By Dawn's Early Light

MOVIE #1,779 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 07.03.24 D̷I̷R̷E̷C̷T̷O̷R̷ ̷F̷I̷L̷L̷-̷I̷N̷ ̷S̷E̷R̷I̷E̷S̷:̷ JACK SHOLDER I guess people like this one — an early made for HBO jam, which marks Jack Sholder’s first descent into the world of TV film that he would operate in extensively for the rest of his career — but it was oddly confusing, too overstuffed with jargon and a constantly shifting plot in its attempt for realism within what’s a rather implausible scenario (WWIII starts accidentally, whoops!). Maybe in 1990 this didn't seem as insane, though. You could call this ‘cold war fever hangover’ core probably. Not really my bag even if I think it's pretty well-executed for what it is. It was funny to see (Sholder fave) President Martin Landau replaced by President Dad from a A Christmas Story. Also the predictive computer system in this is named “psyop” (!). Nuke fallout special FX only a 1990 HBO could buy...

(FYI I actually like how that looks - it was a joke)

Also, the Powers Boothe / Rebecca De Mornay dynamic as Relationship Bomber Pilots™ is... something...

In the end, I think this needed more Rip Torn. You could say that about any movie but Rip Torn is in this one and it's a pretty small role.

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By Dawn's Early Light is an HBO original movie, first aired in 1990. It is based on the 1983 novel Trinity's Child, written by William Prochnau. It was released on May 19, 1990.