PANIC IN YEAR ZERO! (1962)

 

American International Pictures (AIP) is known for its budgeted productions, horror films, and sensationalism. By the end of the Sixties, they transitioned to violent motorcycle gang films. Only hinting at that future is this science fiction black and white survival film, destined upon completion to be a double feature. Using the crew from Roger Corman Productions (Santa Clara Productions, here), it is produced by Arnold Houghland and Lou Rusoff. The fast-paced screenplay is by John Morton and Jay Simms, helping make the film profitable. It would have to be an awful film to not turn a profit from a 225-grand budget. Up to the halfway point, the film is captivating with non-stop action and tension, set during the height of the Cold War. The second half slows considerably and gets more violent as a trio of lawless hep-cat thugs get their kicks by looting, female sexual assaults, and cold-blooded murder. These are the less-than-zero-trio.

Leading the Baldwin family on vacation to the mountains is Ray Milland. His co-starring family consists of Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon, and Mary Mitchel. Featured prominently is a 1962 Mercury Monterey with a Kenskill travel trailer in tow. With this film's success, Avalon made several pictures for AIP, mainly at a beach. This is Mitchel's first film and displays her lack of experience. Miles away they witness the bright flash of an atomic explosion. The special effects of an auburn-tinted flash and distant nuclear cloud over Los Angeles looked believable but their second look back was spliced-in stock footage that looked more like Indian smoke signals.

Slightly long at ninety-three minutes, the film could have survived without the many abrupt edits. As the director, Milland adequately nails the opening vacation section but his overall inability to focus on the film's elements leads to mounting editing implausibilities. The film's editor, William Austin, perhaps out of necessity or simply following directives, pads the film with repeated footage—albeit from different angles—of the same automobiles in their high-speed mountain escapes. The panicking citizens recklessly speeding up the two-lane mountain highway—many in the passing lane on a blind curve—is too perfectly arranged to be believed. At one point both lanes are clogged with maniacs going the opposite direction, leaving the Baldwins seemingly nowhere to drive. Post-production relied on splicing in frequent, three-second close-ups of the Mercury's wheels—with an odd sound effect like bad wheel bearings—and close-up blurs of automobiles zipping by. At one point, poor-quality stock footage of multi-lane automobile traffic from a totally different location and vantage point was used. These cheapen the otherwise well-spent film.

However, one could not have a better survival leader during a nuclear winter than Mr. Baldwin. Milland's character knows precisely what to do and how much supplies they will need—his dry run during the 1958 recession may have helped. The family uses a damp, chilly cave as their home—last used in the Prehistoric era—which no one has located since. Before partaking in their first cave meal together, Milland asks for God's protection with prayer. He had vowed earlier to protect his family by whatever means, including physically assaulting a store owner and gas station attendant, crashing through a barricade after being asked to turn around, destroying a bridge that might give others access to their food, and making deadly use of his firearms—not just for hunting. Perhaps a prayer of forgiveness will be forthcoming.

Note: The opening jazz score by big band legend Les Baxter provided no sense of doom or tension. Optimistically, given the film's opening is focused on a car's radio, maybe the tune was supposed to be coming from there. Still, it simply seems misplaced music of the period more fitting a pulp fiction film or centering on a group of idle teenagers succumbing to a life of crime. Perhaps it was a foreshadowing theme for those three hoodlums.