Panic in Year Zero!

Infobox Film
name = Panic in Year Zero!


image_size =
caption =
director = Ray Milland
producer = Arnold Houghland
Lou Rusoff
writer = Ward Moore (stories)
John Morton
Jay Simms
starring = Ray Milland
Jean Hagen
Frankie Avalon
music = Les Baxter
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = American International Pictures
released = July 5, 1962 (USA)
runtime = 93 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:105466
imdb_id = 0056331

"Panic in Year Zero!", sometimes known as "End of the World", is a 1962 science fiction film directed by and starring Ray Milland. The original music score was composed by Les Baxter.

It was adapted to film by John Morton and Jay Simms from Ward Moore's stories "Lot" (1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (1954). This was not, however, acknowledged.

In the 1962 novelization of the film by Dean Owen, published under the title "End of the World" by Alta Vista Productions with Ray Milland's photo on the cover, it was asserted on the introduction page that "The screenplay was by John Morton and Jay Simms, from an original story by Jay Simms". No mention was made of Moore.

Plot

Soon after Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland), his wife Ann (Jean Hagen), their son Rick (Frankie Avalon) and daughter Karen (Mary Mitchel) are preparing to leave Los Angeles for a fishing trip, the city is devastated by a nuclear attack, the start of a world war. The family initially attempts to return to get her mother, but as the disaster ignites panic throughout the city, the family heads for their vacation spot in search of an isolated refuge. Along the way, they stop off to buy supplies or, in the case of hardware store owner Ed Johnson (Richard Garland), take them by force when he won't accept a check. They also encounter three threatening young hoodlums, Carl (Richard Bakalyan), Mickey (Rex Holman) and Andy (Neil Nephew), on the road, but manage to drive them off.

After a harrowing journey, the Baldwins reach their destination and hole up in a cave to wait for order to be restored. They find that Johnson and his wife are their neighbors. But not for long. The three thugs show up and shoot them. A farming couple suffers the same fate and their teenage daughter, Marilyn (Joan Freeman), is enslaved. Mickey and Andy happen upon Karen and rape her as well, before being driven off. With guns in hand, the Baldwin men fight back, killing the two murderers and freeing Marilyn. When Carl returns, he is killed as well, but Rick is seriously wounded.

With Marilyn's help, they get the young man to Doctor Strong (Willis Bouchey). The doctor does what he can, but the boy needs to get to an army hospital over a hundred miles away or he will die. On their drive there, they run into a military patrol, scouting for the army that is reestablishing order. After a tense meeting, they are allowed to pass through.

Critical reaction

The film today receives mixed reviews. Most reviews are critical of the cheap production values of the film but praise the tension actor/director Milland creates.

Glenn Erickson writes, in his DVD Savant review, "Panic In Year Zero!" scrupulously avoids any scenes requiring more than minimalist production values yet still delivers on its promise, allowing audience imagination to expand upon the narrow scope of what's actually on the screen. It sure seemed shocking in 1962, and easily trumped other more pacifistic efforts. "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" was for budding flower people; "Panic In Year Zero!" could have been made as a sales booster for the gun industry." [http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1571pani.html]

The story's highly fluid morality, in which Harry often resorts to lawlessness even while condemning others for doing the same, has often been noted by critics. When the family runs out of money, Harry robs a hardware store for the supplies they need, something Erickson calls, "a shocking act for an 'average American father' in a 1963 movie." Later on a news bulletin contains an announcement that looters will be executed, prompting the reviewer on the nuclear war history site CONELRAD [http://conelrad.com/features/panicinyearzero/panic_3.html] to point out that, "Harry, distracted perhaps by his impending death penalty for looting, pointlessly repeats the President's message to his son, 'They're not kidding, Rick, there are no civilians.'" But, the reviewer points out, the moral relativism is tempered in other scenes, such as at a meal where, "Harry makes this post-prayer announcement: 'Now, before we start eating, a little family discussion. Maybe we can cope with this (situation) by maintaining our sense of values.' If the surroundings didn't make this statement absurd enough, a moment later we learn that these 'values' include Harry and Rick shaving every day. This segment, severely retrofitted and cleansed from 'Zero's' unofficial source material (Ward Moore's novellas 'Lot' and 'Lot's Daughter'), reflects perfectly the Civil Defense propaganda of the day. In Moore's writings, the father character lives in sin with the daughter while the rest of the family has been ditched."

ee also

*List of nuclear holocaust fiction
*Survivalism

External links

*imdb title|id=0056331|title=Panic in Year Zero!
*amg title|id=1:105466|title=Panic in Yaer Zero!
* [http://www.conelrad.com/features/panicinyearzero/index.html Extended movie review] at Conelrad Atomic Films
* [http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b2506017/sf/3u.htm Review in SF Movies List]
* [http://www.spectacle.org/1299/letters.html Discussion in "The Ethical Spectacle"]
* [http://thomasroche.com/2008/07/09/panic-in-year-zero/ Review at Skid Roche]