Pretty Good

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Robert Conrad, a commander on a submarine, is called into The Pentagon for secret information about his next assignment. They tell him he's going to be involved in a test case mission: a pre-recorded tape is going to hidden aboard the vessel, and messages will be released to the crew in intervals to make them believe WW3 has started. The ship will then fire four dummy missiles at Russia, which will show that the United States is ready if the Cold War escalates. Only Robert Conrad, the ship's captain, David Soul, and a psychologist, Richard Roundtree, are aware that all the information is fake; the rest of the crew will think it's real! When the first messages start coming in and David Soul takes them seriously, it makes everyone question what's real and what's fake. . .Believe it or not, that's the short version of a plot teaser. There's a lot more to the setup, but I wanted to tell you just enough to get you excited. The Fifth Missile is a very fun, exciting, suspenseful thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat during the entire ride—and I've already seen it twice! While the crew flounders underwater, each trying to hold onto their sanity, Sam Waterston and Yvette Mimieux try to solve the mystery from dry land. Even though this is a television movie from the 1980s, Eric Bercovici's script isn't as cheesy as one would expect. There are lots of twists and turns, and countless moments that will make you gasp. I highly recommend this psychological thriller, and since I'm deathly afraid of water and still enjoyed the movie, you can be sure it'll live up to my review.

Spoiler Alert - Ending Revealed This film is full of suspense, but has several points that are very unrealistic.1) It is very unrealistic that any drug would have a beneficial reaction to another toxin. It makes an interesting plot, but it's a very unrealistic scenario. Equavil, the fictional drug in question, is described to treat "reactive depression". Therefore the presumed effect it would have would be to increase anxiety, the reaction that the crew was already having to the toxin in the paint. That makes the story of Equavil neutralizing the toxin totally implausible.2) The crew exited the submarine Montana North of the Arctic Circle, possibly even North of 70 degrees latitude. The water temperature at that latitude would be unbearably cold. The crew would not survive long enough for more helicopters to get to them, except those in the rafts. But as can be viewed in the film, most of the crew were not in rafts, but in the water.3) What was the purpose of Capt. Allard Renslow jumping out of the helicopter into the water? He could not possibly help any of the crew in the water, once he was in the water himself, especially water as cold as it would be North of the Arctic Circle. Renslow jumping into the water had a dramatic effect to rejoin with Van Meer. Nevertheless, there was no way Renslow would be any benefit to Van Meer or any of the other crew in the water.

It's interesting that someone made a comparison of the "Fifth Missile" to the Star Trek episode. It should be pointed out that the original Star Trek TV episode in which the crew of the Enterprise undergoes a space madness while orbiting planet Si 2000 is entitled "The Naked Time", not the "Naked Now". The "Naked Now" refers to the first regular Star Trek The Next Generation episode in which the Enterprise-D encounters a science vessel. This episode, though, does refer to and is based on the "Naked Time" original series one.Now, to the Firth Missile. While the reactions of the crew in the Star Trek episodes were based on those similar to alcohol intoxication, the crew's condition on board the Montana was caused by a much more serious situation, namely the paint vapors emitted by the faulty bulkhead finish. There are few places where such a reaction could have more serious consequences than among a crew who has responsibilities as serious as a crew on a ballistic missile submarine, and of course this is what makes the film so suspenseful and such a thriller. The plot is very believable. At the same time, this film, along with "Crimson Tide", "The Day After", "By Dawn's Early Light", "The Hunt For Red October", "Ice Station Zebra", and many other similar movies give us much insight into how easily things could go wrong and just how easy it could be for a nuclear holocaust to begin. Thankfully such an event has not occurred and (God willing) such an event will not happen.

"The Fifth Missile" is the story of a ballistic missile submarine that has been re-painted hastily, and as a result, its crew suffers from a toxic-induced neurosis. As a low-budget, made for TV movie, "The Fifth Missile" is reasonably interesting, and understandably cheesy. What saves "The Fifth Missile" from complete mediocrity is its all-star cast, which among others includes Robert Conrad, Richard Roundtree, and Sam Waterston.The acting is top-notch, despite the limitations of plot, story, and budget. "The Fifth Missile" and its expressions of neurosis are particularly interesting, especially since the crew's reaction to wet, blue paint are similar to Star Trek: The Original Series' "Naked Now" episode. But in the final analysis, "The Fifth Missile" seems to be a relatively good effort on the part of the directors. Best if watched with an open mind.