As far as cold-war era nuclear showdown movies go, 1984’s made-for-TV Countdown to Looking Glass is mostly forgettable but, like most movies of its ilk, occasionally bone-chilling. Constructed in the “crisis seen through the lens of newscast” genre, it it similar to Special Bulletin and Without Warning. As an obvious product of the Cold War, it now feels quite a bit dated. On the other hand, the causes of the portrayed crisis resonate mildly with contemporary global politics: terrorism, banking collapse brought on by sovereign defaults, and middle east nations undergoing regime change.

One bonus of Countdown is that it features 3rd-term House Member Newt Gingrich (D-GA), playing himself in two TV interviews. Below is the first interview, on day three of the crisis and after American forces land in Saudi Arabia at the request of the King, deployed in order to quell domestic uprisings spurred on by the Soviet-led coup in Oman, and potentially defend the peninsula from the growing crisis over the closure of the strait of Hormuz :

While keeping in mind that this is a fictional interview from a script in a movie, I found two things interesting:

1) Gingrich’s claim that “this is the biggest crisis facing the Western alliance since either the Bay of Pigs invasion or the blockade of Berlin”  struck me as strange, in part because I don’t think of the Bay of Pigs as much of a “crisis” or as something that involved the Western Alliance in anything but the most general sense. But mostly because the Cuban missile crisis, which Gingrich didn’t mention, seems like the obvious natural analogy to the situation. Since this seems like an almost impossible oversight, it makes me wonder why either Gingrich or the movie producers chose not to mention it.

2) Gingrich’s use of perhaps-dubious broad historical context is on beautiful display. He notes that the Soviet desire for the Arabian oil fields follows several hundred years of the Russian czars trying to overtake that part of the world, and that the British had successfully fended them off in the past, but now it is up to us. But I don’t think the connection quite works: it seems like a reasonable position that we should defend the Saudis because the oil field are of strategic value, but what does the czarist/British tilt in the 19th century have to do with anything?

Here’s the second interview, on day eight of the crisis, after the USS Nimitiz has arrived near the strait and a Dutch oil tanker has been destroyed trying to run the blockade:

Again, I’d first remind you that this is a fictional interview. But two points:

1) I don’t get Gingrich’s response to the question. I mean, I understand the principle: there are things worth fighting for, even if it means horrible war. But if no “thing” is worth nuclear war, how can slavery be less palatable than a nuclear war that may end up destroying the world. Is the idea here that freedom is not “a thing,” and thus certain ideals are worth risking nuclear war? That doesn’t seem like much of a guiding principle. But, you know, whatever.

2) And yes: Churchill! Gingrich is nothing if not a would-be statesman in waiting, in his own mind. The first sentence is also classic Gingrich — Tragically (Tragically!), you’ve asked the right question.

Finally, one more general point about the movie. I found it rather unnerving that not a single mention seems to be made of Congress’s role in the crisis. The entire film is centered around the President’s military and diplomatic responses. The news reports cover public protests, mass evacuations, presidential speeches, DoD communications, and State Department maneuvers. But not a word about the legislature. And here we are interviewing a Member of Congress, and not one question about congressional authority over the matter. And not a word from Gingrich either.

In the last scene of the film, the news anchor grimly reports that the President’s Emergency Airborne Command Post — code-named Looking Glass — has taken off from Andrews AFB and will join a second plane in the sky, which is carrying members…of the strategic air command! No word is given on where Congressman Gingrich or any other Members of Congress have been or will be taken. Bone-chilling indeed.