Silkwood (1983)

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writers:

Nora Ephron (written by) &
Alice Arlen (written by)

Release Date:

14 December 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

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.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear Plant | Oklahoma | Lesbian | Nuclear Power | Indian Joke

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Meryl Streep	...	Karen Silkwood
Kurt Russell	...	Drew Stephens
Cher	...	Dolly Pelliker
Craig T. Nelson	...	Winston
Fred Ward	...	Morgan
Diana Scarwid	...	Angela
Ron Silver	...	Paul Stone
Charles Hallahan	...	Earl Lapin
Josef Sommer	...	Max Richter
Sudie Bond	...	Thelma Rice
Henderson Forsythe	...	Quincy Bissell
E. Katherine Kerr	...	Gilda Schultz
Bruce McGill	...	Mace Hurley
David Strathairn	...	Wesley
J.C. Quinn	...	Curtis Schultz

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

ABC Motion Pictures

Trivia:

Lily Tomlin auditioned for the role of Dolly.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: 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.)

Quotes:

Karen Silkwood: I remember in high school her saying, 'Now what'd you want to take that science class for? There's no girls in that science class. You take home ec, why don't you? That's the way to meet the nice boys.' 'Mom,' I said, There ain't no boys in home ec. The boys are in the science class.' She hated when I said, 'Ain't.'

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "October Road.: Best Friend Windows (#1.6)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Pretty Little Horses Lullaby

A great look back at early 80s films

I thought this was a very nice film. It was nice to see three people acting well together (Cher, Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell). This type of story is very intersting to me. We see radiation treated so comically on The Simpsons but it is a very serious thing. Also, I thought it was great to have a film that had such simple locations and sets. No special fx were necessary and the result was a nice film with a good story. I would recommend Silkwood to anyone who likes these actors and anyone who is interested in true stories or films about organized labor.