Word: thriller
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Fonda and Lemmon as stars, if the film gains a reputation as a tirade against nuclear power, few of the upstanding middle Americans he wants to fill those 800 theaters will go to see it. So for now, at least, Douglas emphasizes in interviews that "the film is a thriller. It has to work first as entertainment," and tries to downplay the clear political message of the film's nuclear power sequences. And Fonda and Lemmon, also hoping people will go see the film for themselves and then decide whether it's fair to the nuclear industry, are playing along...
Douglas's standard reply to criticisms from the nuclear industry is that they haven't seen the film and he "was just trying to make a really good thriller." In that ambition, Douglas admits, he may have succeeded all too well. "The China Syndrome" will scare people and the nuclear power industry because it not only works as a thriller, but also is highly realistic and convincing...
...trying to get the story out, and Lemmon joins their effort. The accident has alerted him to serious problems in the plant's safety precautions and he finds that inspection documents have been falsified. Lemmon tries, unsuccessfully, to prevent the plant from starting up again. As in any good thriller, Fonda, Douglas, and Lemmon meet again at the power plant in a stunning conclusion...
...nuclear power: a brief but extremely well-done scene early in the film explains the mechanics of a nuclear power plant and prepares you for the brush with Armegaddon that follows. "The China Syndrome," as Douglas, its producer, says, is in the mold of "an old-fashioned thriller," and if you ever doubt fail-safe technology or wonder about the news you get on the tube, it will scare you. But see it anyway. It's worth...
...interview in New York earlier this week, Douglas responded to a barrage of questions about the film's anti-nuclear and anti-corporate tone by painting it as a thriller: "I think we all felt strongly it has to work as a piece of entertainment and we all saw a really good chance of doing a classic old-fashioned thriller. The picture had to be entertaining before it had any social or political comment to say," Douglas said...