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At a bar, a random group of people discuss politics, high taxes, the
arms race and the possibility of war. Suddenly a weird stranger by the
name of Ohman (Dan O'Herlihy) somehow attracts the attention of all of
them making some cryptic remarks ... then he leaves.
Soon enough, the USA is attacked by foreign, probably Russian,
airplanes, and since these attackers seem to have atom bombs in no short
supply, the Americans seem to be on the losing side, lacking sufficient
soldiers and resources to halt the enemy. So soon enough, brave American
civilians start to apply the Scorched Earth policy, meaning they
lay waste to stuff like trains and oil plants so they can't fall into the
hands of the enemy.
Intermingled with the story of the war as such are the fates of the
strangers who have met in above-mentioned bar:
A tractor manufacturer (Robert Bice), who has refused to give in to the
army to produce tanks for an upcoming war suddenly finds his factory taken
over by the Russians, who force him to produce tanks ... but for them.
A farmer (Erik Blythe), who has lived far enough away from the
population centres of the US and who has had no worse worries than high
taxes suddenly finds himself just below the Hoover Dam when the dam is
blown up.
A congressman (Wade Crosby), who has opposed higher defense budgets is
not shot dead by the Russians when they (successfully) attack the
Congress.
And our romantic couple, the radio reporter (Gerald Mohr) and the
blonde (Peggie Castle) try to do everything to help in the war efforts,
and they even survive the bombardment of New York ... but when the
Russians take the appartment building they are living in, they are both
shot dead when the Russians try to rape our blonde but are not too
interested in resistance.
With all protagonists dead and America in the hand of the Russians, the
film returns to the bar, and finds everybody's still alive and kicking ...
Ohman has merely used mass hypnosis to show them a possible future - which
each of our heroes can prevent if he helps the country in its war efforts
right now ...
It's not often that one finds a film to be such a blatant (and
misguided) advertiesment for armament such as this one - but at the same
time the film does reflect the mood of the time quite well ...
In itself, the film is strictly a cheapo: most of the scenes of this
warfilm take place in a bar, with the rest being filled up with stock footage
from flying shows, army recruitment films and even footage from World War
II ... and the fact that even the enemy is flying American planes and
wearing American uniforms (since the production could not afford to film
sequences with Russian planes or get Russian uniforms) is frquently hinted
at in the film, but it's never really explained (mostly the Russians just
decide "today we are attacking wearing American uniforms"). On
one hand, this is of course as hilarious and unrealistic as it sounds. On
the other hand though the film does feature some great stock footage of
vintage planes and World War II bombardments because of that.
In all, no it's not a good movie, even apart from its
misguided political message, but it does have a certain hard-to-resist
cheapocamp-value which will make you want to watch it nevertheless.
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