RED ALERT
US, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
Wiliam Devane, Michael Brandon, Adrienne Barbeau, Ralph Waite. Directed by William Hale.
Red Alert is a successful telemovie - a competent thriller with a documentary touch. It echoes the nuclear fears of the '70s with the possibilities of nuclear accidents, cover ups, human error and machine control. The screenplay was made more plausible with the accident at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979. Soon after this the film The China Syndrome became very popular and brought the issue dramatically to the attention of the world.
Red Alert is doing something of the same thing as The China Syndrome for the home audience. It is well directed by William Hale and features a very good performance by Ralph Waite. William Devane and Michael Brandon are quite effective in the central roles. There are melodramatic touches - especially focusing on the man who sabotaged the nuclear plant for personal revenge. An enjoyably gripping film.
1. An exciting, interesting film? Realism, contrivance? The moral of the film? Impact in the mid-'70s, after nuclear accidents of the late 70s, in later decades? The film as a red alert?
2. The blend of fiction and realism? The picturing of the machine, the world of the computer and the computer workers, human error, the possibility of sabotage? The repercussions for machinery, for plant, for the human condition?
3. The impact of the film as a telemovie - its limits for the home audience? The dramatic impact despite the limitations?
4. The documentary aspects of the structures times and places, time running out, the focus on places on the map of the United States? An atmosphere of realism with cities and towns, states, the picturing of the nuclear reactor plants, the computers? The atmosphere of airports, security, the police?
5. The message of the film - a nuclear alert? machines and their capabilities, nuclear power and its potential, its dangers? The reactors and their imposing presence? The focus on the drip and the mistake during the credits? Humans and their relationship to computers - and their names for computers e.g. Proteus with mythology and deity in the background? Human error, programming?
6. Commander Stone - his scientific background, his determination, his wanting to outsmart the saboteur, his impersonal attitudes, the reactions of the more human workers? Stone and his final decisions? The film's critique of this kind of personality?
7. Brolin as the security investigator, the cigar-munching style, his skill, braveness? Ingenuity, action? The sketching in of his personal life?
8. Howard Ives and the investigation, the detection work, the visit to family, to house, the piecing together of the information, working out how Ives sabotaged the plant? The mixed motivation behind Ives' action - jealousy, hurt, madness, revenge?
9. The sketching in of the minor characters - on the personal level, the workers? The trapped men at the beginning and the reason for their deaths? Evacuation and its reality in Minnesota cities?
10. How well did the film blend science fiction, the world of machinery with reference to the realities of nuclear power, suspense, heroism? The staple of the TV movie - with a message?
