Panic in Year Zero! (1962)

Very Cool!!!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

. . . just as foretold by this flick that MGM (aka, "the Voice of America's Fat Cats") distributed decades ago. "Harry Baldwin" is a prototypical U.S. Fat Cat when he begins his murderous crime spree (featuring most of the other major felonies) during PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO! As Harry progresses from armed robbery to assault and battery, continuing with blockade running, he teaches his two teen kids that MGM people should behave as if they're rulers of an Empire of One. Other folks exist only to be robbed if they have stuff you want, or murdered if they're in your way. Harry drives this point home by torching a busy interstate highway evacuation route, burning countless families to death in their cars, simply because the chicken Harry wishes to cross the road. Harry seems to have a thing about roadside mayhem, as he's soon instructing his son about bridge demolition. It's not long until Harry graduates to gunning down youths one by one, rather than simply burning anonymous families alive in their vehicles. The Trouble With Harry is that he seems to have no future. Harry tends to be in a constant state of PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO! However, Harry's spiritual brother ran for U.S. President in 2016, and WON! Now we're all being entertained by seeing the whole USA being run as if it were an Empire for One!

I've never heard of Ray Milland but I will never watch another one of his movies. This atrocity starts with a family leaving to go camping at 4 am and they don't even try to make it look dark. They soon find out a nuclear bomb has destroyed Los Angeles and now they must fight to survive. Milland drones on about things that don't make sense, when he's not lying. At one point they can't pull out on to a road because there is a non-stop line of traffic.He dumps a bucket of gasoline on the road and throws a book of lit matches at it like a girl. The ensuing inferno instantly ignites another car, pay no attention to the liquid on the car. It just gets worse and worse and you hope everyone dies.Then it ends,WITHOUT an ending. Not only is the daughters rape scene the best part of the movie but by the time it happens, you'll be happy she gets raped. I would say watch it just to see how stupid it is.I gave it 2 stars because you can't give 1/2 stars,I'd like to give it 1 1/2.

WARNING - this review contains details which may be considered by some to "spoil" a movie, which, in my opinion, is already so BAD that it is BEYOND spoiling! Apparently, I chose a rather unconventional approach to viewing this film; rather than to shut one eye, squint thru the other and do my absolute best to "enjoy" it, regardless of all the glaring inconsistencies - or perhaps seek to superimpose a Post-Katrina America commentary on it all (as many "reviewers" have done), I simply watched it with my normal objective outlook, taking the story at face value. And that story failed miserably! Starting with the big, cloudy, barely-discernible (supposed) "explosion"... we don't ever learn what it truly WAS - or the cause behind it (as in "who" or "why") - but just seeing the thing is good enough for Ray Milland to pack up his family and head for the hills before "the bad people" can get on the move. What comes next is unbelievably silly to the point of being laughable - because terminally-grouchy Mister Milland begins taking steps to BECOME one of those "bad people" - eagerly getting involved in theft, assault, armed robbery, manslaughter (or murder, you decide)... all in the name of "preserving civilization". Sure, okay. It is perfectly acceptable to be a violent thug as long as HE is the one doing it! I won't get into the details of all the ensuing foolishness, since other reviewers have gone out of their way to make excuses for all of the illogical claptrap which follows. Long, tedious and ludicrous story short - if you are able to find this plot "interesting" enough to sit through it to the bitter end, then you probably won't even mind that the "hero" of the tale NEVER finds out what actually happened in the outside world; whether or not the entire continent was obliterated by nuclear holocaust, or if there had been an invading army (and a ground war which could still be raging)... no, he has NO idea what he will be returning to. And that is supposed to be a good enough reason for the viewer, as well. Because what it all boils down to is that this family went off and hid in the hills to behave like savages for a while, and now it suddenly has become a Happy Ending.Wow - what A GREAT movie! (NOT)

Being a fan of apocalyptic fiction I'd been dying to see this movie for years . I'd first heard about in John Brosnan's highly regarded sci-fi critique Future Tense. A father and his family survive a nuclear attack on the United States and leads the brood in a desperate fight for survival . Okay it's a premise often used in this type of genre but it's one that works well and makes you think that that only civilization separates us from animals hence its common usage . After finally seeing the movie I'm not surprised that it's little seen - it's dreadful It's always a sign of a bad movie when the opening score seems at odds of the genre the film belongs to . You want a gritty film set in a post nuclear hell ? Then what better that having a cool jazz score ? Hmmm I'm feeling mellow baby , someone roll me another doobie daddy-o . This is the fundamental problem with the movie - it's called PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO but there's absolutely no panic whatsoever , none . Upon finding out LA has been nuked patriarch Harry Baldwin leads his family to the nearest diner and despite being witnesses to world war three customers are more interested in what's missing on the menu . Right so millions of people have just been vaporised and all you're worried about is not getting your side order of eggs ? Right on daddy-o . Just roll me another one and lets listen to some more cool jazz It's impossible to buy in to this scenario at all . There's no political build up to the nuclear strike . For those of us who remember the peak of the cold war in the early 1980s you'd know something like a war in the Middle East or Central Europe would lead to the inevitable use of tactical nuclear weapons finally leading to strategic nuclear weapons meaning the end of humanity . Here however all the indications is that the nasty communists in the USSR and China have launched a pre-emptive nuclear strike , a later radio broadcast confirms this . If that's the case then why didn't the communist block use all their arsenal ? Only the very major cities in the west like New York , LA , Philidelphia , London , Paris and Rome are destroyed . Why such a half hearted attack that invites hellish retaliation ? The whole point about a pre-emptive strike is to stop an enemy nation retaliating against you . Maybe the Politburea were too busy smoking pot and listening to decadent bourgeois jazz to care daddy-o ? That said the subtext seems to be about survivalism in much the same as as a John Christopher novel . Indeed you can't help be reminded of his 1956 novel The Death Of Grass , so much so that you believe the producers have stolen many of the ideas of the book then decided to set it against a World War 3 backdrop which doesn't work at all . Despite seeing a mushroom cloud in the distance and talk of fall out most of the characters don't react as you'd expect them to in the face of civil devastation , no one for example comes to the conclusion that money will be worthless . Despite being ahead of the game Harry slugs a greedy gas station owner and leaves for the money for the gas . Incidentally there's not the slightest hint of irony to this and the film continues in this vein It's interesting how well received PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO has been on this page . One can't help thinking this reception is down to be it being a rather audience friendly film . After seeing the BBC nuclear holocaust teleplay THREADS away back in 1984 I couldn't sleep for days . Likewise despite its numerous flaws NO BLADE OF GRASS based on the John Christopher novel also stuck out in my mind due to its bleakness . Here however bleakness seems confined to a family getting there fishing trip ruined for a few days . One can accept the Hays Code being enforced during this period but it doesn't excuse the lack of logic and the excess of right on daddy-o muzak