idiots

I watched the film, again (saw it in 1979). Yes, it is fictional. It is not anti nuclear, but more about Corporate greed. I work for a company which if put in this same situation, back in '79, would have shut down. Today, I suspect it would go for the money. That is not so much a condemation of my company, but rather a condemation of corporate ethics in general.

There are two scenes in the film that show this corruption at it's fullest -

1.) When, following his argument with boss who won't listen, and the construction company owner who threatened to kill him if he went to the Nuclear Regulators, Jack Lemmon says (very sarcastically) to Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda: "that vibration was a warning that the plant should be shut down and very one of those welds should be re-X-rayed... Of course, we're talking about billions of dollars aren't we? Well, we don't want to talk about that, do we?"

2.) Michael Douglas is is nte background phonimg all the TV stations to come to the plant. The press director tell's the board chairman (played - brilliantly - by Richard Herd) he can't take responsibilty for what he feels is the crazy decision to let Jack talk to the press, and Richard Herd says "And what's YOUR alternative? To let this lunatic completely wash out a billion dollar investment?"

Fantastic direction and acting

"Jaws" and the Amity tourists. Most movies made around that time all had something to do with the possibility of losing money.