The Atomic Kid

Infobox Film
name = The Atomic Kid
director = Leslie H. Martinson
producer = Maurice Duke
Mickey Rooney
writer = Blake Edwards
Benedict Freedman
John Fenton Murray
starring = Mickey Rooney
Robert Strauss
music = Van Alexander
cinematography = John L. Russell
editing = Fred Allen
distributor = Republic Pictures Corporation (I)
released = December 8 1954
runtime = 86 mins
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0046729

"The Atomic Kid" is a 1954 Black-and-white science fiction comedy film starring Mickey Rooney and directed by Leslie H. Martinson. While a Uranium prospector is in the desert he is accidentally exposed to radiation from an atomic bomb test. He becomes radioactive and is recruited by the FBI to help break up a spy ring.

Based on a story by Blake Edwards the film version was adapted into a comedy.

Cast

* Mickey Rooney as Barnaby 'Blix' Waterberry
* Robert Strauss as Stan Cooper
* Elaine Devry as Audrey Nelson
* Bill Goodwin as Dr. Rodell
* Robert Emmett Keane as Mr. Reynolds
* Whit Bissell as Dr. Edgar Pangborn
* Joey Forman as MP in hospital
* Dan Riss as Jim, FBI Chief Agent
* Peter Leeds as Agent Bill
* Hal March as Agent Bill
* George E. Mather as 1st Sergeant
* Fay Roope as Gen. Lawlor
* Bill Welsh as Commentator
* Stanley Adams as Wildcat Hooper
* Robert Nichols as Bob, technician in Blix's room
* Paul Dubov as Anderson, advertising agent
* Peter Brocco as Comrade Mosley
* Trustin Howard as Corporal

Trivia

This is the film showing in the theatre in 1955 Hill Valley in Back to the Future.

In the film, Mickey Rooney's character wanders into an atomic test site, and, as one reviewer describes, "Mannequins are depicted sitting around the dinner table in front of their plastic meal, awaiting the predetermined bomb drop... Rooney remains with the mannequin family and discovers at the last minute that an atomic bomb will be detonated over his head. In a deliberately humorous scene, Rooney frantically tries to find a place to hide from the approaching explosion, only to close his eyes and stick his fingers in his ears as the bomb goes off." [ Joyce A. Evans, "Celluloid Mushroom Clouds: Hollywood and the Atomic Bomb" (Westview Press: 1998), p64 ] . A similar scene played 54 years later in the 2008 film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", giving rise to the phrase "nuked the fridge" [http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-indiana-jones-kingdom-0519may19,0,4432579.story] [ "Indiana Jones 4 full of action, but forgets to have a good time," Michael Phillips, "Chicago Tribune", May 19, 2008; Phillips acknowledged the "echoes" of the 1954 film in the later film. ]

References

Bibliography

* Ted Okuda, "The Atomic Kid: Radioactivity Finds Andy Hardy" in "Science Fiction America: Essays on SF Cinema" (edited by David J. Hogan; McFarland, 2006), pgs. 120-129.
* David Wingrove, "Science Fiction Film Source Book" (Longman Group Limited, 1985).

External links

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