| The Manhattan Project | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Marshall Brickman |
| Produced by | Marshall Brickman Jennifer Ogden |
| Written by | Thomas Baum Marshall Brickman |
| Starring | John Lithgow Christopher Collet Cynthia Nixon Jill Eikenberry John Mahoney Richard Jenkins |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
| Cinematography | Billy Williams |
| Editing by | Nina Feinberg |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | June 13, 1986 |
| Running time | 117 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3,900,000 (USA)[1] |
The Manhattan Project is an American film, released in 1986.[2] Named after the World War II-era program, the plot revolves around a gifted high school student who decides to construct a nuclear bomb for a national science fair. The film's underlying theme involves the Cold War of the 1980s when government secrecy and mutually assured destruction were key political and military issues. It was directed by Marshall Brickman, based upon his screenplay co-written with Thomas Baum, and starred John Lithgow, Christopher Collet, John Mahoney, Jill Eikenberry and Cynthia Nixon. This was the first production from the shortlived Gladden Entertainment Corporation.
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Dr. John Mathewson (John Lithgow) discovers a new process for refining plutonium to purities greater than 99.997 percent. The United States government provides him a laboratory located near a suburban neighborhood in Ithaca, New York masked as a medical company, Medatomics. Mathewson moves to Ithaca and meets real estate agent Elizabeth Stephens (Jill Eikenberry) while searching for an apartment. He attempts to win the affections of the single mom by inviting her teenage son Paul (Christopher Collet) to take a tour of Medatomics and see "one of the sexiest lasers in the free world."
Mathewson is confident in the lab's cover story but Paul, an unusually gifted student with a passion for science, becomes suspicious when he discovers a statistically impossible patch of five-leaf clover on the grounds. Paul and his aspiring journalist girlfriend, Jenny Anderman (Cynthia Nixon), decide to expose the weapons factory in dramatic fashion. Paul breaks into Medatomics and steals a container of plutonium. To obtain maximum publicity, Paul decides to build a nuclear bomb and enter it into the New York Science Fair. After convincing his mother and his school that his project is about hamsters bred in darkness, he begins research and construction of the nuclear device.
Mathewson and Medatomics discover that a container of plutonium has been replaced by a bottle of Alberto VO5 shampoo mixed with glitter. A military investigation team, led by Lt. Colonel Conroy (John Mahoney), immediately arrives on the scene. Their investigation reveals that Paul is responsible for stealing the plutonium. Suspecting him of terrorism, the investigators invade Paul's home and discover he and Jenny have left for the science fair.
The agents capture the couple in New York City and Mathewson, who feels personally responsible for the crisis, has a private talk with Paul. He tells Paul to just give the bomb to the agents or "they'll lock you in a room somewhere and throw away the room."[3] Several of Paul's friends at the science fair help him and Jenny escape custody and they become fugitives from the government.
In an effort to expose the lab, Paul hatches a plan to return the bomb on his own terms. Ensuring Jenny is a safe distance away, he calls the agents from a pay phone and walks into Medatomics with the nuclear bomb, while being surrounded by snipers and agents. During the standoff, negotiations stall and Paul arms the nuclear bomb. Mathewson, convinced that Paul is not an actual terrorist, attempts to intercede on his behalf.
Due to radiation from the plutonium, the bomb's timer suddenly turns on by itself and begins to count down with increasing speed. All sides put down their weapons and frantically work as a team to dismantle the nuclear device. They manage to disarm the bomb right as the timer reads 7:16:45, a reference to the first nuclear test on July 16, 1945.[4] After a brief moment of relief, Conroy decides to arrest Paul. Mathewson refuses to cooperate and opens the door to the lab, revealing a large crowd, including Jenny and the press. He says to the military, "We blew it." With the weapons factory exposed, Conroy and his agents leave the premises and the residents of Ithaca embrace Paul as a hero.
This movie is a cautionary tale regarding the dangers of nuclear weapon capability, a common theme of films dating back to Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.[5] The theme was especially prominent in the early 1980s with the debut of the television film The Day After and the motion pictures Testament and WarGames.[6] One can compare this film to WarGames, based on the similarity of a lone teenager almost causing an international nuclear crisis.
The plot may have been influenced by the case of John Aristotle Phillips, a Princeton University undergraduate, who came to prominence in 1977 as the "A-Bomb Kid" for designing a nuclear weapon in a term paper using publicly-available books and articles.[7]
The Manhattan Project was filmed in and around Rockland County, New York. Locations included Suffern High School, King's Daughters Library in Haverstraw and the Orchards of Conklin in Pomona.[4][8] The producers held an actual science fair at the New York Penta Hotel in which participants received $75, and utilized the set for filming. The film's director and screenplay co-writer Marshall Brickman had established his career as a co-writer on several Woody Allen films. The Manhattan Project was his third film as director, following the comedies Simon (1980) and Lovesick (1983).[9] Brickman received the President's Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for The Manhattan Project. Brickman would not direct again until the 2001 Showtime television movie Sister Mary Explains It All. In the role of Jenny, Cynthia Nixon was nominated for the Young Artist Award in the category of Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress, Supporting Role.[10]
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