china.jpg
I've owned this movie for a few years but had only watched it once. It's a really good potboiler and the story puts so many of today's movie "plots" to shame.
The story follows Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda), a TV reporter who has been relegated to 'fluff' stories by her TV station. She longs to do hard news and investigative reporting, but the suits at the station want to keep her doing the lightweight stuff because she's good for ratings. (1978 Jane Fonda was indeed pretty easy on the eyes, you have to admit.)
She and her favorite cameraman, played by Michael Douglas, are sent to a nuclear power plant to film a quick piece there, and while they're on site "something happens." Nobody will tell them what it is, but they know it was something. Richard, having been told he can't film in the area where they are, starts filming on the sly and captures the whole thing, which they eventually show to a nuclear expert who says "You are probably lucky to be alive, and so is this whole part of southern California."
The rest of the movie follows Kimberly's fight to find more information, and to get her story on the air. The station is trying to avoid a lawsuit, and the power company wants the whole affair kept quiet because they are working on getting permits to build a new plant. Hmm, it's just like today's world... follow the money.
Eventually a power plant manager, Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon), who has been trying to get the powers-that-be to listen to his reasoning that the plant may not be safe due to the "event," uncovers evidence showing that the company hired to inspect the plant may have shortcutted the inspection process, proving that the plant may indeed be unsafe and another event could result in a nuclear meltdown, potentially killing thousands or millions of people and rendering a huge area uninhabitable. He also finds radioactive water leaking from a pump, confirming that the plant is dangerous. Godell wants to testify his findings at hearings being held for the new plant, but is thwarted by some good "company men" from talking.
The whole thing soon comes to a head, of course, but not without Godell locking himself in the control room and refusing to come out unless he's allowed to state his case on a TV interview -- so Kimberly, the only person he trusts, is sent in to interview him.
I won't reveal the ending here for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it's real edge-of-the-seat stuff. It falls squarely into the "this could really happen" category, especially since a near-meltdown accident similar to the one in the movie happened in real life in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks after the film was released.
The action is tight and gripping, and afterward I found myself wondering how different the story would be if told today with the internet and cell phones in the mix. This movie might be worth a remake.
It's amazing to me how easy it is to describe a movie plot when the plot makes sense. So many of today's movies have intersecting storylines, multiple "bad guys" or vague scenarioes that it's almost impossible to summarize them coherently. Just read the Wikipedia synopsis of almost any newer movie to see what I mean.
For the movie at hand: Four out of five stars.
Disclaimer: I watched this from a home-made DCP made from a Blu-Ray, with just myself. No illegal pirate showings here. I don't know why I got to thinking about it but something reminded me of it, so I spent a late night last night running it for myself.
I've owned this movie for a few years but had only watched it once. It's a really good potboiler and the story puts so many of today's movie "plots" to shame.
The story follows Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda), a TV reporter who has been relegated to 'fluff' stories by her TV station. She longs to do hard news and investigative reporting, but the suits at the station want to keep her doing the lightweight stuff because she's good for ratings. (1978 Jane Fonda was indeed pretty easy on the eyes, you have to admit.)
She and her favorite cameraman, played by Michael Douglas, are sent to a nuclear power plant to film a quick piece there, and while they're on site "something happens." Nobody will tell them what it is, but they know it was something. Richard, having been told he can't film in the area where they are, starts filming on the sly and captures the whole thing, which they eventually show to a nuclear expert who says "You are probably lucky to be alive, and so is this whole part of southern California."
The rest of the movie follows Kimberly's fight to find more information, and to get her story on the air. The station is trying to avoid a lawsuit, and the power company wants the whole affair kept quiet because they are working on getting permits to build a new plant. Hmm, it's just like today's world... follow the money.
Eventually a power plant manager, Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon), who has been trying to get the powers-that-be to listen to his reasoning that the plant may not be safe due to the "event," uncovers evidence showing that the company hired to inspect the plant may have shortcutted the inspection process, proving that the plant may indeed be unsafe and another event could result in a nuclear meltdown, potentially killing thousands or millions of people and rendering a huge area uninhabitable. He also finds radioactive water leaking from a pump, confirming that the plant is dangerous. Godell wants to testify his findings at hearings being held for the new plant, but is thwarted by some good "company men" from talking.
The whole thing soon comes to a head, of course, but not without Godell locking himself in the control room and refusing to come out unless he's allowed to state his case on a TV interview -- so Kimberly, the only person he trusts, is sent in to interview him.
I won't reveal the ending here for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it's real edge-of-the-seat stuff. It falls squarely into the "this could really happen" category, especially since a near-meltdown accident similar to the one in the movie happened in real life in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks after the film was released.
The action is tight and gripping, and afterward I found myself wondering how different the story would be if told today with the internet and cell phones in the mix. This movie might be worth a remake.
It's amazing to me how easy it is to describe a movie plot when the plot makes sense. So many of today's movies have intersecting storylines, multiple "bad guys" or vague scenarioes that it's almost impossible to summarize them coherently. Just read the Wikipedia synopsis of almost any newer movie to see what I mean.
For the movie at hand: Four out of five stars.
Disclaimer: I watched this from a home-made DCP made from a Blu-Ray, with just myself. No illegal pirate showings here. I don't know why I got to thinking about it but something reminded me of it, so I spent a late night last night running it for myself.
Comment