The China Syndrome (1979)

Regisseur:

James Bridges

Drehbuchautoren:

Mike Gray (written by) &
T.S. Cook (written by) ...

Premierendatum:

16. März 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Werbezeile:

Today, only a handful of people know what it means... Soon you will know.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

No Music | Country Name In Title | Chase | Police | Television Reporter

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 13 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

A chilling, reality-based, horror film.

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 23	2:30 AM	AMC
Sun. July 27	5:45 AM	AMC

Besetzung

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 Mc Cormack
Daniel Valdez	...	Hector Salas
Stan Bohrman	...	Pete Martin
James Karen	...	Mac Churchill
Michael Alaimo	...	Greg Minor
Donald Hotton	...	Dr. Elliott Lowell
Khalilah Ali	...	Marge
Paul Larson	...	D.B. Royce

Alternativ:

China-Syndrom, Das (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

122 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Metrocolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono

Altersfreigabe:

UK:PG | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 (original rating) | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL

Drehorte:

1000 N. Crescent Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Firma:

IPC Films

Dies und das:

All of the music in the film, including the title song "Somewhere In Between" by Stephen Bishop, comes from normal sources of music within the film: car radios, barroom jukeboxes, television commercials, etc. There is no traditional "soundtrack" of music that the audience can hear but the characters cannot.

Pannen:

Filmfehler: In the scene where Hector's car is forced over the cliff you can see that the gas tank has been removed when his car stops tumbling.

Dialogzitate:

Jack Godell: What makes you think they're looking for a scapegoat?
Ted Spindler: Tradition.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in "The Simpsons: Marge's Son Poisoning (#17.5)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Somewhere in Between

A chilling, reality-based, horror film.

"The China Syndrome" is perhaps the first horror film that is not necessarily following the rules of the genre. It takes place in the contemporary '70's, and features people in the normal profession of broadcast television news. But, when a news story about the leakage of nuclear energy breaks; let's just say - there is your monster.

Jane Fonda is absolutely superb as Kimberley Wells, an ambitious Los Angeles reporter relegated only to fluff pieces by her sexist boss (Peter Donat). She wants something juicier, and gets it, in the form of an accident at a nuclear power plant facilitated by Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon with expressions too numerous to count). Her hippie radical cameraman (Michael Douglas, who also produced) photographs the incident without the plant's knowledge and they both agree that public safety is a valid story. The network brass doesn't think so, and soon both Fonda and Douglas are entangled in a web of legalities concerning the tape.

The crux of the film is Lemmon's character. A man torn between loyalty to his company and telling the truth - even in the face of grave consequences. What makes this horror scenario so compelling is that these are true flesh-and-blood people stuck in the most extraordinary of circumstances faced with both a threat of cosmic proportions as well as a human one.

This is a remarkably chilling thriller, and I'm disappointed that it's not taken more seriously (as both art and tract).