The China Syndrome (1979)

The China Syndrome
I grew up with these guys and gals on TV. Thought the seventy's and eighty's and even the ninety's. This movie made me think. This really happened in Russia. I really like the movie, some spots in the movie I had a ruff time watching. One for instance was where the plant manager was in the control room holding some of the workers and camera crew kind of hostages, trying to convince the government that the plant was unsafe. The Plant manager finally was shot dead in the end and the plants crew where interviewed on Camera at the end. The plant manager didn't need to be shot to death, they could have taken him to the loony been.

One of the best of the 1970's
Great film of the late 1970;s with a powerful message; Corporations with too much power abuse the rights of others- it holds so much truer today where corporations have made ordinary people into nearly slaves.

Jack Lemmon gives a brilliant multi faceted performance, while Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas give equally excellent performances.

Stephen Bishop's 'Somewhere In Between' opens the film during credits, and sets the film off wonderfully.

The film looks like 1978- the hair, the clothes and the technology are certainly fun to look at- so obviously dated now (I was 27 when the film was released in early 1979- so I remember it all so well. We did dress badly then-

An important film nonetheless, that I enjoy more after every viewing.

Great acting by all the Leads. Especially Jack Lemmon
I'm not going to rehash the storyline. I'll just say that everytime I watch this movie, it astounds me that Jack Lemmon didn't win an Academy Award for his part in this movie, as a diligent employee after an "accident" at the nuclear power plant in which he works. Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas also give admirable performances. Wilford Brimley is just as serious, intense and convincing in his portrayal as one of Lemmon's co-workers.

The idea of only having a lead-in music theme (by Stephen Bishop-Somewhere In Between) and then leaving the rest of the movie devoid of additional music was absolute genuis. As the viewer is then given ample space for maximum concentration on the subject matter. I'm a movie-goer who loves music that heightens the drama and stirs the emotions, but this movie worked perfectly fine without it. And the emotional ending proved that music wasn't required (even with the ending credits scrolling).

Sure, some parts of the story may have seemed far fetched; such as the hired thugs who go after anyone trying to expose the truth about the possible "China Syndrome" incident. But the usual cover-up from the higher-ups that we usually expect (or suspect) doesn't disappoint.

Moral lesson(s), personal integrity, subterfuge, a [little] lesson in the operation of a nuclear power plant, differing viewpoints on the issue of nuclear power (whether staged or real) and an emotionally shocking ending are what this film is about. A great disaster movie for a disaster that didn't happen.