Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Jane Fonda | ... | Kimberly Wells | |
Jack Lemmon | ... | Jack Godell | |
Michael Douglas | ... | Richard Adams | |
Scott Brady | ... | Herman De Young | |
James Hampton | ... | Bill Gibson | |
Peter Donat | ... | Don Jacovich | |
Wilford Brimley | ... | Ted Spindler | |
Richard Herd | ... | Evan McCormack | |
Daniel Valdez | ... | Hector Salas | |
![]() |
Stan Bohrman | ... | Pete Martin |
James Karen | ... | Mac Churchill | |
![]() |
Michael Alaimo | ... | Greg Minor |
Donald Hotton | ... | Dr. Lowell | |
Khalilah 'Belinda' Ali | ... | Marge (as Khalilah Ali) | |
![]() |
Paul Larson | ... | D.B. Royce |
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, a reporter, Kimberly Wells, witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to report 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>
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.