Lower Decks

We’re introducing a new weekly feature here at Lower Decks, the Sunday Movie Review. Our first installment is the 1962 post-apocalyptic thriller Panic in Year Zero! starring Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon and Mary Mitchel. Long before Jericho enthralled a small but vocal fan base, movies like this one were playing on Cold Wars fears.

Panic in Year Zero!

I watched Panic in Year Zero! for free online at Fancast.com. I find Fancast’s video play frustrating due to its use of interlacing, which results in a blocky mess. But it was an intriguing concept and the movie had solid acting. And Frankie Avalon played wonderfully against type (or rather the type he would later be known for).

The movie revolves around the Baldwin family, who head out for a camping trip only to find themselves fighting for their lives after nuclear war breaks out and cities throughout the United States are destroyed. Ray Milland, who also directed the movie, played family patriarch Harry. Jean Hagen, who I knew from Singin’ in the Rain, played his wife Ann. Frankie Avalon and Mary Mitchel rounded out the cast as the Baldwin children, Rick and Karen.

Much of the tension in the movie was between Harry and Ann, who differed in their reactions to the resetting of humanity to “Year Zero.” Harry was only concerned with keeping his family safe; Ann couldn’t believe that civilization would fall apart so quickly. As Harry became increasingly paranoid and violent — and son Rick began shooting people — Ann became withdrawn.

For example, when he can’t get his firearms due to a waiting period, Harry simply grabs a handgun and tries to take what he needs. He doesn’t want to rob the store, he just wants the weapons. The store owner, Ed Johnson, grapples with Harry. Rick saves the day by grabbing the pistol and threatening Ed.

Frankie Says Stick 'Em Up

Harry also punches out a gas station attendant who tries to jack up prices, sets a car on fire in order to stop traffic long enough to get across a street, and pulls apart a bridge to keep others from venturing onto the campground the family has taken refuge at. They set up camp in a cave, burying caches of food and hoping to wait out any radioactive fallout and the dangers of looting.

Unfortunately for the Baldwins, their campground idyll is also home to Ed Johnson and his wife as well as a gang of thugs. The same thugs attacked Harry earlier in the family only to be run off by Rick and his shotgun. The leader of the goons kills Ed and his wife, leading Harry and Rick to scout out their farmhouse.

The Bad Guys

Poor Karen had very little to do until about 2/3rds of the way through the film when she’s assaulted by two of the goons. Ann actually picks up a rifle and fights them off. I’m not sure if Karen is raped or not. When Ann asks, she indicates that they started to do something but were stopped. There also doesn’t seem to have been enough time for the goons to get too physical. Either way the emotional damage was severe.

After learning what happened to Karen, an enraged Harry and Rick head out to the farmhouse. Harry kills the goons who assaulted Karen more or less in cold blood and then the two find a young woman in another room. She’s been there for days; the goons killed her parents. It’s never specifically stated but I think it was pretty clear that they were only keeping her around for one reason.

Joan Freeman as Marilyn

Harry and Rick bring Marilyn back to the cave and she soon is integrated into their little family unit. Rick has a thing for her but she pulls away whenever he touches her. Things are beginning to look up. The radio announces that relocation centers have been established. Civilization is on its way back. But it’s not good enough for Harry. He has control at the cave; on the road to the nearest relocation center they’ll have to deal with looters and carjackers and worse. They’re staying put.

When the head goon returns and shoots Rick in the leg (Rick is able to shoot and kill him, though), Harry is forced to take his family back on the road. They find a doctor who patches up Rick as best he can but if they don’t get to a hospital the boy will die. I had expected somebody to get shot the moment guns were introduced. In fact, at certain points I was sure Harry would accidentally shoot Rick or Rick would accidentally shoot Harry (or Ann would snap and shoot everyone).

In the end, Harry and family find an advance army patrol and are pointed towards an aid station. Rick will presumably be saved and five more good souls have been returned to society (that’s according to the soldiers). What disappointed me about this ending was how happy it was. There was a scene after Harry killed the two goons in which he confided to his wife that he knew he was going over the edge. He wouldn’t have brought Marilyn back to the family if not for Rick, after all.

Ultimately, however, Harry’s actions are redeemed when his entire family survives the movie. If Rick had died, Harry would have been forced to live with the knowledge that he saved his wife and daughter at the cost of his son. With everyone surviving intact, I was left with the impression that the movie approved of everything Harry did. And maybe that was the point. Even Ann came around to his thinking eventually.

Aside from the ending, I found Panic in Year Zero! very enjoyable. It’s still a bleak movie (Ann’s mother is killed in the nuclear attack and promptly forgotten) and Ray Milland really does a fine job as the agonizing patriarch willing to do anything to keep his family together and alive.

The three goons could have been a little more villainous. Still, the goons served their purpose. In many ways, despite everything Harry did that was questionable, it was Ann whose actions negatively impacted the most people. By pushing Rick’s shotgun when he was about to fire, she spared the life of the lead goon.

With him dead, its doubtful that the other goons would have ended up at the farmhouse, and thus Marilyn’s parents wouldn’t have been killed, Marilyn wouldn’t have been kept locked up in her own house, Ed Johnson and his wife wouldn’t have been killed, Karen wouldn’t have been assaulted and Rick wouldn’t have been shot. That’s what being a pacifist gets you, Ann.

Finally, the coincidence of Ed Johnson and the goons finding their way to the same campground as the Baldwins was glossed over. Oh, sure, there was a throwaway line in which Ed explained how he’s been camping there for years. It was unbelievable enough to pull me out of the movie at times, which was too bad.