The China Syndrome (1979)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The China Syndrome (1979) – J. Bridges

I’m not sure whether American movies were just better in the 1970s or whether it is really just nostalgia for my childhood (those cars, those clothes, those phones, etc.) that draws me in. Blockbusters aside, the downbeat themes and plots of Seventies cinema also make them feel braver and more distinctive than films from other decades.  Even a popular entertainment such as The China Syndrome, with its tightly wound plot and edge of your seat moments, still comes across as disillusioned with, if not downright cynical about, America/the American Dream.  Jane Fonda plays Kimberley Wells, the ambitious “lifestyle reporter” for a local L.A. TV station, and Michael Douglas (who also produced) is Richard Adams, the hothead freelance cameraman who is assisting her on a TV special about energy.  They head out to the local nuclear power plant where they just happen to witness a malfunction, nearly an accident, that is prevented only by the quick wits of site supervisor Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon).  The incident is quickly swept under the carpet by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, persuaded by California Electric & Gas who are in the middle of building a second nuclear plant. However, Godell knows something is not right – and ends up talking with Wells and Adams about his misgivings. Naturally, corporate powers (both energy and media) line up to squelch the story. The film is gripping from start to finish, even without any soundtrack to cue our emotions. Director James Bridges keeps things brisk, giving us just enough technobabble but no more, allowing Fonda, Douglas, and especially Lemmon to give life to the otherwise schematic characters. We feel their paranoia and their worry about how their choices might affect their future careers or lives. Of course, the film was ultimately extremely prescient, as the Three Mile Island accident happened within weeks of the film’s opening.  Even now, 40+ years later, just thinking about a nuclear meltdown is still scary as hell. Worth a rewatch?