The China Syndrome (1979)

January 2, 2025 9:08 AM

[TRAILER] A news reporter (Jane Fonda) and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) are unintentional witnesses to an emergency core shutdown procedure at a nuclear power plant in California. The crew prevents a catastrophe, but the plant supervisor (Jack Lemmon) begins to suspect the plant is in violation of safety standards, and tries desperately to bring it to the attention of the public, fearing that another incident will produce an atomic disaster.

Also starring Wilford Brimley, James Karen, James Hampton, Scott Brady, Daniel Valdez, Richard Herd.

Directed by James Bridges. Written by Mike Gray, T. S. Cook, James Bridges. Produced by Michael Douglas for IPC Films/Major Studio Partners. Distributed by Columbia Pictures. Cinematography by James Crabe. Edited by David Rawlins. Music by Stephen Bishop.

88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently available for digital rental in the US. JustWatch listing. Available in full on the Internet Archive.

posted by DirtyOldTown (7 comments total)

This is well-made and acted, but honestly, after the Chernobyl series, it feels like a bunch of pulled punches.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:08 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]

But the timing!

"Less than two weeks before the accident at Three Mile Island, a Hollywood thriller depicting the frightening scenario of a disaster at a nuclear plant hit the screens."
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:27 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]

The timing with Three Mile Island and the general atmosphere in California regarding earthquakes made this feel eerily probable at the time it was released. The acting was good, not over the top, and the plot having two strands (the safety of the plant and the suppression of news of any issues) felt very current in 1979. Jack Lemmon was great, and Michael Douglass had a breakthrough in film popularity with this movie.
posted by drossdragon at 12:21 PM on January 6 [1 favorite]

I remember this movie.
the premise of the radiographs that were just resubmitted is not accurate nor would it likely happen. quality control aspect of nuclear engineering is quite rigorous in various aspects especially when it comes to welds. appreciate the thesis of corporate need versus plant safety but if there is a leak this would be investigated most likely.

comparison to Chernobyl is pretty much non-existent in my opinion as within the fictional aspect of China syndrome, this would be corporate greedwhereas in Chernobyl, it is State secrets but I will admit that in Chernobyl there is the aspect of getting things back online but I think that was part of the point of Chernobyl, that the need for increased power on the day of the scheduled test which should have been rescheduled.
posted by clavdivs at 2:43 PM on January 6

Oh they are very different situations. My only basis for comparison was that whereas TCS was like, "Can you imagine... what it would be like... if it happened?" ... Chernobyl was literally the thing happening.

This is a fine movie. But its warning and ellipsis was nowhere near as terrifying as Chernobyl's retelling of an actual incident with an exclamation point.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:57 PM on January 6

agreed. the visceral feel of when everything starts to collapse was captured magnificently I think.
posted by clavdivs at 4:21 PM on January 6

One of my all time favourite movies. Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon as so good in this. The eerie silences of the sound track so the klaxon and line printer stand out so starkly still gives me chills. And years on, I really appreciate the picture it painted of corporate malfeasance, regulatory capture, and not just media complicity in its reluctance to cover it all, but also normalising the extraordinary. Even before the 24 hour news cycle the rot had set in. 'Well that was a hell of a thing... cut to commercial'. Very similar to end of Network in that respect.
posted by adamt at 5:00 PM on January 6