It's too bad this film isn't available on VHS or DVD because it's one of the best thrillers from the film noir era. Thank goodness I taped it off the tv years ago - it's probably the most watched video in my collection.
Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) is an escaped convict who grabs some hostages and is forced to hole up in a ghost town in the Nevada desert because all the roads are blocked for an atomic bomb test. They're one mile from ground zero and have less than twelve hours til detonation. Some premise, eh?
This film has an excellent cast of mostly "B" movie stars: McNally is perfect as the hard-as-nails convict. Jan Sterling plays a nightclub dancer, Keith Andes a reporter, Alexis Smith a coldhearted party girl looking for a divorce from her doctor husband, Richard Egan. Paul Kelly and Frank DeKova are friends of Hurley.
The interplay between characters as they contemplate death, either from Hurley or the bomb, is terrific.
******* SPOILERS *******
The ending of the movie is very memorable. The people running the test decide to set the bomb off an hour early and the bad guys are caught in town and it's too late to escape. But off they go anyway - Hurley, his wounded buddy, and the hysterical divorcee. The final seconds before the bomb blast are priceless as Hurley feverishly tries to drive the car for all it's worth. Alexis Smith is screaming and crying, and in the middle is Paul Kelly, looking back and forth at his traveling companions and realizing they blew it.
The others escape to an old mine shaft just outside town. After the blast, Richard Egan says, "Well, let's go see what the world of tomorrow looks like." They crawl out and all they can see is the smoking ruins of the town with the mushroom cloud rising in the background. Taken in the context of its time, 1953, this was a very eerie scene and one which must have made the audience pause.
Can you tell I like this movie?
¦^Þ
Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) is an escaped convict who grabs some hostages and is forced to hole up in a ghost town in the Nevada desert because all the roads are blocked for an atomic bomb test. They're one mile from ground zero and have less than twelve hours til detonation. Some premise, eh?
This film has an excellent cast of mostly "B" movie stars: McNally is perfect as the hard-as-nails convict. Jan Sterling plays a nightclub dancer, Keith Andes a reporter, Alexis Smith a coldhearted party girl looking for a divorce from her doctor husband, Richard Egan. Paul Kelly and Frank DeKova are friends of Hurley.
The interplay between characters as they contemplate death, either from Hurley or the bomb, is terrific.
******* SPOILERS *******
The ending of the movie is very memorable. The people running the test decide to set the bomb off an hour early and the bad guys are caught in town and it's too late to escape. But off they go anyway - Hurley, his wounded buddy, and the hysterical divorcee. The final seconds before the bomb blast are priceless as Hurley feverishly tries to drive the car for all it's worth. Alexis Smith is screaming and crying, and in the middle is Paul Kelly, looking back and forth at his traveling companions and realizing they blew it.
The others escape to an old mine shaft just outside town. After the blast, Richard Egan says, "Well, let's go see what the world of tomorrow looks like." They crawl out and all they can see is the smoking ruins of the town with the mushroom cloud rising in the background. Taken in the context of its time, 1953, this was a very eerie scene and one which must have made the audience pause.
Can you tell I like this movie?
¦^Þ