Taglines: Two proud heroes with no one left to fight… But each other.
The Fourth War – Powerplay movie storyline. Colonel Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider) is a tough, professional soldier who was decorated for gallantry in Vietnam. However the same gung ho mentality that made Knowles a hero in wartime makes him a dangerous loose cannon in peacetime. He is stationed at an outpost on the West German-Czechoslovakia border and immediately gets into a dangerous personal war with his Soviet counterpart Colonel Valachev.
The two men ironically have many of the same characteristics. Knowles is enraged when he has to stand by as a would be refugee is shot on the border and immediately begins crossing the border on dangerous solo missions to sabotage the enemy installations. Knowles comes into conflict with his by the book second in command Lieutenant Colonel Clark and Knowles superior General Hackworth angrily orders him to desist, but to no avail.
The petty war between the two men threatens to escalate into a full scale conflict as they engage in hand to hand combat on a frozen lake with their countries armies on both sides ready to begin a full scale war. Knowles only relents at the last moment to avoid the conflict.
The Fourth War is a 1990 film directed by John Frankenheimer, set in West Germany of late 1980s. Its title stems from a famous quote by Albert Einstein: “I cannot predict how the Third World War shall be fought, or with what; I can, however, predict that the Fourth World War shall be waged with sticks and stones.”
The Fourth War – Powerplay (1990)
Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Roy Scheider, Jürgen Prochnow, Tim Reid, Lara Harris, Harry Dean Stanton, Dale Dye, William MacDonald, David Palffy, Ernie Jackson, Alice Pesta
Screenplay by: Stephen Peters
Production Design by: Alan Manzer
Cinematography by: Gerry Fisher
Film Editing by: Robert F. Shugrue
Costume Design by: Ray Summers
Set Decoration by: Janice Blackie-Goodine
Art Direction by: Rick Roberts
Music by: Bill Conti
Distributed by: Cannon Films
Release Date: March 23, 1990
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