie thinking that it would be a classic Nuclear war classic film but all I got was a bunch of small scale skirmishing and these conference rooms shots of the President and the Russian Premier engaged in tension packed discussion about nuclear warfare. I had just watched "Threads" for the second time and another great BBC documentary that discussed the true horrors of Nuclear conflict and was looking forward to a similar quality film but this is just so low budget and with just some familiar actors in this obviously canned film for the time, I can not recommend this film in any way, shape or fashion.

I was a freshman in high school when this movie aired, and my friends and I were certain we'd never live to 20 due to the threat of nuclear holocaust. Maybe that's why this movie left such a lasting impression on me, particularly the Alaskan scenes with soldiers stationed in overlapping pipes to narrow their field of fire and conserve ammunition. Few TV movies have achieved that level of suspense.It's a little ironic all these years later that my two favorite TV miniseries both starred David Soul. He was absolutely believable in this film, and he does a wonderful job of coaxing the viewer to empathize with his military unit's predicament. My other favorite from the era, Salem's Lot, still gives me goosebumps thanks to a wide DVD release. To think of all the junk that is getting released on DVD these days, it's a shame that this film hasn't.

I've always enjoyed this film mainly due to the fine acting of David Soul (Kudo's Dave!). Many other fine performances are also present - Kathy Lee Crosby's sexy and rugged portrayal gets high marks too. But here's something interesting: the film is good, but if you liked it, you must get the book and read it. The only reason they didn't film it as in the novel is a limited budget (read the book, you'll see what I mean). There were something like 800 russian troops against 50 or so GI's but they had more ammo, weapons, and choppers! And the finale is even more exciting! Read it!

Thankfully, this 1982 miniseries no longer has any contemporary relevance unless you're doing a study of Cold War era movies (I won't comment on the dated aspects of the political outlook, since I've done that with other movies like "2010" and "Dr. Strangelove"). I have to wonder though if the previous reviewer is confusing Brian Keith's performance in "Meteor" with this one, because that was the film where he spoke only Russian. In this one, it was just accented English.Rock Hudson is credible as the president, though there's really not much to brag about from the rest of the cast. I do have to give the producers credit for their metaphorical depiction of the end. Gil Melle's music accompanying the images is probably the most frightening sounding I've ever heard in a TV score. It's much more eerily effective than the graphic attempts at realism in "The Day After" (and reminiscent of the ending of "Fail Safe").