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By Dawn's Early Light
By Dawn's Early Light
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By Dawn's Early Light

By Dawn's Early Light

By Dawn's Early Light

1990
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
TV Movie
1h 40m
The crew of a nuclear bomber attack the Soviet Union while the President of the United States tries desperately to regain control of his military after his helicopter crashes during a limited nuclear exchange. (imdb)

Directed by:

Jack Sholder
Jack-Sholder
20 total credits
Jack Sholder has 20 credits at Criticker, including: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, The Hidden, Supernova and Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

Writers:

William Prochnau
William-Prochnau
2 total credits
William Prochnau has 2 credits at Criticker, including: Proof of Life and By Dawn's Early Light
,
Bruce Gilbert
Bruce-Gilbert
1 total credit
Bruce Gilbert has just 1 credit at Criticker: By Dawn's Early Light

Starring:

Daniel Benzali
Daniel-Benzali
17 total credits
Daniel Benzali has 17 credits at Criticker, including: Murder at 1600, The Grey Zone, Screwed, The End of Violence and All the Little Animals
,
James Earl Jones
James-Earl-Jones
118 total credits
James Earl Jones was born in 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA. At an early age he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Probably best known for his role as Darth Vader (for the voice only) (imdb)
,
Martin Landau
Martin-Landau
97 total credits
Martin Landau is an American actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s; his early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible for which he received Emmy Award nominations, and Space:1999. He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture and his first nomination for an Academy Award for his work in Tucker: The Man and His Dream...(Wikipedia)
,
Peter MacNicol
Peter-MacNicol
29 total credits
Peter MacNicol has 29 credits at Criticker, including: Ghostbusters II, Bean, Addams Family Values, Battleship and Dracula: Dead and Loving It
,
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca-De-Mornay
41 total credits
Rebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise. Her other notable film roles include Sara in Runaway Train in 1985, Helen McCaffrey in the thriller Backdraft in 1991 and her portrayal of the chillingly twisted nanny Peyton Flanders in the popular 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle...(Wikipedia)
,
Darren McGavin
Darren-McGavin
70 total credits
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears. He appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the 1950s television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer... - www.wikipedia.org
,
Rip Torn
Rip-Torn
109 total credits
Rip Torn has 109 credits at Criticker, including: Men in Black, Men in Black II, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Hercules and The Insider
,
Powers Boothe
Powers-Boothe
36 total credits
Powers Boothe has 36 credits at Criticker, including: Tombstone, Men of Honor, Frailty, U Turn and Red Dawn
,
Ken Jenkins
Ken-Jenkins
16 total credits
Ken Jenkins has 16 credits at Criticker, including: Last Man Standing, Scrubs, Air America, Matewan and Fled
,
Jeffrey DeMunn
Jeffrey-DeMunn
36 total credits
Jeffrey DeMunn has 36 credits at Criticker, including: The Green Mile, The Mist, The X-Files: Fight the Future, Phenomenon and The Hitcher
,
Kieran Mulroney
Kieran-Mulroney
9 total credits
Kieran Mulroney has 9 credits at Criticker, including: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Paper Man, Career Opportunities and The Spitfire Grill
,
Nicolas Coster
Nicolas-Coster
20 total credits
Nicolas Coster has 20 credits at Criticker, including: Reds, Stir Crazy, The Electric Horseman, Little Darlings and MacArthur

Country:

USA

Languages:

English, Russian

By Dawn's Early Light

1990
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
TV Movie
1h 40m
Avg Percentile 50.93% from 49 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(49)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 05 Apr 2024
67
33rd
Entertaining enough little thriller in the vein of a Fail Safe. It has a relatively fun cast (Powers Booth, James Earl Jones, Martin Landau, etc), but at times feels like the TV movie it was. There are a couple of twists from the normal formula in this (especially in how the resolution occurs), but generally it's an ok but nothing special version of this familiar story.
Rated 28 Feb 2022
55
49th
Not bad.
Rated 28 Jan 2022
70
64th
Personal relationships define the future of the human kind, not he command structures.
Rated 01 Mar 2017
76
46th
Watching this in 2021, this movie hasn't held up over time. The Presidential succession crisis is interesting, but handled much better in other works. The interplay with the People's Republic of China and the USSR seems off and is underdeveloped. Good model work, but with so much of the plot happening on planes, the scope of the war was lost, and the effect of nuclear weapons denotations in the movie is just wrong. James Earl Jones' acting was as usual was a high point.
Rated 14 Nov 2013
50
44th
Psychopathy and programming (human and computer) threaten apocalypse. Somewhat interesting thematically, with some good performances and characters. Sholder's direction is in some ways routine, but he often seems to have a kind of direct approach, as though he has a strong desire to avoid generic crap as much as he possibly can, and maybe throw a few curveballs to keep the audience amused and awake, within the limitations of the tasks he has been set. Maybe he is best described as being wry.

Cast & Info

Directed by:

Jack Sholder
Jack-Sholder
20 total credits
Jack Sholder has 20 credits at Criticker, including: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, The Hidden, Supernova and Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

Writers:

William Prochnau
William-Prochnau
2 total credits
William Prochnau has 2 credits at Criticker, including: Proof of Life and By Dawn's Early Light
,
Bruce Gilbert
Bruce-Gilbert
1 total credit
Bruce Gilbert has just 1 credit at Criticker: By Dawn's Early Light

Starring:

Daniel Benzali
Daniel-Benzali
17 total credits
Daniel Benzali has 17 credits at Criticker, including: Murder at 1600, The Grey Zone, Screwed, The End of Violence and All the Little Animals
,
James Earl Jones
James-Earl-Jones
118 total credits
James Earl Jones was born in 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA. At an early age he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Probably best known for his role as Darth Vader (for the voice only) (imdb)
,
Martin Landau
Martin-Landau
97 total credits
Martin Landau is an American actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s; his early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible for which he received Emmy Award nominations, and Space:1999. He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture and his first nomination for an Academy Award for his work in Tucker: The Man and His Dream...(Wikipedia)
,
Peter MacNicol
Peter-MacNicol
29 total credits
Peter MacNicol has 29 credits at Criticker, including: Ghostbusters II, Bean, Addams Family Values, Battleship and Dracula: Dead and Loving It
,
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca-De-Mornay
41 total credits
Rebecca De Mornay is an American film and television actress. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she played Lana in Risky Business opposite Tom Cruise. Her other notable film roles include Sara in Runaway Train in 1985, Helen McCaffrey in the thriller Backdraft in 1991 and her portrayal of the chillingly twisted nanny Peyton Flanders in the popular 1992 thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle...(Wikipedia)
,
Darren McGavin
Darren-McGavin
70 total credits
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears. He appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the 1950s television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer... - www.wikipedia.org
,
Rip Torn
Rip-Torn
109 total credits
Rip Torn has 109 credits at Criticker, including: Men in Black, Men in Black II, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Hercules and The Insider
,
Powers Boothe
Powers-Boothe
36 total credits
Powers Boothe has 36 credits at Criticker, including: Tombstone, Men of Honor, Frailty, U Turn and Red Dawn
,
Ken Jenkins
Ken-Jenkins
16 total credits
Ken Jenkins has 16 credits at Criticker, including: Last Man Standing, Scrubs, Air America, Matewan and Fled
,
Jeffrey DeMunn
Jeffrey-DeMunn
36 total credits
Jeffrey DeMunn has 36 credits at Criticker, including: The Green Mile, The Mist, The X-Files: Fight the Future, Phenomenon and The Hitcher
,
Kieran Mulroney
Kieran-Mulroney
9 total credits
Kieran Mulroney has 9 credits at Criticker, including: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Paper Man, Career Opportunities and The Spitfire Grill
,
Nicolas Coster
Nicolas-Coster
20 total credits
Nicolas Coster has 20 credits at Criticker, including: Reds, Stir Crazy, The Electric Horseman, Little Darlings and MacArthur

Country:

USA

Languages:

English, Russian
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