The Nuclear Thread

[Lurker Child]

Top 3 Nuclear War Movies:
3. The Day After
2. Threads
1. On the Beach

Thanks for informing me about On The Beach. I found a copy on Youtube and watched it. It's great and easily my favorite nuclear war film just ahead of Threads. While Threads masterfully presents the literal horror of nuclear war, On The Beach really simmers into you the psychological horror of nuclear war - the gnawing and liberating doom of an approaching death. Also: before this film when I thought of Gregory Peck, I thought of Captain Horatio, Horn Blower. This film might replace that for what I remember him for. I have never seen him be that vulnerable in a character. It was very touching and captivating. I highly recommend it to anyone interested.

 

[Derrick]

Thanks for informing me about On The Beach. I found a copy on Youtube and watched it. It's great and easily my favorite nuclear war film just ahead of Threads. While Threads masterfully presents the literal horror of nuclear war, On The Beach really simmers into you the psychological horror of nuclear war - the gnawing and liberating doom of an approaching death. Also: before this film when I thought of Gregory Peck, I thought of Captain Horatio, Horn Blower. This film might replace that for what I remember him for. I have never seen him be that vulnerable in a character. It was very touching and captivating. I highly recommend it to anyone interested.

Spoiler: Major Film Spoiler, If you haven't seen the movie don't click

Thank you, as somebody who hadn't seen the film before what did you think of the bottle scene and the morse code signal in general? I'd read the book before so I knew where it was going but I'd love to get the perspective someone who was going into the film blind.

 

[Lurker Child]

Spoiler: Major Film Spoiler, If you haven't seen the movie don't click

Thank you, as somebody who hadn't seen the film before what did you think of the bottle scene and the morse code signal in general? I'd read the book before so I knew where it was going but I'd love to get the perspective someone who was going into the film blind.

Spoiler: Further film spoiler discussion. Seriously, go watch it.

I felt a lot like how the guy who found the bottle and keyer felt: laughing at how ridiculous it was as well as feeling the dread and inevitability sink in. When they go out on that voyage, I felt some hope that perhaps they would survive by the slimmest margin in Australia, that maybe someone, out there, miraculously survived the fallout - but then the worst fears are affirmed. From that point on, the film becomes very touching. Everyone knows they're gonna die soon, and they take that fact and live whatever life they have left to the fullest. Towards the ending when the radiation starts to set in, the horror returns after that brief spring, and the film sends everyone off in a really beautiful way. I very much enjoyed it.

 

[analrapist]

I support nuclear desalination plants for Israel.

 

[Mike Matei's Penis]

When talking about "On The Beach", are you referring to the 1959 or 2000 version? Both look interesting

 

[Lurker Child]

When talking about "On The Beach", are you referring to the 1959 or 2000 version? Both look interesting

I'm talking about the 1959 version with Gregory Peck. I haven't seen the 2000 version yet.

 

[Tragi-Chan]

In case anyone's missed them, When the Wind Blows (1986) and Threads (1984) are both pretty good movies about the aftermath of nukes being dropped if anyone wants paranoia fuel.

Threads is absolutely horrifying. If the sirens go, I’m heading for Ground Zero.

I also recommend The War Game and The Day After.

 

[Jewthulhu]

If we're talking nuclear war films you all forgot the best one

 

[Sonalee Rashitwar]

Recently listened to a lecture on YouTube called “Slaves to the Bomb.”

https://youtu.be/-wmJD4dNAwo?si=iBFnDCLHEJQKJFaI

Link here. Anyway, you also can read reports by the NGO putting this out, but TL;DR: be less afraid of a North Korean nuclear launch and more afraid of their activities contaminating neighboring countries. The experience of scientists there shows that radiation protections for workers are even less than in Soviet-era nuclear sites, and if that’s true, it also means that NK isn’t caring about the possibility that fallout could go internationally. They’re also effectively committing intellectual genocide, because all of their best STEM students are recruited into the nuclear program where they suffer ongoing health issues and reduced fertility and life expectancy because of radiation exposure.

 

[Derrick]

Spoiler: Further film spoiler discussion. Seriously, go watch it.

I felt a lot like how the guy who found the bottle and keyer felt: laughing at how ridiculous it was as well as feeling the dread and inevitability sink in. When they go out on that voyage, I felt some hope that perhaps they would survive by the slimmest margin in Australia, that maybe someone, out there, miraculously survived the fallout - but then the worst fears are affirmed. From that point on, the film becomes very touching. Everyone knows they're gonna die soon, and they take that fact and live whatever life they have left to the fullest. Towards the ending when the radiation starts to set in, the horror returns after that brief spring, and the film sends everyone off in a really beautiful way. I very much enjoyed it.

Spoiler: On the Beach Spoiler

The thing I love about that particular scene is that in pretty much every Hollywood movie the protagonist's always find a way out at the last minute, heroically saving the day, I mean seriously how often are the good guys defeated in movies? So when the morse code signal appears you assume naturally that this will be how the heroes win in the end, this will be there way out. Then the film does a completely subverts your expectation by crushing the characters hope for a happy ending with the bottle reveal. This a nuclear war film, there will be no corporal salvation for our heroes, no way out.

Also it's interesting to note that this manages to be one of the best nuclear war films without ever showing a single nuclear explosion or even the destruction caused by a nuke. All the filmmakers needed was the threat of the invisible horror of radiation to scare the audience.

When talking about "On The Beach", are you referring to the 1959 or 2000 version? Both look interesting

1959, haven't seen/don't know about the 2000 one

They actually kinda enjoyed them. Have a look into dawn bomb parties and atomic parties. The rich would rent out the top floor of hotels and drink/party with the atomic test being like a firework display lol.

It's crazy to me how close these tests happened to Area 51, the government underestimated the effects of the radiation from the bombs and wound up spiking cancer rates in Las Vegas and Utah, I can't imagine how bad the effects must have been for the base personnel who were only 13 miles from ground zero.

Interestingly there was a family, the Sheahans, who lived on the mountain next to Area 51, Bald Mountain, with their house overlooking the base just six miles below. If you wondering how they lived within eyesight of Area 51, they had purchased the land (and a mine) in the 1880s about seventy years before the base was built (the Government seized their land in 2014). Can you imagine what it must have been like for these civilians to wake up in the middle of the night to a nuclear explosion less then twenty miles from their house? Absolutely horrifying for that family.

 

[Ignatius von Cistern]

Here are some good books to read:

1. From Stalin to Yeltsyn - about the Soviet Nuclear program
2. The Virus House - David Irwing on the German nuclear program during WWII this is before he got into Holocaust revision) cannot find the PDF right now, but it's out there
3. Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America’s First Nuclear Accident - William McKeown - good writeup on the early american nuclear power history.

The 1983 anime Barefoot Gen is a very dark and informative piece on life in Hiroshima after the bombing. There is a second part which is also pretty good. I didn't like Grave of Fireflies, too moralistic, but Barefoot Gen is right on point.

Nuclear power is a relatively safe alternative energy and there should be more of it, however, we're on the cusp of fusion power becoming viable, so burning coal for another 10-20 years might be the smart thing to do if your country doesn't have the cash.

Cold fusion has been thoroughly discredited, which is a shame, because when you look into the science of it, it should be possible with the right materials. Again, research needs to continue, because it literally is all the power you need in a glass of water.

With the ongoing war in Ukraine, it appears that some people are nihilistic enough to wish to see a "limited" nuclear exchange in their lifetime. They seem to think that like the war, it's something they'll just see on their TV, happening far far away. Retards, Oppenheimer and Zhukov both stated that these weapons should never be used. You think you know better than Oppenheimer and Zhukov?

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

The Atomic Cafe is pretty cool

 

[Derrick]

If we're talking nuclear war films you all forgot the best one

Slim Pickins, the actor playing Major Kong in this scene, was a real cowboy. During WWII the recruiter asked his previous profession to which he responded, "Rodeo," the recruiter misheard him and wrote down, "Radio," which is what he would be stuck doing in the midwest for the duration of the war.

 

[Ignatius von Cistern]

Slim Pickins, the actor playing Major Kong in this scene, was a real cowboy. During WWII the recruiter asked his previous profession to which he responded, "Rodeo," the recruiter misheard him and wrote down, "Radio," which is what he would be stuck doing in the midwest for the duration of the war.

Also part of the crew is James Earl Jones, who later played Thulsa Doom in Conan The Barbarian. Back when Hollywood was good...

 

[Kiwi Sneed Snake]

It's crazy to me how close these tests happened to Area 51

How many tests where conducted there and what sort of yeilds? Was this before or after the tests moved mainly to Bikini Atoll etc? I knew a few tests happened in Nevada but thought most where done offshore?

Can you imagine what it must have been like for these civilians to wake up in the middle of the night to a nuclear explosion less then twenty miles from their house? Absolutely horrifying for that family.

Probably just as horrifying as buying land only for it to have a nuclear test site stationed next to it years later and the government snatching it off you years after that. Especially since they let the family live near the test site while they conducted tests there. I wonder why they seized it so many years later?
What terrible investment for that family I hope there mine turned out to have gold in it or something....

On the other hand it must have been surreal not bothering eventually about the odd nuke going off.

 

[Derrick]

How many tests where conducted there and what sort of yeilds? Was this before or after the tests moved mainly to Bikini Atoll etc? I knew a few tests happened in Nevada but thought most where done offshore?

Wikipedia tells me they conducted upwards of 900 tests by the 1990s, most of which being done back in the 50s and 60s, of course this was spread out over a wide range, if you want to survey the destruction and are even in the desert (for some reason) they offer guided tours. Just imagine being some 18/19 year old kid in Air Force in the 1950s thinking you're going to have an easy tour of duty getting posted in the middle of the desert and then a nuke goes off barely more than ten miles from you.

As far as I can tell the Sedan Explosion was the closest to the base, a 104 KT yield nuke detonated underground in 1962.

The Teapot crater was the second closet, a 43 KT only 13ish miles away from the base.

Probably just as horrifying as buying land only for it to have a nuclear test site stationed next to it years later

It wasn't just nukes they had to worry about, having been zoned into the Nellis Test and Training Range in 1940 they were in range for testing of convention weapons too. In 1954 the family's mill was accidentally exploded by an errant bomb. Heres a before and after

Especially since they let the family live near the test site while they conducted tests there. I wonder why they seized it so many years later?

Most of the family bailed after the nuclear testing started, eventually they only seldom visited the property with the Government increasing the restrictions on their visits, for their part they were good neighbors to the Air Force, not taking pictures of Area 51, not allowing conspiracy theorists onto their property to observe the base, and not discussing much of anything they saw.

What terrible investment for that family I hope there mine turned out to have gold in it or something....

The family valued their mine at $50 million. The government gave them just over a million for it.

On the other hand they got to take this sick picture of them watching one of the detonations up close.

 

[Ignatius von Cistern]

Was this before or after the tests moved mainly to Bikini Atoll etc? I knew a few tests happened in Nevada but thought most where done offshore?

the majority of american testing was done in nevada, so your sequence is backwards. bikini atoll and other pacific tests were very specific to testing the use of nukes against navy. they blew up a bunch of captured japanese and german vessels. they also tested the first thermonuclear device which basically blew a hole in the planet and irradiated a bunch of islanders and japanese fishermen.

the nevada test range was in use well into the 90's first for atmospheric testing and then for underground, which regularly blew out into the air. look on google maps north of groom lake, it's a moonscape.

 

[Derrick]

look on google maps north of groom lake, it's a moonscape.

West of groom lake, north is Bald Mtn/Rachel.



As a middle aged white man (well 39) I have an interest in the boring details of the history of the state a live in so this stuff fascinates me.

 

[Ignatius von Cistern]

West of groom lake, north is Bald Mtn/Rachel.

west, my bad.

hey, I don't mean this as an offence, but is it normal for americans to have these holes in their history? where I'm from modern history is drilled into us. names, dates, events.

 

[Jewthulhu]

hey, I don't mean this as an offence, but is it normal for americans to have these holes in their history? where I'm from modern history is drilled into us. names, dates, events.

School-level history in the US is notorious for stopping at WWII, or at least glossing over everything after. I doubt nuclear testing would have a priority in history classrooms regardless (outside of maybe Trinity).

I'll admit to not knowing a lot about nuclear testing. I've mainly studied the political/strategic history of nukes.