(a.k.a. End of the World)
Oscar-winner actor Ray Milland’s sole directorial effort stands as a simple but brutal sci-fi film that exposes the ugly aspects of human nature during the struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic nuclear nightmare.
Directed by Ray Milland
Produced by Arnold Houghland, Lou Rusoff
Screenplay by John Morton, Jay Simms
Story by Jay Simms
Music by Les Baxter
Cinematography: Gilbert Warrenton
Edited by William Austin
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 93 minutes
Budget: $225,000
Cast
Jean Hagen as Ann Baldwin
Frankie Avalon as Rick Baldwin, son
Mary Mitchel as Karen Baldwin, daughter
Joan Freeman as Marilyn Hayes
Richard Bakalyan as Carl
Rex Holman as Mickey
Richard Garland as Ed Johnson, hardware store owner
Willis Bouchey as Dr. Powell Strong
Neil Nephew as Andy
O.Z. Whitehead as Hogan, grocery store owner
Russ Bender as Harkness
Shary Marshall as Bobbie Johnson
Byron Morrow as Evacuee from Newhall
Hugh Sanders as Evacuee from Chatsworth
Trailer
Standby for an important address to the nation by the President of the United States:
What if it all went horribly wrong on that fateful day in 1962!
Los Angeles 1962….
A family leaves for a camping trip...
A nuclear attack destroys the city...
Chaos begins to reign supreme...
Old values and ideals crumble...
A father fights to keep his family alive….
“This is civilization’s jungle after the jackals of society have ruthlessly ravaged it, ending the world of decency!”
Read on for more.....Spoilers follow below....
As the missiles approach, elsewhere in California Harry Baldwin, his wife Ann, their son Rick, and daughter Karen prepare early to leave Los Angeles on a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A typical suburban family one might say: the father optimistically looking forward to casting his line in a pristine lake, his wife supremely and sufferingly supportive and the teenagers complainingly reluctant about traipsing off into the wilderness at such an ungodly hour just to catch some stupid fish.
What is left unsaid is soon given the form of fact and truth by a succession of events and clues. First is the overwhelming evidence of the explosions having occurred in the direction of Los Angeles over which a gigantic mushroom cloud has formed. Secondly, “none of the LA stations are on…. not even CONELRAD.” Thirdly, when Harry tries to contact Los Angeles by payphone, a frustratingly polite, implacable and impersonal operator's voice informs him, “I'm sorry, sir, the lines to Los Angeles are temporarily out of order.” When he inquires as to what has happened, the nasally voice responds unhelpfully with, “I do not have that information, sir.”
Unknown to the Baldwins, the deputy sheriff on that lonely stretch of mountain highway mentioned above found himself locked out of his truck shelter. The deputy sheriff together with the remaining survivors of the group he detained were instantly vaporized when the missiles struck.
A lack of information is a sure guarantee of the spread of panic and that is precisely what is being experienced by the Baldwins and fleeing citizenry of Los Angeles at this moment.
The family decide to attempt to return to rescue Ann's mother back at their home, but they soon find that they are swimming against the tide of panicked citizens fleeing the city in their cars, trying to get away from the fallout and destruction from multiple nuclear explosions.
Soon there is an announcement on the radio:
“This is the Emergency Broadcasting Network.
All normal forms of communications appear to have broken down.
Although there has been no official statement,
the light flashes and the resulting cloud formations
would indicate that Los Angeles and surrounding areas
have been attacked by nuclear bombs or missiles.
I repeat, this is not an official statement.
In order to conserve power on battery-operated radios,
bulletins will be broadcast at two-hour intervals.
Next broadcast at 9:00.
Stay tuned to 640 or 1240”
Such a desperate man with no money is not about to worry about the niceties of transacting business and is prepared to back up his intentions with violence. The price of necessities is about to rise as people try to exploit the crisis for personal gain and only the color of one’s money is to be trusted.
Inject enough fear into people’s lives, rob them of a sense of personal safety and security and present them with the prospect of empty bellies, no shelter and the absence of leadership and you’ll find that the veneer of civilization is very thin indeed.
Harry seems to have arrived at such a conclusion and decides that it’s not worth heading back home to check on his mother-in-law as they cannot help her, that there’ll be looting and worse in the city and that there probably isn’t any authority left. To Harry’s way of thinking there’s only “Us. We're still alive, and others like us.”
Stopping at a diner for a bite to eat, Harry learns more about the extent of the missile attack which has also taken in San Pedro, Long Beach Harbor, San Diego and San-Francisco. Harry is also advised “skip the next couple of towns” as “people are pouring out of LA like lava out of a volcano” as if it were “the second Exodus.”
The diner becomes like a microcosm of what is quickly developing throughout society at this time: impending shortages, lack of civility, profiteering and every man for himself (all genders implied).
[We all remember during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic, when toilet paper and everything else went flying off the shelves. In my own state of Victoria in Australia, there were reports of organized groups venturing out of the city of Melbourne into rural towns to grab what they could from local supermarkets. It got to the stage that rural townspeople felt hostile towards these city folks who they viewed as being like vultures or vermin.]
Realizing what is happening to society, Harry decides that his family must find refuge at their secluded vacation spot. In fact, Harry goes into survivalist or ‘Prepper’ mode. When his wife confides to him that she’s frightened, Harry replies, “that's a safe way to be” since right now “two and two doesn't make four anymore. At the moment, it adds up to exactly nothing. For the next few weeks, survival's going to have to be on an individual basis. At the moment, we have to have food, a way to protect it, and a way to get more when it's gone.”
Harry’s wife desperately wants to hold on to hope in civilization rather than merely “write off the rest of the world.” Harry replies that “when civilization gets civilized again, I'll rejoin” but in the meantime “watch it unwind to a small hard core. Then someone is going to start putting it back together. I want that someone to be us.” He then asks his wife “Is that wrong? Is that immoral?”
I guess the answer will depend on what will happen to them in the process of ensuring their survival – their sense of humanity, what constitutes their being civilized, what they may eventually end up losing?
The Baldwins next pull into a small town off the main road which has not experienced an influx of fleeing city people and may not be aware yet of what has happened.
Despite it being too early for trading, Harry manages to obtain a grocery store owner’s cooperation by playing on his ignorance, greed and readiness for making a deal. His selection of supplies suggests the need for stockpiling necessities that will keep long term without the conveniences of modern living. As to why? The proprietor can only guess. However, Harry does give him an enigmatic hint in the form of advice: “Lock up the store, take all the merchandise you can carry and hide it.”
Next stop, Ed’s hardware store. Despite the reports of a possible nuclear attack, Ed optimistically believes the official version that it is unconfirmed and that they are a long way from Los Angeles. After all, it’s easier to deny reality than it is to believe that the worst has happened.
Harry begins the process of buying tools and guns from Ed Johnson. Harry informs him that he can only pay $220 in cash out of the total bill of $420 and that he will cover the remaining amount with checks. Ed tells Harry that he will have to withhold the guns in accordance with state law. When Harry pulls a gun on Ed, a struggle ensues and with Rick's help, Harry makes off with the weapons after informing Johnson that he will return sometime later to pay for them in full.
Even Ann can no longer recognize the man she is married to and says to him, “after all these years, I thought I knew you, but you turn out to be a stranger, robbing and mauling people like some kind of a cheap hoodlum.” Ann is not ready to turn her back on the rest of the world, civilization and human decency.
Harry looks at things in a totally pragmatic way that is in accord with the changed circumstances in which the primary thought has to be: "No matter what, I'm going to live." The physical survival of his family will take precedence over moral and ethical considerations – the hallmark of a civilization – at least until the time when “the law will come back.”
Harry as a father, a husband and as a man has a solemn purpose: to ensure the well-being and survival of his family. A sense of purpose and meaning is important and an almost ingrained part of a man’s psyche, one which is slowly being chipped away in modern times. It is too bad that it has taken something as drastic as a nuclear catastrophe and the desperation and fear it has generated to trigger this in our protagonist. The danger in this case is just what Harry will end up losing in the process and as a result of the stress and pressure that is being piled on his shoulders as he has taken upon himself most of the decision-making and organizing.
Adding more fuel to the pressure and stress is the announcement on the car radio revealing more about the extent of the nuclear attacks;
“Here are the 11:00 bulletins:
Partial communication has now been restored. Among the targets of this devastating attack were New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Damages and casualties are extremely heavy. London, Paris, and Rome have suffered almost total destruction, it was learned.
We have retaliated in kind. Key targets of our counterattack have not yet been announced.
Those of you who have shelters are urged to stay in them. There are reports of looting. Proceed with caution.
The organization of military and law enforcement is underway, but will take time.
We will return with more bulletins in two hours.”
[Even during the recent Covid pandemic, the various state governments in my country, Australia set up border blockades to prevent people from affected areas in other states from entering their territory lest they bring the virus in with them. A certain degree of fear and hostility manifested itself with such boarder closures]
Needless to say, Harry doesn’t take no for an answer and with Rick riding shot-gun chooses to crash through or crash, shook up women-folk notwithstanding.
Their next stop puts the Baldwins in contact with the kind of people you will always find in both times of peace and during any crisis. These are the sort of people who have no redeemable qualities whatsoever. They exist as human cockroaches who are solely intent on taking from others in order to satisfy their own selfish wants and desires. There is no reason for these scumbags even being born and existing as they serve no useful purpose to society and constitute nothing but a drain on everything and everyone. And yet, here they are in our midst and civilization has to find a way to deal with them!
Three such mouth-breathing sociopaths pull up near the Baldwins’ parked trailer. They soon make it known that they are “in business” for money, “extra gasoline” and anything or anyone that may be in the trailer. Now that “somebody dropped a bomb, dad” they have elected themselves as “the new highway patrol.”
With his own life and the safety of his family at risk, Harry gives Rick the signal to fire his gun at the young hoodlums. Having retrieved his gun, Harry seems on the verge of unloading his weapon but stops short due mainly to his wife who seems to act as some kind of a moral brake on him.
Who exactly is Harry really mad at? His wife and her naivete? Himself and what he feels he has to do? The situation they find themselves in that has forced them to make such decisions and has begun to warp their values and sense of morality?
Almost as if in answer, Rick marvels aloud, “I could have blown that guy's head off.” His father then realizes that his son liked the feeling of that and tells him, “then you're as wrong as they are. This is no deer hunt. I want you to use that gun if you have to, but I want you to hate it.”
Harry wants to save what’s left of civilization as much as his wife does. The difference lies in the ways and means of achieving this. One way may lead to their own extinction while the other way may irrecoverably rob them of their humanity.
The tide of civilization’s remnants sweeps inexorably along the highway to nowhere only stopping, not to help - but to push anyone needing help out of the way. The Baldwins cannot ford this raging automotive river of panic and so Harry comes up with a plan to “make a stop sign” consisting of petrol being sloshed across the road and igniting it. This task he and Rick successfully manage to accomplish causing the traffic to screech to a halt and setting at least one car on fire. But what if the plan had resulted in the deaths of other motorists who are only intent on escaping with their lives? Well, there are no women to remind Harry about this as they are shut in the trailer and will be let out when they get to the road.
Shibes Meadow, the Baldwins’ destination stands as a kind of Prepper’s oasis, a haven or shelter until order is restored. On that basis, access points need to be denied to those who may also wish to make it their base and pose a potential threat to Harry and his family. Harry and Rick set about pulling down a bridge in order to cut off “one avenue of attack.”
A cave that Rick knows about is selected as their living quarters on the basis that it is sizable, secure and defensible. After all, the trailer would be “about as safe as a silk nightgown” in face of any potential fallout. Too bad no-one had managed to convince the now deceased deputy sheriff Colter of this fact as he along with his truck shelter and party of detainees were earlier vaporized on that lonely mountain Californian road.
The rationale for maintaining “these concessions of civilization” is to maintain the family’s morale by providing them with “links with reality” thereby helping them to be less afraid. And Harry does admit to his wife just how afraid he is.
From right out of the Preppers’ playbook, Harry instructs his family about the necessity of having a series of buried food stores should their shelter be overrun and as means of buying their way to freedom with the promise of food.
Ann has a role that was more or less expected of women in that era and she seems to spend a lot of her time making enigmatic and pertinent comments before wandering off screen. Karen has the role of the whining and whingeing teenage girl who is not allowed to join the men folk when they head off on manly business. She’s of course expected to help out her mother and be protected.
A source information about conditions in the outside world is a necessity and so the voice on the radio brings grim tidings of the current situation;
“...states and Canada have been attacked. Casualties are extremely heavy, but no statistics are as yet available. Successful counterattacks have been made on European and Asian objectives.
At a reorganization meeting of the United Nations, a resolution was introduced whereby these darkest days in the history of civilization will henceforth be designated as The Year Zero.
Continued reports of looting are coming in. Such acts are regarded as treason against the United States and those guilty face the death penalty.
The President has called upon every American to do his duty in reestablishing law and order. In his own words, "There are no civilians. We are ail at war."
Next war bulletin at 11:00.”
Every strange sound and every possible approach by someone is to be viewed as a threat as in this time of crisis “there are no civilians.” This applies to Ed Johnson who Harry and Rick are presently covering with guns. They discover that Ed and his wife are their neighbors and they have taken up residence in their former trailer.
Harry returns Ed’s gun to him but is reluctant to give away his family’s location or share or sell what extra provisions they have. No-one at this stage can be trusted and must be seen as a potential enemy or threat.
Such a scenario that has been outlined in the radio broadcast and evidenced by Harry and Rick’s encounter with Ed, is an anathema to Ann. To her this represents “a future without hope” and that she needs to believe that there are “people who are better than just animals” and that “there must be some good people left.”
Ann manages to soften the recently fashioned hard edges of her husband’s nature and he relents by agreeing to “look up the Johnsons in a couple of days.”
Later on, Harry and Rick discover the dead bodies of the Johnsons. Ed had been shot in the head and his wife had been raped before being murdered. The murderers are the three young thugs they encountered earlier. Rick seems to be in favor of doing something about this but Harry wants to bury the Johnsons and not think too much about what has happened and the implications this may have concerning what may or may not have to be done
Circumstances and reality, however will soon conspire to force Harry to test the strength of the links and concessions to civilization he has tried hard to maintain.
While doing the laundry, it appears that Ann is oblivious to the detritus of civilization that floats on the river right past her. Suddenly, a blouse floats near the river bank which draws the attention of two of the hoodlums who have appeared nearby.
As Karen sits quietly and reads a book, the two thugs grab hold of her and begin molesting her before callously dragging her off into the bushes to rape her. Alerted by Karen’s screams, Ann quickly appears and with rifle in hand fires off a couple of rounds. Did she do it to scare them off or to kill? After all, she’s a mother with a mother’s instinct and no amount of morality and concessions to civilization will interfere with her need to protect her daughter, surely.
Harry and Rick return to the cave and find out what had happened to Karen. The decision as to what needs to be done has now been made for them and Ann seems to sense that nothing will convince Harry otherwise. He merely replies with a stern and forceful “No!” when she begins to entreat him not to do what he has now determined to do. Harry and Rick both head off to the farm house in search of the two hoodlums.
As Harry and Rick approach the farm house, it seemed to me that the decisions Harry makes, the orders that he issues and the tactics he adopts suggest that he may have served in the military during World War Two.
Upon confirming that the two rapist/murderers are inside, Harry bursts through the front door and shoots both dead in cold blood. He and Rick suddenly hear a noise and discover a young girl, Marilyn who is being imprisoned in a bed room as a sex slave to the young scumbags. Marilyn understandably traumatized, hostile and suspicious informs Harry and Rick that she lives in the farm house with her parents who were both murdered by the young mongrels.
Harry and Rick free Marilyn and return with her to the cave to be cared for by Ann. Despite what has happened, there is still room for compassion and for Rick there seems to be the addition of a definite attraction.
A major crisis can leave deep mental and emotional wounds and scars on people which take time to heal, if at all. People and their way of life in many instances will never be the same again. A new kind of normal will emerge that people will have to adapt to.
In Harry’s case, he understandably is visibly affected by what he has done. It is one thing to entertain ideas about doing anything to protect oneself and those closest to you, it is quite another to actually take someone’s life in order to do so, especially if it involves an act of cold-blooded revenge. Harry is still a civilized man with a conscience as can be determined from his observation to Ann that “I looked for the worst in others and I found it in myself.” Even his wife admits that she didn’t kill the two rapists only because she wasn’t a good enough shot.
Such feelings and thoughts that Harry is experiencing can only serve to drag him into a dark abyss if dwelt on for too long. Before he can descend into it, he is reminded by Ann that Karen is more worried about him that she is about herself.
In the case of Marilyn, her scars will run deep probably for the rest of her life. Young Rick tries to draw her out of her personal world of hurt and attempts to get close to her but she is obviously not yet ready to place her trust in other people, least of all a young male like Rick, no matter how good and kind he seems to be.
Potential good news is soon broadcast over the radio;
“Here are the 1:00 bulletins...
Operation Survival is rapidly taking effect. Authorities report that many areas are responding to discipline, but control has not yet been established in many rural and mountain areas. People in such areas are urged to maintain strict caution and vigilance.”
Established relocation centers are operating in the following sections of this state:
For Los Angeles, Malibu.
For the San Fernando valley, Thousand Oaks.
The southern portion of the Sierra Nevada Range, Wheaten.”
Harry doesn’t greet the news on the radio with any glee. He believes that “a lot of the wrong people heard that broadcast, too.” and that “the roads will be crawling with them.
When asked by his wife if they would feel any safer where they are, Harry replies, “I have some measure of control here. Out there, none.” Having power and control over others and exercising it for what he deems to be the good of his family has now become a way of life for Harry. It is how he defines himself and measures his worth as a man, a husband and father and that is something not to be surrendered lightly, if at all.
As for a woman? Her worth in the new world could be defined by her practical usefulness rather than modern civilization’s now irrelevant and meaningless criteria. According to Harry, Marilyn would be good for Rick on the basis of her being “pretty good with the rifle” which she can use to cover Rick while he’s chopping wood. (Personally, I’d rather have her chop the wood while I held on to the rifle!)
When Ann heads off to bed, Harry remains outside for a while. An indication of how life has changed can be seen from his reaction to the sounds emanating around the cave site at night. It is becoming a more fearful and nervous world, with people constantly on edge.
And what do we have in the next scene? Lo and behold! Rick showing off while chopping wood and Marilyn covering him with the gun while casting a few admiring looks his way.
Suddenly Carl, the missing and eldest hoodlum, sneaks up behind Marilyn and forces her to drop the rifle. He then questions her about what happened to his other two felonious compatriots. Rick shouts at him to back off and throws a part of a tree limb at him, while Marilyn breaks free, grabs the rifle, and shoots Carl dead. In the same instant, Carl fires a shot, striking Rick in the leg.
The family are nowforced to head off to the nearest town to find a doctor to help save Rick. On the way there, they hear the following announcement on the radio;
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of State.
‘The enemy has requested an immediate cessation of hostilities. A meeting is now in progress to discuss the terms and conditions under which peace, not war, may be declared. Year Zero is drawing to a close’
Resumption of normal broadcasting is anticipated within the next 12 hours.”
The Baldwins finally manage to locate Doctor Strong who does what he can for Rick. Unfortunately, Rick has lost so much blood that he requires a blood transfusion within three hours or he will die. The only way for this to happen is for him to be transported to an Army hospital more than 100 miles away.
Before Harry departs with his family, Doctor Strong bitterly and sardonically advises him to be careful as “our country is still full of thieving, murdering patriots.” [We’ve unfortunately at times recently observed this aspect of human nature during the course of our own global pandemic crisis and concurrent events.]
It is however the example set by those like the Doctor Strong character that give hope to civilization. Despite the chaos around them, their own suffering, potential dangers to themselves and a creeping sense of futility, such people continue to offer assistance to others and act in a truly selfless manner out of compassion and a sense of duty.
As the family drives on, a closing title card states: "There must be no end – only a new beginning," indicating that hopefully mankind will have learned its lesson and will make Year Zero a new symbolic beginning.
****************
Points of Interest
“Panic In The Year Zero!” was filmed in two - three weeks and was originally known as “Survival.” It was for a short time re-released in 1965 as "The End of the World" before reverting to its original title. The film was initially released as part of a double feature with “Tales of Terror” (1962).
According to Roger Corman, Ray Milland had experienced difficulties attempting to act and direct at the same time. Although considering the fine end product, you wouldn’t know it!
CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was established in 1951 and was the nationwide system for emergency broadcasts in the United States. All radios made between 1953 and 1963 were required to have marks on the AM dial at 640 and 1240 MHz where citizens could tune to obtain civil defense information. CONELRAD was succeeded by the Emergency Broadcast System in 1963 which was itself replaced by the Emergency Alert System in 1997.
Coincidentally, I’m listening to a very transistor radio from my collection, SONY TR-724 AM / SW pocket Transistor made in in 1960 which has (as can be seen from the photos) two small orange markers on the dial – one on 640 and one on 1240 MHz.
Two stories by Ward Moore that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, "Lot" (May 1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (October 1954) may have been used as the basis for the film’s screenplay
“Panic In The Year Zero!” deals with the theme of nuclear apocalypse which was not surprisingly an ever-present concern during the Cold War period. This film together with “This Is Not A Test” (1962) focuses more on ordinary people who find themselves caught up in a crisis and events not of their making and beyond their power to control. They are regular people with lives and concerns we can relate to and about whom we can wonder what we would do if we were in their shoes.
Take for instance, Ray Milland’s character, Harry Baldwin. What would we do as a dedicated father and husband who struggles with determination to survive and protect his family? Would we too find ourselves abandoning the very civilized morals for which we are fighting and trying to maintain? These days in film, he’d more than likely be portrayed as the absent or abusive or emasculated or morally weak father!
I couldn't care less whether certain heads are exploding over the fact that the female characters could have been portrayed as being more assertive. Yes, they did come across as being vulnerable and in need of protection, but you have to take into account that it was a very different era. Ann’s role was however very important for the story’s development in that she provided her husband with a constant reminder of how easy it can be to lose one’s humanity.
"Panic in Year Zero!" is interesting by virtue of not presenting ideas and events in a simple black and white manner. There is a constant tension or conflict between the need to preserve civilization and having to compromise one’s beliefs and moral code in order to survive and save one’s family. We question each of Harry’s acts and decisions such as his conduct toward the hardware store owner and so does Harry himself, especially under the scrutiny of his wife. We find ourselves hovering between condemning Harry but also understanding why he does what he does without fully condoning it.
Some may think that the kind of nuclear threat that is depicted in the film is merely a thing of the past and nothing to worry about in this modern 21st Century age. If nuclear war were to occur they may argue that it would be conducted in a limited or surgical sense rather than in the manner of a Cold War Mutual Assured Destruction scenario.
Only a fool would say so for certain.
What we can be sure of is that one of the greatest threats to civilization that would emerge from such a crisis would be the moral and ethical collapse that would result from the sheer struggle for survival. The biggest threat may not be just from national or terrorist adversaries, it may also be from ourselves, our neighbors and those we thought we knew and could trust.
©Chris Christopoulos 2021
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