Rocket Attack U.S.A. (1961)

A cold-war propaganda film, released not too long after the launch of Sputnik, intended to rally public support for an anti-ballistic missile program. Based on the assumption that Sputnik ... See full summary »

Director:

Barry Mahon

Stars:

Monica Davis, John McKay, Phillip St. George

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Monica Davis	...	Tanya
John McKay	...	John Manston
Phillip St. George
Edward Czerniuk
Daniel Kern
Richard Downs
Herbert Flato
Ray Brewer
Janice Gilmain
Robert Reeh
Art Metrano	...	Truck Driver (as Arthur Metrano)
Jane Ross	...	Truck Driver's Wife
Marco Behar
Frank Patrinostrow
Milton Fuchs

Storyline

A cold-war propaganda film, released not too long after the launch of Sputnik, intended to rally public support for an anti-ballistic missile program. Based on the assumption that Sputnik is gathering intelligence for the Soviets, a spy is sent to Moscow to determine just how far along their missile program is. Surprise, surprise; Sputnik gave them all the data they need to build one nuclear missile, which is ready to launch against the U.S.

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Plot Keywords:

spy | anti communist | russia | nuclear weapons | independent film

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Taglines:

From Another Continent ... Destruction!!! Panic!! ... before the Rocket Strikes!

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Genres:

Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Five Minutes to Zero

Filming Locations:

Hazlet, New Jersey, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Exploit Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Goofs

One of the Russian soldiers is armed with an American Browning Automatic Rifle. The rest of the Russian soldiers are also incorrectly armed with bolt-action rifles, since the AK-47 had been adopted as the standard issue rifle six years prior to the events in the movie.

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Quotes

Tannah: Last month I became the mistress of the secretary of defense. When the pig gets drunk, he talks.
John Manston: What a setup!

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Lost Continent (1990)

User Reviews

God help us if the trendies and the pseudo hip discover Barry Mahon!

This atomic war/spy thriller may be one of the cheapest non-pornographic films ever released commercially. It is not surprising considering that this film comes from an industry that rarely ventured into anything as mainstream as science fiction films and spy thrillers. Barry Mahon and company worked mostly in the lowest end of the film industry; producing cheap semi-pornographic films. Click to his filmography and you will see what I mean.

At least half the film is comprised of stock foot-age. Most of it not very good. The scenes of the rocket in space are done in poor cartoon animation and look like it was culled from some boring classroom film. Forget the fact the acting is bad, the dialogue lame, and lack of any real action make this film rough going. The film does become slightly interesting towards the end, but it is not enough.

God forbid the trendies and the pseudo hip (like the people who only know these old films from watching MST3K) discover Barry Mahon!

A little trivia; the truck driver near the climax of this film is stand up comedian Art Metrano.