tfinance
David Soul and Rock Hudson star in this low budget, yet epic in scope miniseries about a Soviet invasion of Alaska to occupy an American oil valve station. I first watched this as a kid and was amazed at how seamlessly the script, the music, the acting all worked together to create more than the sum of its low budget parts. I bought a copy on VHS and have re-watched it many times. There is not much that can compare to the suspense that the script ratchets up scene after scene, until the final horrifying conclusion. Rock Hudson indeed gives his finest acting job, as other reviewers have noted. David Soul as usual is very underrated as an actor and leading man. The script is also a star here...only a little bit of Drama involving Cathy Lee Crosby, who is just adequate here. Of course it is a bit dated (this was before cellphones and internet widespread) but is still highly enjoyable and far superior to 99% of the miniseries out there. And it makes you think. Some scenes here will resonate deeply long after the viewing is over.
Dan Kyle
I agree with everyone else: a great TV-movie, with the always excellent David Soul, and I am SHOCKED that it never received a DVD release (or even VHS as far as I know, but I haven't checked eBay recently). At the time, circa 1982, with Reagan in the White House, and the following year's "The Day After" and ongoing anti-Nuke protests, the military conflict between the US & USSR was very relevant. Perhaps I should say extremely relevant: my generation's Cuban Missile Crisis. I am always amazed when I talk with someone under-30, who says "Reagan? Cold War? Huh???". I had friends who literally lived in a hole in the ground part of the year, with their bottled water and dried food stash. A bit crazy even for the day, but I was in the military reserve, and the mindset of the country, be you a pacifist or a warrior, was in agreement that the nuclear fireball was on it's way by warhead any day. Not to give any support to Bush #2, but in another 20 years we'll look back at the first decade of the 21st Century and tell our grandchildren about the Terrorist Attack(s), and they will have NO CLUE what we are talking about. This excellent TV-movie is a good reminder of those long years of living with the threat of nuclear war. I'm glad that it can be viewed now as an entertaining history lesson.
nukeman
World War III is an effective drama depicting a Soviet invasion of Alaskan oil feilds. Rock Hudson stars as the President of the United States. Even though it doesn't show the actual nuclear explosions, World War III is still an exciting movie. It ends like the movie Fail Safe, with freeze frames of people in different countries. I highly recommend this movie.
Eric-62-2
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").
AD
