A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 9 wins & 16 nominations total
Khalilah Camacho Ali
- Marge
- (as Khalilah Ali)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen the film was first released on 16 March 1979, nuclear power executives soon lambasted the picture as being "sheer fiction" and a "character assassination of an entire industry". Then twelve days after its launch, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurred near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- GoofsIn the United States, there are two main types of commercial power reactors: PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) and BWR (Boiling Water Reactor). When Gibson is explaining the basic workings of the plant to Kimberly Wells, the diagram on the board shows a PWR. This is indicated by the two-loop system in which the water is pumped through the reactor under high pressure to prevent boiling, then through a steam generator to create steam for the turbine using clean secondary water. Later, the dialog of the characters in the control room suggests they are dealing with a BWR, where water is allowed to boil in the reactor vessel, and steam is directly piped to the turbine, with no steam generator. Godell is concerned that the high water level in the reactor might reach the steam lines, of which there are none on a PWR vessel. Once Goddell and the operators realize the water level is low, the dialogue refers to Auxilary Feedwater, which is a PWR system. Also, in the action hearing later, the investigator talks about how the operators began cutting off feedwater and releasing steam in order to lower the reactor water level; this would happen only on a BWR.
- Quotes
Jack Godell: What makes you think they're looking for a scapegoat?
Ted Spindler: Tradition.
- Crazy creditsThe end credits run in total silence.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of 'The China Syndrome' (1979)
- SoundtracksSomewhere In Between
by Stephen Bishop
Featured review
Intelligent drama came out of nowhere in 1979 and soon was on the cover of every newspaper in America (when life imitated the film). A nuclear power plant employee in Southern California is threatened by superiors when he decides to go public with the real story behind an accident at the plant. Ostensibly a stuck valve problem, a piece of film secretly recorded by a TV news-crew shows that it was an accident verging on disastrous proportions--and worse, that safety conditions are being scrubbed to save millions of dollars, a cover-up that endangers everyone's lives. The movie occasionally gets too technical (especially in the last sequence) and could use more human interplay; however, the performances by Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda (as a puff-piece newswoman in the right place at the right time) and Michael Douglas (as a freelance cameraman) are superb. The protester asides are both satirical and entirely accurate, and the news-biz (with its corporate structure and vapid yes-men) is well-realized. *** from ****
- moonspinner55
- Jan 28, 2006
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- An Element Of Risk
- Filming locations
- Sewage Disposal Plant, El Segundo, California, USA(plant exteriors)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $51,718,367
- Gross worldwide
- $51,718,367
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