Decades of Darkness- The Fox and the Jackal-(1994). Loved by many people for its thrilling action sequences and criticized by some hardcore alternate history fans for what many viewed as taking serious risks of plausibility stretching, this movie by director S.M. Stirling and written partly by Jerry Paulsen(the writer of the TV epic which preceded the movie) is set in a vastly different '50s America, where slavery is still alive(albeit not thriving by any means) and political and military intrigues of all sorts are everywhere. The film revolves around the race between the U.S. and several other nations, including the Commonwealth of New England and Russia to get the first atomic bomb. The movie was well received by most but ultimately bombed at the box office, one the main reasons being some rather noticeable conflicts with the original continuity, including the upcoming novel of the same name. As film critic Steve Carson put it, "How in the hell did Dixie dominating the U.S. lead to mass Hispanization?". (An unofficial novelized sequel was released in 1997 that had, amongst other things, a renewed Kingdom in Canada and a U.S. which had annexed all the rest of South America and in which slavery now thrived again. This book, however, was so badly received that Jerry Paulsen himself had to come out and disown it publicly. The author, noted neo-conservative Tom Beckman, later committed suicide in 2000 after a bout of depression following the death of his wife Marie.) The novel, on the other hand, was praised for setting straight many plot holes in the original story and has since become canon. Paulsen has indicated that he may request a partnership with fellow writers if future novels are to be published.
Protect & Survive(1991)-This 4-hour film by Jack Slater took place in Britain during the Cold War. The film's story started in November, 1983, after student riots in East Berlin resulted in the shooting of several Volkspolizei and border guards. We see the film through the viewpoint of John Buckley, a middle-aged professional, and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bellwood, a struggling musician, both residents of Newcastle. Their friend, Harold MacRagge, is a building contractor who lives not far west of nearby Ponteland.
The story really begins to take off during a series of demonstrations crossing both East and West on February 21, 1984. In America, protesters in Nashville, Dallas, Denver, San Diego, Pittsburgh and certain other cities are arrested by the dozens for reasons of 'national security'. In the Soviet Union, a Moscow protest goes very wrong indeed when rioters are shot at by inexperienced and terrified militia cadets.
Andropov dies of a heart attack in April and East-West relations begin to slowly fall apart. We see various events leading up to a confrontation between the two powers. Among them are the downing of a Greek air liner over Bulgaria, neo-Nazi car-bombings in East Germany and mass-murders of Christians and Jews in a now very pro-American Syria, as well as the sinking of a Soviet submarine off the coast of Iran and the destruction of an American airbase in Israel. The shooting finally starts on the afternoon of August 27th when a West German border guard fired at what he thought might be a Red Army Faction member looking for trouble, not realizing that the man was trying to explain that he was actually an off-duty East German soldier visiting family in the town next to the fence. John and Eliza, meanwhile, had just moved into a new apartment and Eliza learns on the 11th that she is pregnant with John's child.
The news of the outbreak of war in Germany horrifies many of the characters. Harold, in particular, decides to try to start building a shelter in his backyard, hoping to afford a Swedish-style shelter like the ones he saw advertised in the catalogs he's been buying.
Neither the U.S. or the Soviet Union are directly involved at first but things begin to get complicated. The governments of Great Britain and West Germany in particular demand that the U.S. send troops to Europe. In early September, the first U.S. troops land in France and the Benelux countries en-route to Germany. NATO is winning at first but on the 8th Soviet Premier Chernenko decides that it's now time for Russia to throw her forces into the fray and soon, Soviet troops have pushed the Western forces all the way back to the Fulda Gap region. Widespread riots have begun to occur in both the U.S. and Russia, and both sides of Europe as well; in Newcastle, Harold's brother Jimmy is badly wounded on the 13th when an 'anti-communist' partisan takes a pot shot at him for being a supposed 'Marxist'. Evacuations begin on the afternoon of the 15th in worrisome anticipation for the possibility of a nuclear attack.....
At 4:30 pm on the 16th, word came to many TV stations across Britain that an American nuclear missile had just exploded over the city of Poznan in Poland, as well as others over Bratislava, Budapest, and Sofia and that a Soviet response was likely. Not much more than an hour later, Brussels, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, and Kassel are destroyed by the WarPac missile forces. A mass evacuation of British domestic forces began shortly after and many people begin to panic.
At 8:38 pm, the Attack Warning signal was sent out to all British cities. John and his fellow workers and good friends Robbie and Joe were outside the local pub when Newcastle's air raid sirens went off and tried to take shelter under one of the beer trucks. At 8:43 a 20 megaton Soviet warhead detonated high over the North Sea shorting out most civilian communications not just in England but throughout much of the northwest part of Continental Europe as well. As soon as they think it's safe to do so John, Robbie and Joe run to Robbie's Ford Sapphire hoping to make it to Scotland. Just one problem; the EMP shorted out the car's engine rendering it completely unusable. Four minutes later a single, 1 mt weapon, although intended for Newcastle, instead airbursts over a town 7 miles to the south. Joe's aunt Angela wets herself at the sight of the growing mushroom cloud. As the blast wave impacts the city, the viewers see that numerous people are injured by the glass and other debris flying around because of the explosion. One character, Heather Morris, is actually blown away by the force of the wave 2 miles south of the bar and is never heard from again. In the same moment John's mother Marie can be seen shielding his 10-year-old sister Sissie as the explosion blows the windows out of their house. Elizabeth is at her grandmother's home when the attack happens, and tries to help her down to the cellar right after the explosion over Birtley, along with her cousin Janie. The exchanges begin to escalate and soon, another 1 mt explosion occurs, this time about a couple miles west of Newcastle International Airport. John's 12-year-old brother Francis was in the backyard sobbing and he looks up just before the explosion, which blinds him immediately. He then dies as the blast wave destroys the neighborhood. Harold is in his shelter with a few friends when the bomb hits and isn't harmed, though one of his pet dogs, Rover, ran off shortly before the first bomb destroyed Birtley; he is never found.
When it's over, it is revealed that over 100 megatons worth of weapons have exploded in Great Britain with a grand total of 4,600 across the world. It all goes downhill from there, and by the time the film ends, only Harold, Elizabeth, and the now 15-year-old Sissie are still alive. Sissie became pregnant and gives birth, with all three of them, as well as Elizabeth's 4-year-old daughter Leeanne watching. The film ends just as Sissie is about to scream in horror after looking upon her stillborn son......
P&S was very well regarded and is considered to be a cult classic today. It was to be rereleased on DVD in 1999 and was a hit all over again. Jack Slater later went on to have many more successes, and is currently starring as the main character in 'Doctor When'.
