History Film / ByDawnsEarlyLight

* AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul: In the book, Kazaklis and Moreau can barely stand each other, [[FireForgedFriends until they're forced to work together to survive]]. In the film, Cassidy and Moreau are in a sexual relationship, although they still have trouble working together. Amusingly in the book, they both consider the idea of having that kind of relationship, but are repulsed at the thought.

* ActorAllusion: This isn't [[Film/DrStrangelove the first time]] that James Earl Jones has had a hand in WorldWarIII

** ''Polar Bear One''. One of the crewmen dies when the plane is struck by a nuclear shockwave, and most of the rest of the crew die when a despondent crewman fires his ejection seat, causing everyone else to be sucked out of the plane. By the end of the film, only the pilots are left, in a damaged plane running low on fuel over the Pacific ocean.

* NoKillLikeOverkill: With [=MiG-25s=] chasing Polar Bear One, the bomber crew drop one of their nukes and to take them out, while ducking behind a nearby mountain range to avoid the blast.

* FalseFlagAttack: A ploy by the Soviet military to seize power kicks off the Third World War.

A group of rogue agents in the Soviet military steal a nuclear missile and [[FalseFlagAttack launch it at Ukraine]] from Turkey, tricking the USSR into a full-on counterattack against the West. Before the missiles land the mistake is discovered, but the American President's generals urge him to launch a counterattack. Bombers are launched and missile subs are put to sea, a B-52 callsign ''Polar Bear One'' takes off from Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state moments before it's vaporized by an incoming Soviet missile. In the confusion, the president goes missing, triggering a succession crisis and threatening to escalate the conflict to apocalyptic levels.

** Film!Condor is slightly more sympathetic than his book counterpart. In the book, he's a fundamentalist psycho who actively tries to escalate the war without regard for the lives it will cost to either side. In the movie, he's played as a bureaucrat who's in way over his head.

* ContinuousDecompression: Tyler blows his escape hatch, resulting in a straight example.

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the book, Harpoon is killed when he tries to crash the E-4. In the film, he's arrested instead and dies when the E-4 and Looking Glass collide.

** Subverted in the book with Harpoon. He tries to crash the E-4 to stop Condor, but is overpowered and killed before he can finish the job.

** In the book, the Secret Service detail sent to retrieve Condor. They leave the Baton Rouge office with a group of eight and by the time they bring Condor to the E-4, there are only two left. The rest are killed by rioters. (And in one poor bastard's case, Condor himself).
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the book, Condor shoots and kills one of the Secret Service agents sent to retrieve him and only identifies himself after the others start shooting back. He's a "shoot first and ask questions later" kind of guy.
* EvilChancellor: Colonel Fargo becomes one to Condor after Harpoon is removed from command.

** The pilots of the E-4 salute Looking Glass in the moments before the planes collide.
** The staffers at Offutt AFB calmly watch their death approaching on [[TheBigBoard the Big Board]] while Icarus says his goodbyes to Alice and Harpoon.

** In both version, Colonel Fargo, AKA the Librarian. He deliberately manipulates Condor into trying to escalate the war because of his anti-communist paranoia. In fact, in the book, he tries to bring about an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it nuclear exchange just to show up his now-dead superiors for ignoring him for years.
** In the book, Icarus. He's actually ''excited'' at finally getting to fight a nuclear war. A war in which he will assuredly die in the opening salvo.
* HeroicSacrifice: The flight crew of the E-4 turn towards the pursing Looking Glass, allowing their aircraft to be rammed to stop the Secretary of the Interior from further escalating the war. The crews of both planes are killed but the war is brought to a halt.

* HopelessWar: Harpoon tries to explain to Condor that the war is pointless and both sides have already lost and the only thing they can do is stop the war before the entire world is annihilated. Colonel Fargo undercuts him and sells Condor 1950s era bullshit about the war being winnable and unfortunately Condor listens.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: For the film, the Librarian and Icarus are called Colonel Fargo and General Redding respectively.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: To stop the Secretary of the Interior from launching the submarine-based Trident missiles and killing even more people, General "Alice" orders the pilots of Looking Glass to ram the E-4. As it happens, Looking Glass can't catch up with the E-4 until the other planes' crew decides to [[HeroicSacrifice help close the distance.]]
* SanitySlippage: In the book, Harpoon slowly loses it from the stress of the war and his horror at realizing how badly he screwed up by swearing in Condor.
* ShootTheDog: The government and military have to do some unsavory things to ensure the survival of the President and Condor, so they can hopefully negotiate a ceasefire. Things like shooting panicking civilians to prevent them from rushing Marine One and the E-4 and having the E-4 run over the Army soldiers protecting the Baton Rouge airport because the plane can't afford to wait for them to move.

* SuccessionCrisis: The United States ends up with two conflicting chief executives, the President and Condor. Eventually the problem is solved when the Looking Glass rams the E-4.
* TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: Alice pretty much says this when he refuses to carry out Condor's orders.

* YouAreInCommandNow: The whole point of the command planes. Looking Glass will take over command and control of the strategic forces after Offutt goes and E-4 tracks down the seemingly appropriate presidential successor.

A group of rogue agents in the Soviet military steal a nuclear missile and [[FalseFlagAttack launch it at Ukraine]] from Turkey, tricking the USSR into a full-on counterattack against the West. Before the missiles land the mistake is discovered, but the American President's generals urge him to launch a counterattack. Bombers are launched and missile subs are put to sea, a B-52 named ''Polar Bear One'' takes off from Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state moments before it's vaporized by an incoming Soviet missile. In the confusion, the president goes missing, triggering a succession crisis and threatening to escalate the conflict to apocalyptic levels.

* DefconFive: Not only does USAF General Redding use the "this is a drill" practice names for Defense Conditions COCKED PISTOL (DEFCON 1) and ROUND HOUSE (DEFCON 3); by going from COCKED PISTOL to ROUND HOUSE on his authority, Redding just ordered the reduction of defense readiness when there are Soviet nuclear missiles actively flying towards the United States at that moment!

* FalseFlagAttack: A ploy by the Soviet military to seize power kicks off the Third World War

* UnexpectedSuccessor: With the President missing and presumed dead after Washington gets vaporized, the Secretary of the Interior becomes the acting president. Note that in the book it's mentioned he's not the senior living successor, just the one the military can safely extract.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the book, Condor shoots and kills one of the Secret Service agents sent to retrieve him and only identifies himself after the other start shooting back. He's a "shoot first and ask questions later" kind of guy.

** In the book, the Secret Service detail sent to retrieve Condor. They leave the Baton Rouge office with a group of eight and by the time the bring Condor to the E-4, there are only two left. The rest are killed by rioters. (And in one poor bastard's case, Condor himself).

** Film!Condor is slightly more sympathetic than his book counterpart. In the book, he's a fundamentalist psycho who actively tries to escalate the war without regard for the lives it will cost to either side. In the movie, he's played as an bureaucrat who's in way over his head.

The film was produced for HBO in 1990 and features several notable actors including Creator/JamesEarlJones, Creator/MartinLandau, and Creator/RipTorn. It's also notable for being the last American WorldWarIII movie released before the dissolution of the Soviet Union the following year.

The film was produced for HBO in 1990 and features several notable actors including James Earl Jones, Martin Landau, and Rip Torn. It's also notable for being the last American WorldWarIII movie released before the dissolution of the Soviet Union the following year.

* DrivenToSuicide: Tyler eventually commits suicide over the grief of losing his family in the attack on Fairchild. Unfortunately, in the process he kills everyone else except Cassidy and Moreau.
* DwindlingParty: ''Polar Bear One''. One of the crewmen dies when the plane is struck by a nuclear shockwave, and most of the rest of the crew die when a despondent crewman fires his ejection seat, causing everyone else to be sucked out of the plane. By the end of the film, only the pilots are left, in a damaged plane running low on fuel over the Pacific ocean.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: The pilots of Air Force One salute Looking Glass in the moments before the planes collide.

* HeroicSacrifice: The flight crew of Air Force One turn towards the pursing Looking Glass, allowing their aircraft to be rammed to stop the Secretary of the Interior from further escalating the war. The crews of both planes are killed but the war is brought to a halt.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: To stop the Secretary of the Interior from launching the submarine-based Trident missiles and killing even more people, General "Alice" orders the pilots of Looking Glass to ram Air Force One. As it happens, Looking Glass can't catch up with Air Force One until the other planes' crew decides to [[HeroicSacrifice help close the distance.]]

* UnexpectedSuccessor: With the President missing and presumed dead after Washington gets vaporized, the Secretary of the Interior becomes the acting president. Note that in the book it's mentioned he's not the only living successor, just the one the military can safely extract.

* DrivenToSuicide: Poor Tyler

* WorldWarIII: Naturally.

* FighterLaunchingSequence: Well, bomber launching. Polar Bear One's crew scrambles to get into the air as a nuclear warhead is about to strike their base. They narrowly escape in time.

A group of rogue agents in the Soviet military steal a nuclear missile and [[FalseFlagAttack launch it at Ukraine]] from Turkey, tricking the USSR into a full-on counterattack against the West. Before the missiles land the mistake is discovered, but the American President's generals urge him to launch a counterattack. Bombers are launched and missile subs are put to sea, a B-52 named "Polar Bear One" takes off from Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state moments before it's vaporized by an incoming Soviet missile. In the confusion, the president goes missing, triggering a succession crisis and threatening to escalate the conflict to apocalyptic levels.

* DwindlingParty: Polar Bear One. One of the crewmen dies when the plane is struck by a nuclear shockwave, and most of the rest of the crew die when a despondent crewman fires his ejection seat, causing everyone else to be sucked out of the plane. By the end of the film, only the pilots are left, in a damaged plane running low on fuel over the Pacific ocean.

* WorldWarIII: Naturally

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: One of the last Cold War doomsday films to be released before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Befitting the twilight years of the period, it ended up being rather more hopeful than earlier examples such as ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'' and ''{{Film/Threads}}''.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: To stop the Secretary of the Interior from launching the submarine-based Trident missiles and killing even more people, General "Alice" orders the pilots of Looking Glass to ram Air Force One.

A group of rogue agents in the Soviet military steal a nuclear missile and [[launch it at Ukraine FalseFlagAttack]] from Turkey, tricking the USSR into a full-on counterattack against the West. Before the missiles land the mistake is discovered, but the American President's generals urge him to launch a counterattack. Bombers are launched and missile subs are put to sea, a B-52 named "Polar Bear One" takes off from Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state moments before it's vaporized by an incoming Soviet missile. In the confusion, the president goes missing, triggering a succession crisis and threatening to escalate the conflict to apocalyptic levels.