Watch Panic in Year Zero! For Free

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A family of four leaves Los Angeles for a camping trip just before a nuclear bomb destroys the city. As lawlessness prevails, the father (Ray Milland) must fight to keep his family alive.There is something terribly disjointed about this film. The main cast (including Milland and Frankie Avalon) are great, but they are thrown in a world that does not know whether to worry or not. Right outside the city limits, people seem unable to comprehend that the loss of Los Angeles is bad, and no one panics. Yet, the farther out they get (where civilization is still intact), gangs of hoodlums and hooligans are kidnapping women... what? Les Baxter's score is actually a hindrance to the theme, because he provided nothing but upbeat jazzy riffs. As the world is facing nuclear war, Baxter is ready to party. This is no doubt one of the reasons the film is considered "campy". (In some ways, the music acts as a precursor to the beach party films Avalon would be doing within a couple years.) The lack of blood or even smoke from gunshots was sort of odd, because people would get hit with shotguns and just fall over. At one point, Milland even comments that Avalon has "lost a lot of blood" when the audience sees nothing -- not even torn clothes. There is something quaint and nostalgic about this, but also not very believable.The stand-out role was played by Joan Freeman as Marilyn Hayes, who was traumatized by the murder of her family and being kidnapped by hooligans. For 1962, this is something of a dark role. Not that her acting is incredible, but compared to everyone else...Paul Corupe finds the film to be important in a historical context. He believes the film "was the first to show that the survivors of a nuclear attack may not be as fortunate as you might think." He says that in contrast to bigger films like "On the Beach" (1959), this one "was among the first to play up the potential violence of the situation." Whether this is true or not I cannot say for sure, but assuming Corupe is right, the film deserves to be re-evaluated and possibly forgiven for its campy shortcomings.

This was a pretty good film. I was expecting the usual AIP B stuff, but old Ray surprised me here; probably because he directed it. His character was convincingly intense, as he tries to save his family from the dangers of civilization on the brink of chaos. The wife could have benefited from a breakdown, and then recovery, as she showed moxie, but it was misdirected. Not much to say about the daughter; her character was pretty much non-existent, getting no development, except for the implied rape scene, which you just knew was going to happen. Frankie Avalon's character, as the son, was ripe for development when you saw that he liked shooting the guns, but alas, he didn't get much development either. His hair looked great however, throughout the whole movie. The girl that they rescued was the most interesting character besides Ray. The scene where they first encountered her was darkly marvelous. Also, the scene where Ray tells her to "Get dressed, and get out!"was a little over the top, but very much in keeping with Ray's intense character. All in all, it was much better than I expected. I wish TCM would show more "B" movies that have established stars that are in vehicles that aren't always great. That's interesting to me. Watching the same old, great movies is like listening to "classic rock" radio stations where they play the same old songs over, and over when there are some great "B" sides that never get played on the same record.

Ray Milland both directed and starred in this nuclear war drama as Milland plays a father who takes his wife and two children from their Los Angeles home for a fishing trip in the mountains. En route, they hear a huge explosion, and discover to their dismay that a nuclear bomb has destroyed their city, leaving them homeless refugees, along with millions of other people. The rules of civilization start to break down, and it turns into a "every man for himself" situation, as they must find a way to survive this post nuclear environment.Good premise doesn't really go anywhere, and result is mostly unconvincing, though the direction isn't bad, and it has its moments, especially in the way Milland's character becomes increasingly ruthless, though all seems to be forgiven by the "happy" ending!

Shortly after leaving Los Angeles on a trip, the family Baldwin - Harry (Ray Milland), Ann (Jean Hagen), Rick (Frankie Avalon) and Karen (Mary Mitchel) - witness a large mushroom cloud over their home city. Radio reports conclude the start of a thermonuclear war, and Harry's survival instincts click immediately into gear. After abandoning the rescue of Ann's mother due to the fleeing Los Angeles residents, Harry takes the family off-road and into a small town to gather supplies. The news has yet to spread to this small town, so they are instantly met with suspicion. They leave to settle some place safe and away from civilisation, but are met with more hostility in the form of three young punks.This cheap end-of-the-world quickie effort from American International Pictures is now seemingly all but forgotten, but this is a surprisingly effective little movie that benefits from a strong central performance and direction by Hollywood Golden Era legend Ray Milland. This is obviously low budget, with the camera never focusing on anything but the immediate action, allowing the audience to use their imagination to experience the wider picture. But more than anything, this is a character study of an all-American family trying to hold any remnants of civilisation together in the midst of social decay and lawlessness. Like Val Guest's excellent The Day The Earth Caught Fire just a year before, the outlook here is very gloomy. But Panic in Year Zero! is the reserve side of The Day The Earth Caught Fire's coin, offering a right- wing alternative, embodied in Harry's instant tooling up and viewing every outside the family as an enemy. It is here that the films fails, where some more character building and intimate moments (especially between Harry and Ann) could have provided more insight into Harry's narrow view. But this is a cold look at humanity in crisis, where robbery and rape are just around the corner and every man is out for themselves. Ultimately, an exciting and often shocking little film that does wonders with what little it was given.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com