The China Syndrome
Directed by James Bridges
Written by Mike Gray, T.S. Cook, and James Bridges
1979/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Barney: Jack, it just might be a feedwater leak.
Jack Godell: Which valve?
Barney: [Shakes head] Can’t really tell.
Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) does fluff pieces for the local TV news. She was hired solely based on her looks. Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) is her favorite cameraman. He is a major hothead.
One day, Kimberly and Richard are at a nuclear power plant doing a fluff piece for a series on energy. While there they witness engineers scramble to contain an accident that threatens a shut down or melt down of the plant. Richard films it all.
The news station refuses to use the footage and prefers that Kimberly stick with her human interest stories. But she is way smarter and more ambitious than that. That night she meets Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon), as been an operator for years. He is a loyal company man.
However, things continue to malfunction at the plant and Godell begins to believe that the plant should be shut down. This puts his life in grave danger. Kimberly continues to put together her story.
I saw this film on original release shortly after the premier. Within a week, there were a series of accidents at the nuclear plant at Three Mile Island, PA which resulted in a partial melt-down. This made the movie unforgettable to me and also made the film a blockbuster.
It’s a pretty good thriller with lots of 70’s tropes like women’s liberation, evil greedy corporations and sticking it to the man.
The film was nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Actor (Lemmon), Best Actress (Fonda), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction -Set Decoration.
