The Fourth War (1990)

 

            “The Fourth War” had been on my radar for some time and I finally got to watch it.  It is a John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, The Train) film.  He filmed it in Canada for the snow.  The title comes from Einstein’s prediction that the fourth world war would be fought with sticks and stones.  The title tells you this will certainly be an anti-war movie and you will leave it with a metaphoric tattoo of “make love, not war”.

            The movie is set in West Germany in 1988.  The disgraced Col. Knowles (Roy Scheider) has been pulled out of mothballs to command an outpost along the Czech border.  He has been rehabilitated by Gen. Hackworth (Harry Dean Stanton) for no logical reason since Hackworth knows he’s an unstable warrior.  Hackworth doesn’t seem to want him to start WWIII, but he should know that’s a strong possibility.  The movie does not have time for the usual slow disintegration of the main character.  Knowles leads a patrol along the border.  Suddenly, a Czech defector is seen making a run to freedom.  The men cheer him on as the Soviets chase him.  They win.  A Soviet Col. Valachev (Jurgen Prochnow from “Das Boot”) arrives in a bad-ass helicopter and locks eyes with Knowles.  Knowles comes close to using a Stinger on the chopper.  Instead the two Cold Warriors exchange snow balls.  It’s on now.

            Knowles has an exec (Tim Reid) who is appalled by Knowles’ desire to break the rules of engagement.  He reports Knowles, but Hackworth shit cans it.  He is confident Knowles will justify his appointment to his sensitive border command!  He does chew him out.  Does it work?  That same night, Knowles sneaks across the border to celebrate his birthday with three captured Soviets and the next night he recrosses to blow things up.  If he’s looking for a fight with Valachev, he gets one, literally.

            This is a rather strange movie.  It can’t be taken seriously.  Although I think Frankenheimer and Scheider, both known for anti-war views, wanted it to be taken seriously.  It has a heavy-handed message.  It is allegorical with its two old warriors representing conservative military philosophies in their countries.  Knowles is a disillusioned veteran of the Vietnam War and Valachev is a byproduct of the Afghanistan War.  They both find the Cold War restrictions to be candy-ass.  If it was up to them, the two superpowers would fight it out.  Their final fight is epic and thankfully does not involve nukes.  It’s the classic dream of ending a war by just having some champions fight it out. 

            The main draw of the movie is to see Roy Scheider and Jurgen Prochnow.  They play the silliness of the plot with straight faces.  And broken bones.  Scheider got a cracked rib and Prochnow got a dislocated knee in the fight.  That fight is the fitting culmination to a movie that is like a “Spy versus Spy” cartoon.  And just like the Mad cartoon, there is no real good guy.  In fact, you could make a case for Valachev being the more offended party.  Not as offended as Knowles’ exec, who has to deal with a psycho commander who wants to start WWIII.           

            “The Fourth War” is a forgotten Cold War curio.  It has pretensions of grandeur.  Note the overblown score by Bill Conti that is worthy of a war movie epic.  In the end, it’s a guy movie that has several plot developments that defy reason, but just take another drink and roll with it.  You’re watching Roy F’in Scheider go toe-to-toe with Jurgen F’in Prochnow. 

GRADE  =  C