MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 3,390 this week

The China Syndrome (1979)

 -  Drama | Thriller  -  16 March 1979 (USA)
7.3
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.3/10 from 14,863 users  
Reviews: 84 user | 50 critic

A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.

Director:

0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 3 months ago
 
a list of 2085 titles created 30 Nov 2011
 
a list of 3111 titles created 16 May 2011
 
a list of 3595 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 250 titles created 20 Nov 2010
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The China Syndrome (1979)

The China Syndrome (1979) on IMDb 7.3/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The China Syndrome.
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 10 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Marathon Man (1976)
Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A graduate history student is unwittingly caught in the middle of an international conspiracy involving stolen diamonds, an exiled Nazi war criminal, and a rogue government agent.

Director: John Schlesinger
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider
The Firm (1993)
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A young lawyer joins a prestigous law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman
Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France.

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Stars: Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair
Runaway Jury (2003)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Director: Gary Fleder
Stars: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman
Dead Calm (1989)
Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A mass-murderer kidnaps and seduces a young woman after leaving her husband to die on the vessel whose crew he's just slaughtered.

Director: Phillip Noyce
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane
Crime | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A British soldier is kidnapped by IRA terrorists. He befriends one of his captors, who is drawn into the soldier's world.

Director: Neil Jordan
Stars: Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Rea
Taxi Driver (1976)
Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

A mentally unstable Viet Nam war veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Albert Brooks, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.5/10 X  

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Stars: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A married man's one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Stars: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer
Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

Director: Mary Harron
Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family.

Director: Mark Romanek
Stars: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan
Disclosure (1994)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.9/10 X  

A computer specialist is sued for sexual harassment by a former lover turned boss who initiated the act forcefully, which threatens both his career and his personal life.

Director: Barry Levinson
Stars: Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, Donald Sutherland
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
Scott Brady ...
...
Peter Donat ...
...
...
Evan McCormack
Daniel Valdez ...
Stan Bohrman ...
...
Mac Churchill
Michael Alaimo ...
Donald Hotton ...
Dr. Lowell
Khalilah Ali ...
Marge
Paul Larson ...
D.B. Royce
Edit

Storyline

While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, an opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicise the incident but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret. Written by Dave Jenkins <david.jenkins@smallworld.co.uk>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

People who know the meaning of "The China Syndrome" are scared. Soon _you_ will know. See more »

Genres:

Drama | Thriller

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

16 March 1979 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

El síndrome de China  »

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 8,390,477 (Sweden)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

(Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

First of two back-to-back consecutive films playing a television journalist character for actress Jane Fonda who would do the same in her next movie The Electric Horseman. Fonda prepared for her role in The China Syndrome by going the rounds with Californian women television reporters. See more »

Goofs

When a reactor is "SCRAM"ed it does not initiate the use of massive cooling systems. The SCRAM process is the rapid (4 second or less) insertion of the control rods into the core which shuts the reactor down by absorbing the neutrons. If the control rod SCRAM fails, then the reactor can be SCRAMed by using a neutron absorbing liquid injected into the core from pressurized tanks (no pumps.) Also, in addition to the cooling pumps, there is an Emergency Core Cooling System which injects a large amount of cooling water into the core if the primary colling system fails. See more »

Quotes

Bill Gibson: Mr. Mc Cormack I can't take responsibility for this.
Evan Mc Cormack: What's your alternative? Let this maniac wash out a billion dollar investment? At least this buys time, it will take the press an hour to get here.
Bill Gibson: I wouldn't count on it.
Evan Mc Cormack: I'm counting on you to take care of the goddamn press. Now you do your job and I'll do mine.
Bill Gibson: Yes sir.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Murphy's Romance (1985) See more »

Soundtracks

"Somewhere in Between"
by Stephen Bishop
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

About the media as much as nuclear power
25 November 1998 | by (Newcastle, Australia) – See all my reviews

Centrally focused on the nuclear power industry, James Bridges's film contains a subtext indicting the news media, particularly television. His story leaves no room to doubt that there is a nexus between the moguls of the two industries which influences the way stories are, first, treated and, secondly, presented.

He may exaggerate to make his point, but he makes it so prominent that its place cannot be overlooked in examining the whole of the film.

Bridges also knows Hitchcock's trick of frustrating the audience with the passage of time. When Kimberly's crew is waiting at a public hearing for Jack to arrive with evidence, the performance of the enviro-protesters with their neat clothes, neat black gags and silent protest is as excruciating as nails scraping a blackboard. The audience is more anxious than the characters for an arrival to put an end to it.


26 of 29 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Karl Grossman says NRC knew chances of core meltdown in US within 20yrs mickeyone
Nuclear safety Rammu
Does not hold up TaxPayer99
Ironic reference to Pennsylvania rricci
Any Other Nukes Seen This Movie? tspencer227
HELP !!!!!!!!!!! unfabulous36
Discuss The China Syndrome (1979) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?