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:

Worker | Plutonium | Nuclear Plant | Oklahoma | Pressure

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 3 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
Kent Broadhurst	...	Carl
Richard Hamilton	...	Georgie
Les Lannom	...	Jimmy
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Walt Yarborough
Graham Jarvis	...	Doctor at Union Meeting
James Rebhorn	...	Los Alamos Doctor
Ray Baker	...	Pete Dawson
Michael Bond	...	2nd Los Alamos Doctor
Bill Cobbs	...	Man in Lunchroom
Norman Colvin	...	Zachary (as Norm Colv in)
Haskell Craver	...	Ham
Kathie Dean	...	Stewardess
Gary Grubbs	...	Randy Fox
Susan McDaniel	...	Karen's Child
Tana Hensley	...	Karen's Child
Anthony Fernandez	...	Karen's Child
Betty Harper	...	May Bissell
Tess Harper	...	Linda Dawson
Anthony Heald	...	2nd Doctor at Union Meeting
Nancy Hopton	...	Nurse
Betty King	...	Nurse
Dan Lindsey	...	Man at Fence
John Martin	...	Man with Flashlight
Will Patton	...	Joe
Vern Porter	...	Bill Charlton
Christopher Saylors	...	Buddy
Don Slatton	...	Man in Moonsuit (as Don Slaton)
Tom Stovall	...	3rd Los Alamos Doctor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Addington	...	Airline passenger (uncredited)
Jim Beaver	...	Plant Manager (uncredited)
Pamela Clay	...	Woman in Bar (uncredited)

Directed by
Mike Nichols

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

Produced by
Larry Cano	....	executive producer
Michael Hausman	....	producer
Buzz Hirsch	....	executive producer
Mike Nichols	....	producer
Tom Stovall	....	associate producer
Joel Tuber	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Georges Delerue

Cinematography by
Miroslav Ondrícek		(director of photography) (as Miroslav Ondricek)

Film Editing by
Sam O'Steen

Casting by
Mary Goldberg

Production Design by
Patrizia von Brandenstein		(as Patrizia Von Brandenstein)

Art Direction by
Richard D. James		(as Richard James)

Set Decoration by
Derek R. Hill
Dennis W. Peeples

Costume Design by
Ann Roth

Makeup Department
Silvia Abascal	....	hair stylist
J. Roy Helland	....	makeup artist
Bob Mills	....	makeup artist
Marina Pedraza	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Richard Brick	....	unit production manager
Herb Jellinek	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Hausman	....	first assistant director
Joel Tuber	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Joe Acord	....	constructionn coordinator
Bradly E. Breitbarth	....	assistant property master
John Dapper	....	assistant art director
Russell Goble	....	property master
Michael D. Murray	....	set designer
Tom Bartholomew	....	key set painter (uncredited)
Glenn Dunn	....	propmaker (uncredited)
Floyd Gentry	....	set painter/on-camera artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Clint Althouse	....	boom operator
Stan Bochner	....	sound editor
Tom Fleischman	....	sound re-recording mixer
Randal A. Goya	....	foley mixer
Larry Jost	....	production sound mixer
Stuart Lieberman	....	assistant sound editor
Dan Lieberstein	....	sound editor
Philip Rogers	....	sound recordist
Fred Rosenberg	....	assistant sound editor
Dick Vorisek	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bob Olari	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Donald C. Rogers	....	technical director of sound (uncredited)

Stunts
Gary Paul	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Connors	....	best boy
Tom Gilligan	....	best boy grip
Bob Hall	....	second assistant camera
Robert Horne	....	first assistant camera
Billy Kerwick	....	key rigging grip
Mary Ellen Mark	....	special photography
Tom Priestley Jr.	....	camera operator
Richard Quinlan	....	gaffer
Ed Quinn	....	key grip
Don Reddy	....	camera operator: second unit
Brian H. Reynolds	....	grip
Kerry Rike	....	grip
Zade Rosenthal	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Jeff Freeman	....	assistant editor
David McCann	....	post-production supervisor
John Murray	....	assistant editor
David Siegel	....	assistant editor
Norman Buckley	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Georges Delerue	....	conductor
Jack Fitzstephens	....	music editor
Howard Shore	....	music coordinator

Transportation Department
James E. Foote	....	transportation coordinator
Jack Mounger	....	wardrobe driver
Andy Straub	....	transportation captain

Other crew
John Anderson	....	technical advisor
Lynn Covey	....	production assistant
Stuart Fink	....	publicist
Karen A. Hall	....	production office coordinator
Cathy Hausman	....	production assistant
Karen Koch	....	production office coordinator
Susan MacNair	....	assistant: Mr Nichols
John F. Massie	....	production assistant
Lee R. Mayes	....	location manager
Marshall Schlom	....	script supervisor
Mark Schotte	....	production assistant
Tom Styron	....	assistant: Mr Nichols
Mike Childress	....	stage manager (uncredited)

Production Companies

• ABC Motion Pictures (presents)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1983) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1987) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Europa Film (1984) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1984) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Pioneer (1995) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS) (Widescreen) (clamshell)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (2002) (Germany) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Transvídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• DeLuxe Laboratories  prints
• Optical House, The  titles
• Panavision  Panaflex camera and lenses by
• R/Greenberg Associates  opticals
• Varèse Sarabande  soundtrack published by

Also Known As:

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 | Spain:18 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/12 | 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:

The scene where Karen sets off the radiation alarms actually happened. Her level of contamination was forty times the safe limit.

Goofs:

Continuity: When men looking for radiation search the house, Karen and Dolly are questioned and Dolly is taken away. Soon afterward, in a close shot of Karen, Dolly is in the background.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: There Might Be Blood (#3.6)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Amazing Grace

We're all nuked and going to Hell.

Apparently, when "Silkwood" came out, Mike Nichols hadn't released a notable movie since "The Fortune" nearly killed his career eight years earlier. If we call this his comeback, then it was sure a good comeback. Donning one of her many accents from over the years - in this case Oklahoman - Meryl Streep plays Karen Silkwood, a plutonium processing plant employee who sought to expose the dangerous conditions in her workplace...and mysteriously died in a car wreck.

This is the sort of opportunity to be idiotically preachy, but the movie never degenerates into that. It shows how the plant's owners poisoned her and psychologically berated her. This brings to mind the overall issue of how the nuclear age affected the whole planet. Nuclear tests by both the US and USSR left the whole world irradiated. Nuclear power may be discredited, but apparently NO PERSON ON EARTH has escaped nuclear fallout. So much for progress.

All in all, "Silkwood" is a really good movie. It's surprising to see Kurt Russell and Cher (as Karen's roommates Drew Stephens and Dolly Pelliker) in this sort of movie; we associate him with kick-ass roles and her with treacly roles. But they do a very good job. Also starring Craig T. Nelson, Diana Scarwid, Fred Ward, Ron Silver, and Bruce McGill.