Panic in Year Zero! (1962)

Director:

Ray Milland

Writers:

John Morton (writer)
Jay Simms (writer)

Release Date:

5 July 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Where Science Fiction Ends And Fact Begins!!

Plot:

While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland) and his family hear an explosion and realize that...

Plot Keywords:

Cave | Hold Up | Fishing Trip | Nuclear Attack | Los Angeles

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Harry Baldwin
Jean Hagen	...	Ann Baldwin
Frankie Avalon	...	Rick Baldwin
Mary Mitchel	...	Karen Baldwin
Joan Freeman	...	Marilyn Hayes
Richard Bakalyan	...	Carl
Rex Holman	...	Mickey
Richard Garland	...	Ed Johnson - Hardware Store Owner
Willis Bouchey	...	Dr. Powell Strong (as Willis Bouchet)
Neil Nephew	...	Andy
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Hogan - Grocery Store Owner
Russ Bender	...	Harkness
Andrea Lane
Scott Peters
Shary Marshall	...	Bobbie Johnson

Also Known As:

End of the World
Panic in Year Zero (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The sounds coming from the car radio are not synchronized with the turning of the tuning knob.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ann Baldwin: Thanks for the help.
Harry Baldwin: Oh, I'm sorry, Ann... Sorry.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Matinee (1993)

Growing up in L.A. in the '60s, this movie really meant something!

Sure it didn't have a huge budget or major-league stars, but it's a bleak and realistic little drama that has an authentic tone and a sense of desperation that feels utterly genuine. There's undoubtedly a "you-had-to-be-there" reaction that I had to it, being from Los Angeles and knowing the mountain area and easily being able to imagine seeing that mushroom cloud in my own mind. I was eight when this originally came out -- not sure if I saw it in the theater but it's possible -- and that creepy Conalrad radio tone is still in my head after all these years.

Nobody -- except maybe Charlton Heston -- can look quite so anguished and masculine and bearing-the-weight-of-the-world-on-his-shoulders-in-the-face-of-civilization 's-downfall as Ray Milland does in this movie.

It looks like we dodged the nuclear war bullet back in the 1960s, but I'm sure that anybody living today can still identify with the terrifying prospect of a devastating nuclear war and what could happen if you were one of the lucky/unlucky survivors. This may not be "The Day After" but it's a plucky low-budget version of the same theme and worth seeing alongside other 60s nuclear nightmare movies.