''The Soldier'' (also released as ''Codename: The Soldier'') is a 1982 American Cold War

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

written, directed, and produced by

James Glickenhaus James Glickenhaus (born July 24, 1950) is an American film producer, financier, director and automotive entrepreneur. He is currently general partner of Glickenhaus & Co., a family partnership originally started by his father Seth Glickenhaus. ...

The film stars

Ken Wahl Ken Wahl (born October 31, 1957) is a retired American film and television actor, popular in the 1980s and 1990s, best known for the CBS television crime drama '' Wiseguy''. Early life and career Wahl, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, Note: ...

Alberta Watson Faith Susan Alberta Watson (March 6, 1955 – March 21, 2015), better known as Alberta Watson, was a Canadian film and television actress. Early life Watson was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1955.Rita Zekas"Alberta's Feeling At Home On Deranged", ...

, William Prince,

Joaquim de Almeida Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida (born 15 March 1957) is a Portuguese actor. Almeida began his acting career in theatre during the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film '' The Soldier'', and later ach ...

, and Klaus Kinski, that featured a cameo by rising country superstar George Strait. The film was shot on location in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Buffalo and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York,

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The ski sequence was filmed in

St Anton am Arlberg Sankt Anton am Arlberg, commonly referred to as St Anton, is a village and ski resort in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It lies in the Tyrolean Alps, with aerial tramways and chairlifts up to , yielding a vertical drop of . It is also a popular s ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The original score was composed and performed by the German electronic band

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

Plot

Renegade

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

agents, headed by Ivan, hijack a

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

shipment inside the United States and use it to plant a nuclear device in the Saudi Arabian

Ghawar Oil Field Ghawar (Arabic: الغوار) is an oil field located in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Measuring (some ), it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world, and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative ...

. They threaten to detonate it, thereby contaminating 50% of the world's oil reserve, unless

withdraws its settlements from the West Bank. In Washington, the American President contemplates starting a war with Israel, in order to save the world from a potential oil crisis. Washington is unaware that the KGB are behind this threat. The President orders the head of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

to find out who has planted the bomb and to do anything he can to stop this. The Soldier is then activated. An elite CIA agent codenamed 'The Soldier' (

), working outside the usual channels, is assigned to the case. After Russian agent Dracha attempts to terminate him in the Austrian Alps, he contacts the CIA director from the US embassy in West Berlin. A KGB agent assassinates the director and frames The Soldier for his murder, leaving no official knowledge of his activities other than the president, who has disavowed any knowledge of his actions. On the run from his own government, he seeks refuge in the Israeli embassy. He and his team cooperate with the Israeli Mossad, represented by their director of covert operations Susan Goodman. Meanwhile, the president authorizes military action against Israel. Given the unpleasant options of the KGB destroying a large part of the world's oil supply or the United States having to invoke a military response to force Israel to remove its settlements from the West Bank, the Soldier decides to take a third option. His team infiltrates and captures a US nuclear missile silo in

Smith Center, Kansas Smith Center is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,571. History Smith Center was founded in 1871. The first post office in Smith Center was established ...

, and obtains independent launch capability. As the American military launches their air strikes toward Israel, The Soldier and Susan break into East Berlin by launching their Porsche over the Berlin Wall, confronting the KGB agents and informing them that if their nuke in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

is detonated, his team in Smith Center will nuke Moscow. This forces the Russian KGB to dismantle their device in Saudi Arabia and the American air strike is recalled.

Cast

as The Soldier, CIA Special Activities Division Operative *

as Susan Goodman, Israeli Mossad Director of Special Operations * William Prince as The President *Jeremiah Sullivan as Ivan, rogue Soviet KGB Agent *

as Unus, CIA Special Activities Division Operative *

Peter Hooten John Peter Hooten (born November 29, 1950) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title character in the television film '' Dr. Strange'' (1978). Career Hooten started acting in 1968 at the age of 17. He appeared as an uncredited ...

as Duo, CIA Special Activities Division Operative * Steve James as Tribus, CIA Special Activities Division Operative *Alexander Spencer as Quartus, CIA Special Activities Division Operative * Klaus Kinski as Dracha, rogue Soviet KGB Agent *

Al Israel Al Israel (1935/1936 – March 16, 2011) was an American film and TV actor who is best known for his role as the chainsaw-wielding Colombian drug dealer "Hector the Toad" in the 1983 film '' Scarface''. He also appeared alongside Al Pacino in '' ...

as Keene *

Ned Eisenberg Ned Eisenberg (January 13, 1957 – February 27, 2022) was an American actor known for his recurring role on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' as Roger Kressler. Early life and education Eisenberg grew up in the Riverdale neighborhood of ...

as Hirsch *Martin Höner as Michael *

Jeffrey Jones Jeffrey Duncan Jones (born September 28, 1946) is an American character actor, best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in '' Amadeus'' (1984), Edward R. Rooney in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), Charles Deetz in ''Beetlejuice'' (1988 ...

as US Assistant Secretary of Defense *

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (né Šimić-Ivanek; ; ; born August 15, 1957) is an American actor, known for his role as Ray Fiske on '' Damages'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award. Ivanek is also known for his role of Ed Danvers on '' Homicide: Life on ...

as rouge KGB Agent Bomb maker/Cleaning Lady *

Ron Harper Ronald Harper (born January 20, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1986 and 2001 and is a five-time NBA champion. Early life Harper was born ...

as Head of CIA *Reuben Singer as

Israeli Prime Minister The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exe ...

George Strait has a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

as himself, performing the song " Fool-Hearted Memory". According to an interview with director James Glickenhaus, the scene with Klaus Kinski was added when the production was under budget and they were able to get Kinski for one day.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was performed and recorded by Tangerine Dream. All tracks were composed by Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and

Johannes Schmoelling Johannes Schmoelling (born 9 November 1950 in Lohne, Germany) is a German musician and keyboard artist. He was a member of the prolific electronic music group Tangerine Dream from 1979 to 1985. A classically trained musician, he began playing pi ...

. The soundtrack was released as part of the box set ''Pilots of Purple Twilight (The Virgin Recordings 1980-1983)'' (2020). "The Soldier: Opening Theme" was released on the bootleg 70/90'' (1990). "Soldier on the Beach" was released on the fan release ''

Tangerine Tree Tangerine Tree was a fan project operating from 2002 through 2006 with the goal of collecting, preserving and distributing unreleased concerts and other audio material by the band Tangerine Dream. The creators of the Tangerine Tree project received ...

Volume 50: Assorted Secrets 2'' (2004).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soldier, The 1982 films 1982 action thriller films 1980s spy films American spy films American action thriller films Cold War spy films Embassy Pictures films Films about terrorism Films about the Central Intelligence Agency Films directed by James Glickenhaus Films scored by Tangerine Dream Films set in Austria Films set in Berlin Films set in East Germany Films set in Jerusalem Films set in Kansas Films set in Minsk Films set in Ontario Films set in Paris Films set in Philadelphia Films set in Saudi Arabia Films set in Tel Aviv Films set in West Germany Techno-thriller films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films