Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Roland Joffé

Writers (WGA):

Bruce Robinson (story)
Bruce Robinson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 October 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The story of the extraordinary people who changed our world.

Plot:

This film reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret wartime project in New Mexico where the first atomic bombs were designed and built.

Plot Keywords:

Atomic Bomb | Manhattan Project | Robert Oppenheimer | Weapons Research | 1940s

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Gen. Leslie R. Groves
Dwight Schultz	...	J. Robert Oppenheimer
Bonnie Bedelia	...	Kitty Oppenheimer
John Cusack	...	Michael Merriman
Laura Dern	...	Kathleen Robinson
Ron Frazier	...	Peter de Silva
John C. McGinley	...	Capt. Richard Schoenfield, MD
Natasha Richardson	...	Jean Tatlock
Ron Vawter	...	Jamie Latrobe
Michael Brockman	...	William 'Deke' Parsons
Del Close	...	Dr. Kenneth Whiteside
John Considine	...	Robert Tuckson
Allan Corduner	...	Franz Goethe (as Alan Corduner)
Joe D'Angerio	...	Seth Neddermeyer (as Joseph D'Angerio)
Jon DeVries	...	Johnny Mount (as Jon De Vries)

Also Known As:

Shadow Makers (UK)

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Iceland:L | USA:PG-13 (# 29576) | France:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Germany:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Director Roland Joffé cast numerous real-life scientists, including future Nobel Prize winner David Politzer, in small speaking and background roles.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end in the movie, right before the countdown for the bomb dropping, the man with sun tan lotion on his face puts his goggles on. In the next shot, about 3 seconds later, his goggles are around his neck.

Quotes:

Gen. Leslie R. Groves: We could give this country the biggest stick in the playground, and I intend to do that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: Fat Man and Little Boy (#16.5)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Dance of the reed flutes

An interesting chronicle about the historic events referred to the making the first atomic bomb

The picture is a dramatization of nuclear run and follows the development of the Manhattan project in Los Alamos from first conception of the power within the atom,the 235 uranium ,with the neutrons bombing into piles of graphite which leads to nuclear reaction that produces the atomic bomb,¨the Trinity¨.The movie describes the power struggles and tensions among an idealist Robert Oppenheimer(Dwight Schulz),the project's science leader and General Leslie Groves(Paul Newman),the project's military commander.It was a race for the bomb but the Nazis with the scientist Heisenberg also were making a nuclear bomb. Besides appear famous scientists who contributed to the atomic success with the first bomb as Leo Szilard,Enrico Fermi and Edward Teller.

The film is overlong, a little bit dull and slow moving although the semi-fictional accounts narrated are very interesting.Paul Newman as the military brain is excellent and Dwight Schulz(A team)as Oppenheimer,the head behind it,is magnificent and the distinguished rest casting as John Cusack,Laura Dern,Bonnie Bedelia,Natasha Richardson are enjoyable.Exceptional and colorful cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond and sensible musical score by the master Ennio Morricone.The motion picture is accurately directed by Roland Joffe(The mission). Another films as ¨Fat man(this way called by Hiroshima) and Little boy¨(so named by Nagasaki) are the following:¨Day one¨,¨Engola Day¨,¨Hiroshima¨and for TV:Oppenheimer with Sam Waterson and the best is the Canadian ¨Race for the bomb¨with Maury Chaykin and directed by Alan Eastman. Rating : Good and worthwhile seeing.