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Poster for By Dawn's Early Light

By Dawn's Early Light

1990 · 101 min

A taut, ticking-clock thriller that keeps you on edge with its escalating nuclear crisis and moral dilemmas.

Tagline
Four people... Three minutes... Two choices... One chance for survival.
Overview
A nuclear warhead launched by Soviet insurgents protesting the waning Cold War destroys the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. The destruction sets off a race between American and Soviet politicians to prevent a nuclear holocaust. While the U.S. president feverishly works to keep the military and political machine from going into overdrive, various subordinates panic. When the president is believed to be killed in a helicopter crash, zealous advisers take over.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • bleakstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
brisk, 3 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • war
  • power
  • morality
  • survival
  • betrayal
Places
  • military
  • big city
  • wilderness
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • ensemble
  • serialised
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action5
Horror2
Humour1
Realism7
Romance0
Tension9
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
tv movie, action, drama, thriller
Directed by
Jack Sholder
Written by
Bruce Gilbert
Starring
Powers Boothe, Rebecca De Mornay, James Earl Jones, Martin Landau, Darren McGavin, Rip Torn, Jeffrey DeMunn, Peter MacNicol
Music
Trevor Jones
Cinematography
Alexander Gruszynski
Runtime
101 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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