MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 90 this week

Silkwood (1983)

7.1
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.1/10 from 9,499 users   Metascore: 64/100
Reviews: 66 user | 31 critic | 10 from Metacritic.com

The story of Karen Silkwood, a metallurgy worker at a plutonium processing plant who was purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing blatant worker safety violations at the plant.

Director:

0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 309 titles created 27 May 2011
 
a list of 3595 titles created 1 month ago
 
a list of 250 titles created 27 Apr 2011
 
a list of 80 titles created 17 Aug 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Silkwood (1983)

Silkwood (1983) on IMDb 7.1/10

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

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Silkwood.
Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards »
Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The Insider (1999)
Biography | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a "60 Minutes" expose on Big Tobacco.

Director: Michael Mann
Stars: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer
Salvador (1986)
Drama | History | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A journalist, down on his luck in the US, drives to El Salvador to chronicle the events of the 1980 military dictatorship, including the assasination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. He forms an... See full summary »

Director: Oliver Stone
Stars: James Woods, James Belushi, Michael Murphy
Biography | Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Story of a man who is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.

Director: Alan Parker
Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins
Biography | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Stars: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington
Biography | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.

Director: Neil Jordan
Stars: Ian Hart, Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson
Mask (1985)
Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and biker gang mother attempts to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.

Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Stars: Cher, Sam Elliott, Eric Stoltz
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
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

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

Director: James Bridges
Stars: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas
127 Hours (2010)
Adventure | Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.

Director: Danny Boyle
Stars: James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn
Biography | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

A man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he didn't commit imprisons his father as well; a British lawyer helps fight for their freedom.

Director: Jim Sheridan
Stars: Alison Crosbie, Daniel Day-Lewis, Philip King
The Aviator (2004)
Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career, from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale
The Queen (2006)
Biography | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

After the death of Princess Diana, HM Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.

Director: Stephen Frears
Stars: Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Paul Stone
Charles Hallahan ...
Earl Lapin
...
Max Richter
Sudie Bond ...
Thelma Rice
Henderson Forsythe ...
Quincy Bissell
E. Katherine Kerr ...
Gilda Schultz
...
Mace Hurley
...
Wesley
J.C. Quinn ...
Curtis Schultz
Edit

Storyline

Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate. Written by Susan C. Mitchell <susanm@indirect.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

On November 13, 1974, Karen Silkwood, an employee of a nuclear facility, left to meet with a reporter from the New York Times. She never got there.


Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

14 December 1983 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

El caso Silkwood - Escándalo nuclear  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Gross:

$35,600,000 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the newspaper that journalist David Burnham wrote for was 'The New York Times'. See more »

Goofs

Kerr McGee's Cimmeron plant is on the east side of Hwy 74, between Crescent to the north and Oklahoma City to the south. Opening scenes show a mileage sign for Crescent, which is really the opposite direction. This also causes incorrect footage for placement and direction of travel in later scenes (ex. placement of car in accident, tow truck pulling wrecked car past Crescent Cafe, etc.) See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Man on the intercom: Name?
Karen Silkwood: Karen Silkwood.
Drew Stephens: Drew Stephens.
Dolly Pelliker: Dolly Pelliker.
See more »

Connections

Edited into The Clock (2010) See more »

Soundtracks

"Amazing Grace"
Traditional
Performed by Meryl Streep
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

 
America the beautiful
31 July 2004 | by (Saffron Walden, UK) – See all my reviews

The lives of working class Americans are shamefully under-represented by Hollywood, and when a poor person is depicted (as something other than a criminal), it's almost always with the subtext of hope and the American dream. But hope isn't what drives someone, like the real-life Karen Silkwood, to risk her life working with plutonium for the only employer in a company town. Silkwood didn't find hope, but she did get scared, and angry, and put her job (and those of her colleagues) at stake to uncover dangerous practices before dying a mysterious death. 'Silkwood' the movie doesn't give us the glib conclusions of a conspiracy thriller (it refrains from giving an opinion on her cause of death), but it does give an excellent portrait of life at the bottom, and the mounting sense of claustrophobia and paranoia that accompanied Karen's perilous voyage of discovery. Meryl Streep does an excellent job in the title role, portraying a woman gradually losing her sanity, and the whole cast is good, even Cher in an unglamorous role. In conclusion, this is a serious and important film; and a reminder for the fortunate how hard, and ugly, life can be, even in the "land of the free".


36 of 37 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Researching a joke in the film grizzlywhite
Shirley McLaine vs. Debra Winger vs. Meryl Streep Ben-ja-min-Linus
Karen and the food? kathgray_k
Silkwood is one of the best films of Mike Nichols. garychusang
UK - Free Silkwood with Mail on Sunday MrMonkey
She lived in the town that I live in! dancingdiva0990
Discuss Silkwood (1983) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?