I've watched this thread go on for a while and finally had to comment.
"On the Beach" was a hugely popular flick on campus at the Univ of Fla.
where I was a freshman in 1959. I guess you had to grow up in the
fifties and be part of the cold war generation to empathize with the "end
of the world" scenario, because it seemed at the time to be a very real
possibility. Gregory Peck as a US U-boat skipper making a last visit
"home" to the US (where everyone is dead from fallout -- the scenes of a
empty San Francisco are spooky); Ava Gardner as a partner in a last
futile love affair in the face of Armageddon; Fred Astaire as a
disillusioned and alcoholic Brit who all his life wanted to compete in a
Grand Prix race in his (as I remember it) Jaguar XK ; the poignant.
theme of "Waltzing Matilda" which runs throughout the movie; the thinning
crowds at the evangelist stand ("There is still time Brother!") as people
succomb to radiation.
The great race scene takes place toward the end of the movie,
where drivers deliberately wipe out, committing suicide. This was a dark
movie, and I guess (after re-reading this) it made a big impression on my
young soul. Enough bandwidth....Go rent it at Blockbuster. Phil
Bacon
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