MovieChat Forums > Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) Discussion > What an insult to Louis Slotin + Harry K...

What an insult to Louis Slotin + Harry K. Daghlian, Jr.

posted 13 years ago by masterjedi-2
7 replies | jump to latest

From Wikipedia: "John Cusack plays a fictional character named Michael Merriman who recreates Louis Slotin's criticality accident at the same time the first atomic bomb is being tested. Scenes of Merriman, dying of radiation sickness, is intercut with scenes of the bomb test as a dramatic technique to show the horrible consequences associated with nuclear bombs."

So again Hollywood uses someone's death for cinematic effect. This is total BS!!!

The REAL heroic men were Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. and Louis Slotin. These two men died from lethal doses of radiation in 1945 and 1946 -- both were accidents involving the same plutonium core. Neither one of these men died during the war, but that doesn't take away from their sacrifice. Hollywood just wanted to try and change history by making it look like a scientist died during the course of the Manhattan Project. Why couldn't they just tell the truth about both men? Why did they have to LIE about the incidents? They could have cast John Cusack as one of the men and honored their work.

This movie and it's FICTIONAL account of MICHAEL MERRIMAN is disgusting insult to the memories of the two REAL HEROES who died serving our country.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PrayingMantis 12 years ago

How is this an insult to them?

The focus of the movie was the Manhattan project. The movie's natural endpoint is the successful testing of the device (or the end of the war). If there weren't any artistic license taken with the date of the incident, then the story of Louis Slotin would have gone completely untold; and virtually no one would know anything about the incident.

Hollywood didn't want to change history. It wanted to recount the heroics of Slotin. It couldn't have done that without altering the time of the incident. The Merriman character comes off as heroic, and thus, so does Slotin. How is that an insult?

If anything was an insult, it was the fact that the producers changed Slotin's name to Merriman.

[–] LannaDrewzetich 12 years ago

But, if they used Slotin's lastname, they'd have a lot to explain after the bomb was made, and used. Simply jumping forward in time to Slotin's (or even Daghlian's) incident would be an anti-climactic/ironic. Or maybe you dislike the fact that the name Merriman was given to a character who suffered a slow, painful death?

If that 'Love God And Are 100% Proud Signature' makes you sick, make THIS your signature!

[–] GeneralBuck 11 years ago

I don't see it as an insult, but the addition of this plot line was an over-dramatization of the real events. The Slotin and Daghlian episodes had nothing to do with the subject of the film, the Manhattan Project.

They could have better spent the screen time on delving into more detail about the actual events at Los Alamos during the war. Parts of the film seem rushed or glossed over.

I think they were too concerned about making a moralistic judgement than they were about relating the historical facts. Of course, this was fairly common in movies made during that period.

[–] standrkm 10 years ago

Wow, that is an all-time low.

Rest In Peace Harry K. Daghlian Jr. and Louis Slotin.

http://www.atomicheritage.org/index.php/component/content/92.html?task =view

"the day I tried to live, I learned that I was alive"

[–] obadtzxo 10 years ago

I just spoke with both of them on the Ouija board. They're cool with it.

[–] standrkm 10 years ago

haha, be careful, those things open spirit portals full of shapeshifting spazoids from what I hear

"the day I tried to live, I learned that I was alive"