I bet President McKenna . . . . .(Spoiler inside)
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — World War III
jloper — 19 years ago(February 12, 2007 10:27 AM)
I bet that just before the end, President McKenna (Rock Hudson's character) wished he had used the Hacksaw missile. (About halfway through the movie, he was advised that an American sub close by was armed with a "Hacksaw" nuclear missile that could have taken out the Russian DESANT unit.)
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artisticengineer — 19 years ago(March 02, 2007 09:29 AM)
Would not have mattered at that point. The "Act of War" had been completed, and the Soviet Premiere (who wanted peace and could have given in to the request of the President) had been killed by his own people.
If, for example, during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis Premiere Khrushchev (who did not want a nuclear war) had been killed off by his own people then President Kennedy would have had no real option except to launch a U.S. first strike against the Soviet missile and bomber bases. Because, in that case the Soviets would have been clearly preparing to launch theirs. -
jloper — 19 years ago(March 12, 2007 01:14 PM)
I have World War III on video, and the scene where the American President is offered the option of using the Hacksaw missile came in about the first third or half of the movie, before the Russians captured the valve station and way before Comrade Gorny was blown up in his car.
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artisticengineer — 19 years ago(March 13, 2007 05:40 AM)
Yes, I remember that. However, I was stating that once the Soviet Premiere was assassinated then it was obvious that full nuclear war was inevitable (that is, there was nobody in Russia anymore who could stop the hard line elements of the government).
In real life, some years later, when the coup against Gorbochev was taking place; the coup plotters made sure that Gorbochev was NOT killed, in order that the "wrong" message was not sent to the west. To reciprocate, in order to keep peace, President Bush did NOT put our forces on alert. Very skillful diplomatic manuvering by the President. And, as it turned out, it was not Gorbochev who posed the greatest threat to the coup, but Boris Yeltsin.
Make you wonder if people DID learn something by watching this movie!!
Who said this was only a movie??!! :-}