The Soldier (1982 film)

The film opens in Philadelphia as a limousine appears to run over a woman pushing a baby carriage. Three pedestrians rush to the woman and rather than offer help, they pull out pistols and sub-machineguns. A group of five men dressed all in black uniforms with black berets shoot and eliminate the three individuals. A helicopter lands and the men in black load all of the people on board. As it turns out, they were all Soviet Union KGB Agents trying to assassinate the Ambassador in the limousine; as they'd been successful numerous times recently. The scene then switched to a KGB Training Facility with the Trainer "Ivan" showing a picture of the leader of the squad that prevented the KGB assassination. He advised his codename is "The Soldier".

We next see renegade KGB Agent Ivan and three other KGB Agents leave a Soviet freighter in NYC harbor and board a smaller boat. They come ashore and kick off their nefarious plan. The renegade Soviet Union KGB agents, headed by Ivan, hijack a U.S. D.O.E. plutonium shipment in N.Y. State and use it to plant a nuclear bomb in the Saudi Arabian Ghawar Oil Field. They anonymously threaten to detonate the bomb, contaminating 50% of the Western world's oil reserve, unless Israel withdraws its settlements from the West Bank. In Washington D.C., the U.S. president contemplates having to invade Israel to remove them from the West Bank in order to save the world from an oil shortage. The U.S. is unaware that the rogue Soviet KGB Agents are actually behind this threat. The U.S. president orders the head of the CIA to find out who has planted the bomb and to do anything he can to stop it. "The Soldier" is then activated.

An elite C.I.A. Special Activities Division Operative codenamed "The Soldier" (Ken Wahl), who works outside the usual channels and answers only to the C.I.A. Director, is assigned to the case. The Soldier goes to Austria to meet with C.I.A. asset, Soviet KGB Agent Dracha. Dracha and two other rogue KGB Agents attempt to terminate him in the Austrian Alps at a ski resort, first by trapping him in a cable car and blowing it up with a rocket launcher. Narrowly escaping that, the Soldier is chased down the slopes by the two KGB Agents in a running gun battle. The Soldier manages to eliminate one on the way down and then the other at the resort at the base of the mountain. Before the KGB Agent dies, he admits that the nuclear bomb was the rogue KGB's and will go off no matter what; leading to the Soviet's world supremacy with the West's oil supply diminished and economy wrecked. The Soldier then breaks into the West Berlin U.S. Embassy, going to the Secure Communications Room to contact the C.I.A. Director on a secure line to advise him of their plan. While on the phone with the Director, an I.E.D. in a lightbulb planted by one of the rogue KGB Agents blows up and assassinates the Director. This puts suspicion on The Soldier for the murder. As The Soldier answered only to the C.I.A. Director, this left 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 in West Berlin. The Soldier then has his four-man Special Activities Division Team assembled in the U.S.A. He and his team coordinate with the Israeli Mossad, represented by their Director of Covert Operations, Susan Goodman. Meanwhile, the U S. President authorizes military action against Israel to try to save the oil supply; not knowing that no matter what he does, the rogue KGB Agents will set off the nuke anyway to destroy the Western economy.

Knowing that the rogue KGB Agents will destroy a large part of the West's oil supply despite 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 make a bold move. His team infiltrates and captures a U.S. Air Force nuclear missile launch facility in Smith Center, Kansas, and obtains independent launch capability. The launch codes had been planted in the system years before by the C.I.A. and The Soldier in case the U.S. president became mentally unstable; as Richard Nixon reportedly had at one time and was ready to launch a nuclear attack without a reason. As the U.S. attack aircraft launch toward Israel, The Soldier and Susan break into East Berlin by launching their Porsche over the Berlin Wall. Their purpose is to confront the East German Guards and subsequently the rogue KGB agents that they knew were there. Once the rogue Soviet KGB Agent shows up, The Soldier informs him that if their nuclear bomb in Saudi Arabia is detonated, his team in Smith Center will fire a Minuteman Nuclear Missile with multiple warheads and destroy Moscow. This forces the rogue Soviet KGB Agent to hurriedly send a KGB Spetsnaz team by parachute to dismantle their nuclear bomb hidden in the Saudi Arabian oil fields. The American air strike is recalled. War is averted. The Israelis help to save the Western oil supply. The failed rogue KGB plot failed. The Soldier and Mossad Director Goodman walk off into the sunset.

• Ken Wahl as The Soldier C.I.A. Special Activities Division Operative
• Alberta Watson as Susan Goodman Israeli Mossad Director of Special Operations
• William Prince as The President
• Jeremiah Sullivan as Ivan, rogue Soviet KGB Agent
• Joaquim de Almeida as Unus C.I.A. Special Activities Division Operative
• Peter Hooten as Duo C.I.A. Special Activities Division Operative
• Steve James as Tribus C.I.A. Special Activities Division Operative
• Alexander Spencer as Quartus C.I.A. Special Activities Division Operative
• Klaus Kinski as Dracha rogue Soviet KGB Agent
• Al Israel as Keene
• Ned Eisenberg as Hirsch
• Martin Höner as Michael
• Jeffrey Jones as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense
• Željko Ivanek as rouge Soviet KGB Agent Bombmaker / Cleaning Lady
• Ron Harper as Head of CIA
• Reuben Singer as Israeli Prime Minister

George Strait has a cameo appearance 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.[7]

The film's soundtrack was performed and recorded by Tangerine Dream. All tracks were composed by Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and Johannes Schmoelling. 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).[8] "Soldier on the Beach" was released on the fan release Tangerine Tree Volume 50: Assorted Secrets 2 (2004).

• The Soldier at IMDb
• The Soldier at Box Office Mojo
• The Soldier at Rotten Tomatoes