La quatrième guerre

Throw out logic, and enjoy the absurdity of "The Fourth War". The acting by Roy Scheider, and especially Harry Dean Stanton is terrific. The snowy landscapes are photographed to best advantage. Now about the story. Scheider is a maverick Army Comanding Officer on a personal vendetta against the Russians across the Czech border. His wild jaunts into Communist territory provokes a Soviet Officer, Jurgen Prochnow to respond. Their personal battle eventually escalates toward an international incident that threatens to erupt into war. If you allow yourself to be drawn into the maniacal plot, while overlooking the implausibilities, there is dark humor, and a creative story to enjoy. - MERK

A furiously intense story that takes place shortly after the Cold War where an American colonel (Roy Scheider - "Jaws") who has a troubled past, picks a fight with a high-ranking Soviet military officer, (Jurgen Prochnow - "Das Boot") that nearly escelates into a Tarantino-like standoff. Scheider and Prochnow are both good and so is Harry Dean Stanton ("The Straight Story"), who plays Scheider's superior officer and an old war buddy who is concerned about his friend. Director John Frankenheimer ("Ronin") is smart in making the film go smoothly and I got kick out of the scene where Prochnow and two other Russian officers briefly watch an American (college) football game on t.v., question it, and laugh at it.

Yes, stunning, as in stunningly silly. The only two saving graces were Tim Reid and Harry Dean Stanton. Even Roy Scheider couldn't save this. It's hard to believe John Frankenheimer was responsible for this mess.

Other than that it was great!

The plot is absurd, the logic is absent and the running back and forth across the east-west border is laughable.

BUT - it's one of the greatest movies ever made anyway. Why? Because it got a view through correctly adjusted binoculars right! As 1 circle. NOT 2 touching circles.

Million dollar movies, close to billion dollar movies from Hollywood, can't even get this simple fact right and it annoys me immensely. The annoying thing is that directors can get access to so much money and are not intelligent enough to get it right. If they spend a hundred dollars more they could buy a consultant to tell them things like that! But the directors are too dumb! Amazing.

So a big HOORAY for The Fourth War!! The ONLY other film I remember that avoids this Hollywood dumb cliché is The Bridge On The River Kwai.

And that's not all folks. The Fourth War lets the Russians speak Russian. I'm close to tears with enthusiasm! In the Hollywood world where Germans, Russians, Chinese and every alien from outer space speaks American this is groundbreaking. I know that most Americans are too dumb to read subtitles (or rather Hollywood think they are) but it renders authenticity in wast amounts to a movie.

The ridiculous script is totally forgiven on these two grounds!!

The premise of this film is totally off the wall. Yet it's good entertainment as two hardened soldiers fight their own personal war across the iron curtain. Almost too bad that the cold war is over because they don't make movies like this anymore. Roy Scheider and Jurgen Prochnow give the capable performances one would expect of them but the outstanding performer is Harry Dean Stockton as the US general.He was top notch.

It's really a silly idea for a movie. But what the heck. I enjoyed it!