panicintheyearzero

This movie is a very early entry in the post-nuke genre , and is probably best described as The Road Warrior meets Leave it to Beaver. It's all about the Baldwin family (no, not those Baldwins... hopefully they get nuked in L.A.) , who are on their way to a secluded camping spot on their annual vacation. A few hours out from L.A. , they see the city erupt in a blinding flash. It doesn't take them long to figure out that their home city has just been nuked.

The head of the family Harry ( Ray Milland - X-The Man With The X Ray Eyes) decides the best chance that he, his wife Ann , his mute daughter Karen (she's actually not mute, but has only three lines in the movie) , and their son Frankie Avalon have of survival is to get all the supplies they can and hole up in their favorite camping spot until everything blows over. After a little resistance from the little woman (who wants to return home to find her mother) , old Harry asserts himself by yelling at the family to "Get in the car!" ; then heads to the nearest town for supplies.

After rousing the general store owner from his slumber and buying $200 worth of groceries (luckily for Harry it was 1962 and not 2002... $200 doesn't buy a lot these days) , he and his son mosey into the hardware store. They not only buy kerosine , lanterns, and tools, but also rifles, shotguns, and a Colt .45. Harry gets irate when the hardware store owner tells him he has to wait three days before he can take the guns.... so he has his son point the .45 at the bewildered store owner. Harry's a decent man though , so despite commiting an armed hold-up he pays and leaves.

On the way to the mountains , the family has an encounter with thugs. Harry unwisely lets them go , even though he has no qualms about punching out gas station attendants or lighting fires on major freeways. The family gets to their beloved camping spot and sets up house in a cave just like The Flintstones. Even Frankie Avalon is happy , despite the fact that there is neither a beach nor Annette Funicello to be seen. The families happy Unabomber style paradise doesn't last long though.... the thugs they encountered earlier are staying in the farmhouse down the trail , and it isn't long before the groups paths cross again with violent consequences.

This was a fairly entertaining vintage post-nuke movie. Ray Milland ( who always reminds me of a poor mans Jimmy Stewart) was able to bring a measure of much needed plausability to the role , and hold together Mary Mitchel and Frankie Avalon, who couldn't really act their way out of a paper bag. One funny thing though , was the fact that he always seemed to be telling the family to get in or out of wherever they were. He did it that often that I found myself laughing out loud every time he did it. The whole lack of carnage and lack of general mayhem was a little disappointing at times , but I can't be overly critical with such a low budget effort. The plot was pretty pacey , and the last half hour had a kind of Lord of the Flies / Deerhunter feel to it. I liked this a lot better than most of the American post-nukes I've seen , because it had that certain feel that a lot of them lack. If your supply of fresh post-nuke movies is dwindling , try and track down a copy.