Countdown to Looking Glass

Countdown to Looking Glass
Genre	Mockumentary
Directed by	Fred Barzyk
Produced by	Fred Barzyk W. Paterson Ferns David R. Loxton
Written by	Albert Ruben
Starring	Scott Glenn Michael Murphy Helen Shaver Patrick Watson
Cinematography	Miklos Lente
Editing by	Bernie Clayton Peter C. Frank Leah Siegel
Country	Canada
Language	English
Release date	October 14, 1984
Running time	86 minutes

Countdown to Looking Glass is a Canadian made-for-television movie that premiered in the United States on HBO on 14 October 1984 and was also broadcast on CTV in Canada. The movie presents a fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf. The narrative of the film details the events that lead up to the initial exchange of nuclear weapons, which was triggered by a banking crisis, from the perspective of an on-going news broadcast.

Synopsis

The film begins with a fictional broadcast from the network CVN's nightly program, starring Don Tobin (Watson), with reports from correspondents Michael Boyle (Glenn) and Dorian Waldorf (Shaver), which discusses a terrorist bombing of the American embassy in Saudi Arabia that killed an American ambassador. It then recaps the previous week, which began with a global banking crisis caused by several South American countries defaulting on their loans, and leading to turmoil in the Middle East. Before the unrest spread to Saudi Arabia, Soviet-backed militants led a coup in Oman when the Omani economy collapsed. Shortly after, a new report shows that the banking crisis may soon begin to ease.

The following day, it is revealed that a large military operation was launched to keep the peace in Saudi Arabia, with many American soldiers, ships, and planes being sent at King Fahd's request. This move was heavily criticized both abroad and domestic. In response to this move, which the Soviet Union saw as provocative, the Soviet-backed puppet government in Oman imposed a $10,000 toll for every oil tanker who wished to pass through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. The Soviet government claimed it would remove the toll if the Americans withdrew their troops from Saudi Arabia. The captains of the tankers refused to pay the toll, effectively creating an economic blockade in which no oil could be transported through the Persian Gulf.

A breaking news alert on the fifth day of the Middle East crisis reveals a short battle between American warplanes and unidentified enemy warplanes, presumed to be from Iran or Kuwait, in which one American reconnaissance plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf, before two of the five attacking planes were shot down. The attacking aircraft were believed to be aiming for the oil refinery in Ras Tanura, in retaliation for Saudi Arabia's requesting of American troops.

On day six of the crisis, an American aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, and several battleships, armed with both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, were sent by the President to the Persian Gulf to ensure the free passage of oil tankers in the region. The Soviet Union quickly responds to this action by sending submarines to the Persian Gulf.

On day eight of the crisis, in response to the growing urgency of the situation, CVN begins to broadcast 24 hours a day until further notice. The crisis deepened on this day when an Omani gunboat attacked and exploded an unarmed Dutch vessel which tried to go through the Strait of Hormuz during the night under the cover of darkness. At this point, people begin to evacuate cities, overseas air travel is suspended by the FAA, and many schools begin closing. Meanwhile, the Strategic Air Command redeploys B-52 bombers throughout the nation's airports. By nightfall, an evacuation of the White House is ordered. During the night, a battle erupts between Omani gunboats and the U.S. Navy in the Strait of Hormuz, with an Omani gunboat firing first, and subsequently being destroyed by an American warship. Despite the gravity of the situation, Tobin discusses his optimistic viewpoint of the situation with correspondent Eric Sevareid, believing that, "Reasonable people, once they've looked the Devil in the face, aren't going to shake hands with him."

Shortly after the Omani gunboat exchanged fire with the American ship, a Russian submarine slipped through the perimeter of American ships and was tracked towards the USS Nimitz, where the aircraft carrier began exploding depth charges towards the submarine, before eventually firing a nuclear depth bomb on the submarine when it got too close. A Russian submarine then fires a nuclear weapon at the Nimitz, before the Nimitz loses contact with CVN; it is presumed that the Nimitz was destroyed.

At this point, the White House is completely evacuated, with the President, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other White House officials evacuated onto the airborne command center Looking Glass, and the Emergency Broadcast System is activated. In the moments before CVN's broadcast is transferred over to the Emergency Broadcast System, Tobin reiterates his optimism, discussing the opinions of a colleague who was considered an expert in nuclear war scenarios. His colleague held the belief that a nuclear exchange would someday take place, but when the two superpowers were confronted with the horror of the situation, they would choose peace over war.

The film ends with a shot of Looking Glass taking off, with the broadcast switching over to the Emergency Broadcast System.

Cast

Actor	Role
Scott Glenn	Michael Boyle
Michael Murphy	Bob Calhoun
Helen Shaver	Dorian Waldorf
Patrick Watson	Don Tobin
Nancy Dickerson	Herself
Eric Sevareid	Himself
Matsu Anderson	Matsu Yamada
Lincoln Bloomfield	Himself
Newt Gingrich	Himself
Eugene McCarthy	Himself

Additional Information

Unlike similar productions such as the previous year's Special Bulletin and the later Without Warning, the producers of this film decided not to make the entire production a simulated newscast, but instead break up the news portions with dramatic narrative scenes involving Shaver. The appearance of real-life newscasters, as well as noted CBC host Watson (although he does not appear as himself in this film) lent additional authenticity to the production.

One of the CTV rebroadcasts of the film in the mid-1980s occurred only days before an actual confrontation in the Persian Gulf occurred between American and Soviet ships, although the outcome of the real-life dispute was rather more positive.

See Also

• Special Bulletin, a 1983 made-for-tv movie about nuclear terrorism, shot in the same style of simulated news broadcasts
• Without Warning, an apocalyptic 1994 TV movie also presented as a faux news broadcast.

External links

• Countdown to Looking Glass at the Internet Movie Database
• Countdown to Looking Glass at Google Video