MovieChat Forums > World War III (1982) Discussion > The 'agreement' between Caffey and Voras...

The 'agreement' between Caffey and Vorashin at the end..

posted 10 years ago by judithlaib2000
4 replies | jump to latest

Loved this movie; found it very moving at the end. What I would like to know is when the two Colonels, Jake Caffey and the Colonel Alexander Vorashin meet face to face at the pumping station and find they actually agree with each other, and remove their gloves to shake hands, the "rebel" who throws the grenade and generally precipitated the beginning of the end, did Vorashin know that was going to happen and therefore was not being genuine with Caffey?? Or was he another victim of the hard liners??? I thought this was a great film, like I said, I was genuinely moved at the end, maybe because im a parent myself. I also felt sad when Gorny was murdered as he did truly represent peace, whereas Rudinsky was one of the "old guard" and a true hawk.

[–] GalenSteeleJr 9 years ago

He was duped also. I feel the one who thru the grenade was the political officer. Kinda like Putin today.

[–] Eric-62-2 9 years ago

The paperback novelization of this miniseries evidently was working from a much earlier draft of the script that in the end had a more tragic finish. In it, Caffey's band actually turns things around and fights the Soviet group off, but in the end, because of a communications failure they are unable to get word to Washington that the Soviet force has been defeated, and thus McKenna and Gorny (who is NOT killed by the KGB but is still being manipulated them) end up going over the edge because they operate from the mistaken belief that the Soviets hold the pipeline.

[–] jloper 9 years ago

When I first saw the movie, I thought that Vorashin was in on the trick (the tossing of the grenade). But recently it occurred to me that since the Russians had complete control of the valve station, there was no need for him to die if he was loyal to the mission--he did get killed after all.

[–] gabryant 9 years ago

In the novelization of the miniseries, the final scene has Caffey and Vorashin shaking hands on the battlefield as US and Soviet missiles pass overhead on the way to their targets.

So, I believe that Vorashin (in the final filmed version) was being genuine with Caffey. Some of the earlier dialogue between Vorashin and the political officer also supports this. It makes for a much more interesting twist and anti-war statement - that two soldiers on the field can come to a peace while their leaders could not.