The Fourth Protocol (film)

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This article is about the 1987 movie. For the novel, see The Fourth Protocol. For the computer game, see The Fourth Protocol (computer game).

The Fourth Protocol

Directed by	John Mackenzie
Produced by	Timothy Burrill
Written by	Frederick Forsyth (book) George Axelrod Richard Burridge (additional material)
Starring	Michael Caine Pierce Brosnan Ned Beatty Joanna Cassidy Julian Glover
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography	Phil Meheux
Editing by	Graham Walker
Release date(s)	(1987)
Running time	119 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Fourth Protocol is a 1987 movie starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan, based on the novel of the same name written by Frederick Forsyth.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot centres on a supposed secret East-West set of clauses which made up a 1968 agreement to halt nuclear proliferation. The fourth of these clauses, or Fourth Protocol, is the only one remaining. The protocol forbids the non-conventional delivery of a nuclear weapon to a target via, for example, the detonation of a portable device in close proximity to the target. The Chairman of the KGB plans to breach this protocol and destroy the NATO alliance by planting an agent (Brosnan) in England to assemble and detonate an atomic device. One of Britain's most astute spycatchers, Preston (Caine), discovers details of the plan and races against time to stop it.

The politics present in the book are not represented in the film, in which Kim Philby hatches a plan to topple the Conservative government and bring the unilateralist (at the time) Labour party to power. While in the novel Philby is in charge of the execution of the Plan Aurora, in the film he is shot to death outside a house.

[edit] Cast

Michael Caine - John Preston
Pierce Brosnan - Valeri Petrofsky / James Ross
Ned Beatty - Borisov
Joanna Cassidy - Irina Vassilievna
Julian Glover - Brian Harcourt-Smith
Michael Gough - Sir Bernard Hemmings
Ray McAnally - General Karpov
Ian Richardson - Sir Nigel Irvine
Anton Rodgers - George Berenson
Caroline Blakiston - Angela Berenson
Joseph Brady - Carmichael
Matt Frewer - Tom McWhirter
Alan North - Govershin
Ronald Pickup - Wynne-Evans

[edit] Locations

Much of the movie was shot in the Bradwell Common district of Milton Keynes, notably the A-frame house from "Homeworld 81". It is nowhere near RAF Greenham Common cruise missile base.