User Reviews

I would not call this a gripping suspense movie since there are some places that make you laugh when maybe you should not. But if you take the performances of the two colonels and the major general aside, the movie is redeemed two-fold and you end up with some enjoyable entertainment, thanks to Scheider, Prochnow, and Stanton. But, don't expect a realistic post-cold-war scenario. Would two colonels with so many years invested in their careers risk it all just to express personal dislikes of each other? And would the general pussyfoot around so long with an American colonel who's actions could at any time escalate them into a major confrontation? I think not!!! But just watch the movie and you might disagree with this, since all you think about at the time is "will World War III start over a snowball fight?".

The plot is absurd, the logic is absent and the running back and forth across the east-west border is laughable.

BUT - it's one of the greatest movies ever made anyway. Why? Because it got a view through correctly adjusted binoculars right! As 1 circle. NOT 2 touching circles.

Million dollar movies, close to billion dollar movies from Hollywood, can't even get this simple fact right and it annoys me immensely. The annoying thing is that directors can get access to so much money and are not intelligent enough to get it right. If they spend a hundred dollars more they could buy a consultant to tell them things like that! But the directors are too dumb! Amazing.

So a big HOORAY for The Fourth War!! The ONLY other film I remember that avoids this Hollywood dumb cliché is The Bridge On The River Kwai.

And that's not all folks. The Fourth War lets the Russians speak Russian. I'm close to tears with enthusiasm! In the Hollywood world where Germans, Russians, Chinese and every alien from outer space speaks American this is groundbreaking. I know that most Americans are too dumb to read subtitles (or rather Hollywood think they are) but it renders authenticity in wast amounts to a movie.

The ridiculous script is totally forgiven on these two grounds!!

The premise of this film is totally off the wall. Yet it's good entertainment as two hardened soldiers fight their own personal war across the iron curtain. Almost too bad that the cold war is over because they don't make movies like this anymore. Roy Scheider and Jurgen Prochnow give the capable performances one would expect of them but the outstanding performer is Harry Dean Stockton as the US general.He was top notch.

It's really a silly idea for a movie. But what the heck. I enjoyed it!

John Frankenheimer is an amazing director who has never been given the credit that he deserves. The Manchurian Candidate, Birdman Of Alcatraz, Seven Days In May and Black Sunday are among the great films that he has directed. This film deserves to be listed with them as well because it is a brilliant parable of what happens when two heroes only trained to fight in war have to live in a peacetime situation. Roy Schieder gives an awesome performance as a war weary colonel who just can't function in a peacetime setting. That very great character actor Harry Dean Stanton has a great scene where he chews him out. I think that the most chilling part of the film however is the one where Stanton quotes Albert Einstein when he was asked what kinds of weapons would be used in World War III and he replied that he did not know but that the fourth war would be fought with stones.

Throw out logic, and enjoy the absurdity of "The Fourth War". The acting by Roy Scheider, and especially Harry Dean Stanton is terrific. The snowy landscapes are photographed to best advantage. Now about the story. Scheider is a maverick Army Comanding Officer on a personal vendetta against the Russians across the Czech border. His wild jaunts into Communist territory provokes a Soviet Officer, Jurgen Prochnow to respond. Their personal battle eventually escalates toward an international incident that threatens to erupt into war. If you allow yourself to be drawn into the maniacal plot, while overlooking the implausibilities, there is dark humor, and a creative story to enjoy. - MERK

I frankly expected more from a Frakenheimer movie. Roy Scheider as Colonel Jack Knowles is okay as the hothead military iconoclast who's not been the same since the war in Vietnam. He is sent to the German-Czech border and wages a personal vendetta against the short-fused Russian colonel Valachev, played quite menacingly by Jurgen Prochnow. The end of detente and the last Cold War battle? Well, Scheider throws a snowball at Prochnow and the fourth war starts. basically that's how. The premise is good but we are treated to a long and meandering tit-for-tat between two Army colonels that borders on the childish and wanton. While occasionally funny, this is not an intelligent movie. You'd be better off watching Toy Soldiers if you want a more gripping story.

THE FOURTH WAR isn't exactly one of John Frankenheimer's most electrifying thrillers, but it is an interesting film given the Cold War backdrop. It's more character study than thriller, charting a battle of wits that develops between two men stationed in the icy wastelands of the north. Chief of these is Roy Scheider, once more excelling with a hard-ass performance of a military man whose obsessions threaten disaster. Jurgen Prochnow is expertly chosen as his antagonist, depicting steely courage and professionalism. Harry Dean Stanton plays in support. The film evolves pretty much as you'd expect, but it has a lean, pared-down narrative style that works.

Yes, stunning, as in stunningly silly. The only two saving graces were Tim Reid and Harry Dean Stanton. Even Roy Scheider couldn't save this. It's hard to believe John Frankenheimer was responsible for this mess.

Other than that it was great!

Career military man Colonel Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider) has a reputation as a hard edged war hawk that has lead to him being bounced around various posts in the U. S. Army with Knowles' old commanding officer General Hackworth (Harry Dean Stanton) doing what he can to help him having had his life saved by Knowles many times in Vietnam when he was under his command. Knowles is put in charge of the border guards on the West Germany/ Czechoslovakia as it's hopefully a low excitement position that Knowles can ride out his career with Lieutenant Colonel Clark (Tim Reid) keeping Knowles' confrontational personality in relative check. During a patrol lead by Knowles a Czech defectator attempts to make a run for the West German border only for the Soviet border patrol under the command of Colonel Valachev (Jurgen Prochnow) to shoot the defector in the back on the neutral territory. Angered by the actions, Knowles throws a snowball at Valachev with Valachev responding in kind with the two men motivated by stubbornness and pride to wage their own private grudge match with one another that threatens to spill over into a larger conflict.

The Fourth War comes to us from noted thriller filmmaker John Frankenheimer, written by Day of the Jackal screenwriter Kenneth Ross based upon a treatment by Stephen Peters who had previously written the HBO thriller The Park is Mine. Produced around the same time as Frankenheimer's Dead Bang, The Fourth War was intended by Frankenheimer and star Roy Scheider as a satirical anti-war film which boils the concept of war down to a festering and escalating feud between two soldiers on opposite sides. While titled The Fourth War by the distributor, this title was at odds with the intention of the filmmakers with alternates such as Game of Honor and Face Off rejected for one reason or another. Upon release the film received slightly mixed but positive reviews with many complimenting the performances by Scheider and Prochnow as well as the direction by Frankenheimer while many felt the film's premise was a bit too outlandish. The movie also had the misfortune of being released during the thaw in US/USSR relations that was a prelude to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War so when the film was released it was largely ignored by audiences at the box office making just over $1 million against its $14.5 million budget. Upon reflection The Fourth War is an entertaining character study of two men driven by arrogance and pride into carrying out an increasingly destructive feud.

Both Schneider and Prochnow are very good as Knowles and Valachev respectively, and there's not really a "Good guy/bad guy" dynamic here as these are both career military men and it's made clear from the beginning that Valachev did not approve of his men killing the Czech defector that serves as the impetus for the feud. The movie isn't heavy on plot as it's really a series of escalating attacks carried out by Knowles and Valachev against each other that have no real objective other than to cause embarrassment, damage, and inconvenience with the only death in the film being the Czech defector. Harry Dean Stanton and Tim Reid are very good as General Hackworth and Lieutenant Colonel Clark respectively who are both trying to act as some element of sanity be it for Knowles himself or the situation in general as they try to contain Knowles' destructive maelstrom as best they can. The sequences by Frankenheimer are well directed and both impactful and filled with tension and there's seldom a moment where something isn't happening. I guess the biggest hurdle in enjoying this film will be in the farfetched nature of the story but given this is supposed to be satirical of the escalating nature of warfare I was willing to give it a pass on that front. There is however a subplot involving a second Czech named Elena played by Lana Harris and I didn't feel this element worked all that well and it feels like a hurdle that the third act struggles to integrate.

The Fourth War is an entertaining character study of two proud and stubborn men and their escalating feud with each other as it turns into larger scale consequences. While the plot will be a little hard to swallow for one reason or another and certain subplots don't work as well as they should have I can say this is well worth your time.

It's November 1988. Col. Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider) is newly assigned to a base in West Germany. He is a hardened warrior frustrated with the lackadaisical attitude of his soldiers. Most want him to relax his intensity as relationship with the Soviet Bloc warms up. He grows angry as a defector is shot dead by men under Czech Col. Valachev (Jürgen Prochnow) right in front of him at the border. He decides to go on his own infiltration mission into enemy territory.

This movie is obviously diffused by real world events. The Berlin Wall literally fell four months before the release of this movie. That's why an opening text was added to place this movie in 1988. The movie retains its logic in that sense but it loses its reality to the audience of its day. There was a few similar cold war thrillers that became out-of-date by the time they got released. It's not their fault but it cannot be discounted.

As for the movie itself, it has great potential as a dive into the psychology of an obsessed warrior but it becomes a clown crossed with Rambo. It's too silly and serious while being unrealistic all at the same time. The only action I truly love is the helicopter landing. The helicopter is hovering around with real intensity like it's going to hit the ground. The movie closes by paraphrasing Albert Einstein, "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." It misunderstands the quote by trying to tie it to that final fight. It's obviously an important theme for the movie which makes the flawed understanding a little problematic. All in all, the movie has problems and struggles to compete with real world events.

A furiously intense story that takes place shortly after the Cold War where an American colonel (Roy Scheider - "Jaws") who has a troubled past, picks a fight with a high-ranking Soviet military officer, (Jurgen Prochnow - "Das Boot") that nearly escelates into a Tarantino-like standoff. Scheider and Prochnow are both good and so is Harry Dean Stanton ("The Straight Story"), who plays Scheider's superior officer and an old war buddy who is concerned about his friend. Director John Frankenheimer ("Ronin") is smart in making the film go smoothly and I got kick out of the scene where Prochnow and two other Russian officers briefly watch an American (college) football game on t.v., question it, and laugh at it.

I was suckered into paying to see this movie in the theater because of the title and because I like the actors.

For 19 years now, this movie has been my standard by which to judge all terrible films.

There was no excuse for the distribution of this film.

Plodding, meandering, insulting to the intelligence of the viewer, and not a sufficient allegory for the cold war to have made it worth seeing.

The only reason to watch this movie is to see how truly awful a movie can be.

U. S. army dude and Soviet army dude fight a sort of proxy war along the Czechoslovakian border.

Nearly as laughably inept as Red Dawn. Except that was directed by some nobody and starred Patrick Swayze and a bunch of TV actors (sorry, Charlie Sheen fans, but that's what he is). This movie is helmed by John Frankenheimer, and stars Roy Scheider, Jurgen Prochnow and Harry Dean Stanton.

That's a gigantic head start. Yet it's barely any more credible.

I'd be willing to bet that if a U. S. Army colonel wandered over the border he'd be shot by whichever side found him first, rather than risk a cowboy like that sparking WWIII.

And that voice-over by Stanton. So aggravating.

This movie is 29 years old the day I watched it. Having not seen it 29 years ago, I am glad I saw it today. I can only say thank you to the people who made this movie. I enjoyed it tremendously. So relevant of it times. Funny and suspenseful. Can't wait to tell my sons about it.

My review was written in February 1990 after watching the movie at a Manhattan screening room.

Events in Eastern Europe have overtaken "The Fourth War", a well-made Cold War thriller about private battling that might escalate out of control. Foreign prospects are better than U. S., for thai John Frankenheimer effort.

Opening title sets the tale in November 1988 on the border of Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Roy Scheider is well-cast as a hardline colonel who's caused nothing but trouble in his career and is now stationed at a post near the border by his general, Harry Dean Stanton.

Soon after taking his new post, Scheider witnesses the murdr of a fleeing defector through no man's land. He rightly blames the Soviet colonel (Jurgen Prochnow) for this dastardly deed and even throws a snowball at him in anger.

From this minor act of outrage ensues a man-to-man feud of Laurel & Hardy proportions, involving blowing up Scheider's jeep and singlehanded invasions of each other's country by the worked-up colonels. Scheider's second in command, Tim Reid, brings a note of sanity to the proceedings, but even his reports to Stanton and Stanton reading the riot act to Scheider fail to halt the hostilities.

Things finally come to a head when Lara Harris, as a Czech working in West Germany who needs help to return home to her child, comes between the two Cold Warriors.

Tightly directed by Frankenheimer with an eye for comic relief as well as tension maintenance, "The Fourth War" holds the fascination of eyeball-to-eyeball conflict. It's not exactly "Hell in the Pacific" but with the shading provided by Scheider and Prochnow on their surface-unsympathetic characters, the film holds its grip.

Problem, as with another Cold War tale "The Hunt for Red October", is simply that an audience can no longer readily feel the imminent danger of WW III in a period of thaw. The chills of a Frnakenheimer classic like ""Seven Days in May" can't be generated by such an outlandish fable. Instead, one can vicariously enjoy a battle of dinosaurs, hardliners (and there are plenty of them still with us in both East and West) who still view the world in simplistic us versus them terms.

Besides the two stars, Reid is very effective as the man on the spot (his commanding officer is out of control), and Harris is convincing as a duplicitous femme fatale. Gerry Fisher's lensing (on Calgary-area locations adequately subbing for Europe) is fluid and especially striking in night scenes, while Bill Conti's rousing score keeps one's pulse running.

Title refers to an Albert Einstein quote: the third world war may involve nuclear weapons, but the fourth will be fought with stones.

THE FOURTH WAR is a menacing movie. Director John Frankenheimer does a superlative job with this and films like the MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, BLACK SUNDAY and RONIN. The novel by Stephen Peters is good and so is the screenplay. Roy Scheider (JAWS) plays Col. Jack KNOWLES who won't give an inch to the Soviet commander Col. Valachev played by Jurgen Prochnow (DAS BOOT). The snowball fight could have happened. I was talking to a retired American Intelligence Operative in the Niagara Region of Ontario and by his tennis court he revealed that KNOLL EAGLE is the codename for the American Shadow President who he believed to be none other than President JACK KENNEDY. That would make President George W Bush the second in command of AMERICA. KNOLL EAGLE comes from the 1963 alleged JFK assassination and the grassy knoll where there had to be a second shooter based on the number of shots fired and their accuracy that could not be duplicated. I believe that snipers are cowardly and advocate non-violence. I would just like to say congratulations President Kennedy on winning the cold war. Jack Knowles sounds close to Jack Kennedy Knoll Eagle. Harry Dean Stanton has a fine performance as General Hackworth. When the Russians and Chinese attack America at the same time will they torture me for calling them cowardly and uncivilized? Hopefully America will hold out and I won't have to find out. My military Intelligence course prepared me for interrogation but not torture. I gave the FOURTH WAR a 9 out of 10 for mentioning the AMERICAN nuclear detterent so directly.

Needed a U.S. Army Technical Adviser instead of Captain Dale Dye USMC Retired.

I was "Drafted" to the Democrats Demanded Save the Democracy of the Republic of South Vietnam War. Field Artillery, then U.S. Army Airborne, Ranger, Special Forces, Special Forces Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol. Afterwards stationed at Germany Field Artillery, the 1st Armor Division Headquarters was located at Hindenburg Kaserne Ansbach FRG.

After College, University, I returned to West Germany with the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Europe. I got redeployed to the Iran Iraq Wars as a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer, Commanded a Iraqis Combat Brigade (100,000). Got rotated to CIA Operation Cyclone, Training, Arming, Leading Pro U.S. Afghan Muhajeen that would later become the Northern Alliance (150,000) fighting the Pro U.S.S.R. Afghans and Pro U.S.S.R. Military that would become the Afghan Taliban. We gave the U.S.S.R. "Unacceptable Losses", just like the North Vietnamese did to Us, the Parents of the dead U.S.S.R. Military demanded the withdrawal of U.S.S.R. Military from Afghanistan. We returned to the Federal Republic of West Germany (FRG).

After the Collapse of the U.S.S.R. and Warsaw Pact Nations. At a neutral location, I got to meet my U.S.S.R. now Russian Federation Counterpart. Previously, U.S.S.R. Colonel was with the U.S.S.R. Strategic Rocket Forces turned into Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces), similar to how I was Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces deployed as a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer. He was not happy about Afghanistan nor the Iran Iraq Wars.

Accuracy 0, So no, a U.S. Army Colonel would not act like that, maybe a U.S.M.C. Colonel.

Accuracy 7 Uniforms. Some Equipment not accurate, M-2 Bradleys, M-1 Abrams Tanks, AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopters. After some fell off and got run over riding on the outside of an APC M-113 no longer allowed. Did like the U.S.S.R. tanks, not accurate Attack Helicopter should have been a Mi-24 "Hind".

Entertainment 8.

I base my star ratings on one and only one criteria - entertainment value. I am not knowledgeable enough to know about the authenticity of the weapons depicted, or about tactical deployment of forces. I only know that I enjoyed this movie and it had me guessing what would come next from beginning to end. Maybe I am too naive but I was totally duped by the twist involving the girl which was cool. I also really liked the metaphorical ending.

The movie involved two Cold War warriors: one from the USSR, and another from the USA. They shared the same rank (colonel), and both had seen combat - the American in Vietnam, and the Russian in Afghanistan. They were also cut from the same cloth where toughness and determination was concerned. The contest for personal supremacy in their private feud involved calculated personal risk as well as being fraught with the danger of military combat escalation on a massive scale.

Perhaps it cannot be considered a great movie, but it is one of the better ones I've seen lately. So ...... 8 of 10.