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The China Syndrome

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For the nuclear meltdown concept, seeNuclear meltdown.

The China Syndrome
Promotional poster
Directed byJames Bridges
Written by
Produced byMichael Douglas
Starring
CinematographyJames Crabe
Edited byDavid Rawlins
Music byStephen Bishop
Production
companies
  • IPC Films
  • Major Studio Partners
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • March 16, 1979(1979-03-16)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5.9 million[1]
Box office$51.7 million[2]

The China Syndromeis a 1979 Americandisasterthriller filmdirected byJames Bridgesand written by Bridges,Mike Gray,andT. S. Cook.The film starsJane Fonda,Jack Lemmon,andMichael Douglas(who also produced). It follows a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at anuclear powerplant. "China syndrome"is a fanciful term that describes a fictional result of a nuclear meltdown, where reactor components melt through their containment structures and into the underlying earth,"all the way to China".

The China Syndromepremiered at the1979 Cannes Film Festival,where it competed for thePalme d'Orwhile Lemmon received theBest Actor Prize.[3]It was theatrically released on March 16, 1979, twelve days before theThree Mile Island nuclear accidentinDauphin County, Pennsylvania,which gave the film's subject matter an unexpected prescience. It became a critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised the film's screenplay, direction, and performances (most notably of Fonda and Lemmon), while it grossed $51.7 million on a production budget of $5.9 million. The film received four nominations at the52nd Academy Awards;Best Actor(for Lemmon),Best Actress(for Fonda),Best Original ScreenplayandBest Art Direction.[4]

Plot

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While visiting the Ventana nuclear power plant outsideLos Angeles,television news reporter Kimberly Wells, her cameraman Richard Adams and their soundman Hector Salas witness the plant going through aturbine tripand correspondingSCRAM(emergency shutdown). Shift Supervisor Jack Godell notices an unusual vibration in his cup of coffee.

In response to a gauge indicating high water levels, Godell begins removing water from thecore,but the gauge remains high as operators open more valves to dump water. Another operator notices a second gauge indicating low water levels. Godell taps the first gauge, which immediately unsticks and drops to indicate very low levels. The crew urgently pumps water back in and celebrates in relief at bringing the reactor back under control.[a]

Adams has surreptitiously filmed the incident, despite being asked not to film for security reasons. Wells' superior refuses her report of what happened. Adams steals the footage and shows it to experts who conclude that the plant came perilously close tomeltdown– theChina syndrome.

During an inspection of the plant before it is brought back online, Godell discovers a puddle of radioactive water that has apparently leaked from a pump. He pushes to delay restarting the plant, but the plant superintendent wants nothing standing in the way of the restart.

Godell finds that a series ofradiographssupposedly verifying the welds on the leaking pump are identical – the contractor simply kept resubmitting the same picture. He brings the evidence to the plant superintendent, who brushes him off as paranoid, stating that new radiographs would cost $20 million. Godell confronts Royce, an employee of Foster-Sullivan who built the plant, as it was he who signed off on the radiographs. Godell threatens to go to theNuclear Regulatory Commission,but Royce threatens him; later, a pair of men from Foster-Sullivan park outside his house.

Wells and Adams confront Godell at his home and he voices his concerns. Wells and Adams ask him to testify at the NRC hearings over Foster-Sullivan's plans to build another nuclear plant. Godell agrees to obtain, through Salas, the false radiographs to take to the hearings.

Salas' car is run off the road and the radiographs are taken from him. Godell is chased by the men waiting outside his home. He takes refuge inside the plant, where he finds that the reactor is being brought up to full power. Grabbing a gun from a security guard, he forces everyone out, including his friend and co-worker Ted Spindler, and demands to be interviewed by Wells on live television. Plant management agrees to the interview in order to buy time as they try to regain control of the plant.

Minutes into the broadcast, plant technicians deliberately cause a SCRAM so they can distract Godell and retake the control room. ASWATteam forces its way in, the television cable is cut, and Godell is shot. Before dying, he feels the unusual vibration again. The resulting SCRAM is brought under control only by the plant's automatic systems, and the plant suffers significant damage as the pump malfunctions.

Plant officials try to paint Godell as emotionally disturbed, but are contradicted by a distraught Spindler on live television saying Godell was not crazy and would never have taken such drastic steps had there not been something wrong. A tearful Wells concludes her report and the news cuts to a commercial for microwave ovens.

Cast

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Reception

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Roger Ebertreviewed it as:

...a terrific thriller that incidentally raises the most unsettling questions about how safe nuclear power plants really are.... The movie is... well-acted, well-crafted, scary as hell. The events leading up to the "accident" inThe China Syndromeare indeed based on actual occurrences at nuclear plants. Even the most unlikely mishap (a stuck needle on a graph causing engineers to misread a crucial water level) really happened at theDresden plant outside Chicago.And yet the movie works so well not because of its factual basis, but because of its human content. The performances are so good, so consistently, thatThe China Syndromebecomes a thriller dealing in personal values.[5]

Movie Reviews UK noted the film is:

so accurate that, even though they're fictional, they could easily be documentaries...we see the greatest fears of theNIMBYculture unearthed when a nuclear power station almost goes out of control and the men-in-suits cover it up...[unknown] to them, the entire incident is covertly filmed by a visiting TV news-crew.

The acting is also credited:

The power of this film is more than just the acting, although Lemmon is superb, and more than just the script. It is that this scenario could really happen...atmosphere produced in the plants'control-roomis heart-stoppingly intense; characters are uniformly well-acted. I recommendThe China Syndrometo everyone as an example of the dangers of money and corruption.[6]

John SimonsaidThe China Syndromewas a taut, intelligent, and chillingly gripping thriller till it turns melodramatic at its end. He called the ending both false and bathetic.[7]

The film has a rating of 88% onRotten Tomatoesbased on reviews from 40 critics. The critical consensus reads: "With gripping themes and a stellar cast,The China Syndromeis the rare thriller that's as thought-provoking as it is tense ".[8]OnMetacriticit has a score of 81 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]

Box office

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The film opened in 534 theatres in the United States and grossed $4,354,854 in its opening weekend.[10]

Response of nuclear industry

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The March 1979 release was met with backlash from the nuclear power industry's claims of it being "sheer fiction" and a "character assassination of an entire industry".[11]Twelve days later, theThree Mile Island nuclear accidentoccurred inDauphin County, Pennsylvania.While some credit the accident's timing in helping to sell tickets,[12]the studio attempted to avoid appearing as if they were exploiting the accident, which included pulling the film from some theaters.[13]

Accolades

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Award Category Recipient Result
Academy Awards[14] Best Actor Jack Lemmon Nominated
Best Actress Jane Fonda Nominated
Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen Mike Gray,T.S. CookandJames Bridges Nominated
Best Art Direction Art Direction:George Jenkins
Set Decoration:Arthur Jeph Parker 		Nominated
British Academy Film Awards[15] Best Film James Bridges Nominated
Best Actor in a Leading Role Jack Lemmon Won
Best Actress in a Leading Role Jane Fonda Won
Best Screenplay Mike Gray, T.S. Cook and James Bridges Nominated
Cannes Film Festival[16] Palme d'Or James Bridges Nominated
Best Actor Jack Lemmon Won
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Actor Won[b]
Directors Guild of America Awards[17] Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures James Bridges Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[18] Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Jack Lemmon Nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Jane Fonda Nominated
Best Director – Motion Picture James Bridges Nominated
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Mike Gray, T.S. Cook and James Bridges Nominated
National Board of Review Awards[19] Top Ten Films 4th Place
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actor Jack Lemmon 4th Place
Satellite Awards Best Classic DVD Nominated
Writers Guild of America Awards[20] Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen Mike Gray, T.S. Cook and James Bridges Won

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^The sequence of events in the movie is based on events that occurred in 1970 at theDresden Generating Stationoutside Chicago. In that case, the indicator stuck low and the operators responded by adding ever more water.
  2. ^Tied withDustin HoffmanforKramer vs. Kramer.

References

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  1. ^"The China Syndrome".Sunnycv.com.Archivedfrom the original on February 27, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 26,2014.
  2. ^"Box Office Information for The China Syndrome".Box Office Mojo.RetrievedJanuary 28,2012.
  3. ^"Festival de Cannes: The China Syndrome".Festival-cannes.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 18, 2012.RetrievedMay 24,2009.
  4. ^"The China Syndrome (1979): Awards".Movies & TV Dept.The New York Times.2012. Archived fromthe originalon October 18, 2012.RetrievedJune 27,2018.
  5. ^Ebert, Roger(January 1, 1979)."The China Syndrome Movie Review (1979)".Chicago Sun-Times.Archivedfrom the original on January 20, 2021.RetrievedDecember 30,2013.
  6. ^"The China Syndrome (1979)".Film.u-net.com. Archived fromthe originalon July 18, 2013.RetrievedDecember 30,2013.
  7. ^Simon, John (1982).Reverse Angle.Crown Publishers Inc. p.377.ISBN9780517544716.
  8. ^"The China Syndrome".Rotten Tomatoes.Archivedfrom the original on January 20, 2021.RetrievedJuly 23,2022.
  9. ^"The China Syndrome".Metacritic.
  10. ^Pollock, Dale (June 20, 1979). "UA Puts Four-Day 'Rocky II' B. O. At $8.1 Million".Daily Variety.p. 1.
  11. ^Burnham, David (March 18, 1979)."Nuclear Experts Debate 'The China Syndrome'".The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon January 2, 2021.
  12. ^"The China Syndrome: Special Edition".Dvdverdict.com.Archivedfrom the original on November 11, 2013.RetrievedDecember 30,2013.
  13. ^Movies That Shook the World,American Movie Classics2006.
  14. ^"The 52nd Academy Awards".Oscars.Archivedfrom the original on May 22, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
  15. ^"Film in 1980".BAFTA.Archivedfrom the original on August 8, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
  16. ^"The China Syndrome".Festival De Cannes.Archivedfrom the original on February 22, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
  17. ^"32nd Annual DGA Awards".Directors Guild of America.Archivedfrom the original on November 30, 2020.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
  18. ^"Winners & Nominees: China Syndrome, The".Golden Globes.Archivedfrom the original on December 30, 2020.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
  19. ^"1979 Award Winners".National Board of Review.Archivedfrom the original on February 22, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
  20. ^"Writers Guild Award Winners 1995–1949".Writers Guild Awards.Archivedfrom the original on January 25, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 21,2019.
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