The Manhattan Project (1986)

Director:

Marshall Brickman

Writers:

Marshall Brickman (written by) &
Thomas Baum (written by)

Release Date:

13 June 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Paul Stevens' high school science project has gotten a little out of hand. He just built an atomic bomb. Now he's got 11 hours to make sure it doesn't work.

Plot:

A teen and his girlfriend make an atomic bomb with plutonium stolen from a scientist dating his mother.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Plutonium | Atomic Bomb | Science Fair | Teen

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

John Lithgow	...	John Mathewson
Richard Council	...	Government
Robert Schenkkan	...	Government Aide
Paul Austin	...	General
Adrian Sparks	...	Scientist
Curt Dempster	...	Scientist
Bran Ferren	...	Lab Assistant
Christopher Collet	...	Paul Stephens
Jill Eikenberry	...	Elizabeth Stephens
Cynthia Nixon	...	Jenny Anderman
Gregg Edelman	...	Science Teacher
Abraham Unger	...	Roland (as Abe Unger)
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Max (as Robert Leonard)
David Quinn	...	Tennis
Geoffrey Nauffts	...	Craig

Also Known As:

Deadly Game (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

117 min | West Germany:107 min (video)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Spain:T | Netherlands:6 | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Norway:12 | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Gladden Entertainment

Trivia:

The High School used in the movie was actually not in Ithaca New York. The High School is Suffern High School in Suffern New York.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the townsfolk drive to the lab at the end of the movie, as the guy on the scooter heads offroad, his scooter becomes a dirtbike.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dr. John Matthewson: Now, the beta synchrotron sends the electrons through this magnet which bends the course of them down to the reaction vessel. Stay away from that elbow joint. All right. Bran, you want to get that? Now, this is a tunable excimer laser. It's tuned to the exact resonance of the plutonium-239 that's in the reaction vessel down at that end. Now, I think we're all set. Hit it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sneakers (1992)

Reasonably entertaining, but fraught with problems.

Science-oriented teenage genius Paul Stephens (Christopher Collet) finds out that the new man in his mom's life, Dr. Mathewson (John Lithgow) is in the business of nuclear weaponry. In an elaborate and elongated sequence, he actually manages to steal plutonium from the lab that has been set up in his neck of the woods. He then manages to build himself his own bomb, supposedly to make some sort of moral point, but his own ego and desire to show off plays no small part in this endeavor.

I, for one, was certainly never rooting for this arrogant kid, who is shown to ultimately *not* be as smart as he believed he was. He's not really all that likable, and the film does come off as morally dubious in its demonizing of the understandably perturbed government and treatment of the kid. The film is not very strong on credibility, either, with a story with its fair share of holes. It's not as if it's incompetently done, in any event. It's got fairly good suspense and action scenes, and does ratchet up some good tension for the climax. At least for a film running just under two hours in length, it does refrain from ever getting boring and maintains adequate pacing.

The cast gives it a good effort. Collet does nail the cockiness of his brash young character, with Lithgow solid as a rock as always. Jill Eikenberry is the loving and concerned mom, a very young and very cute Cynthia Nixon the love interest, and John Mahoney the frustrated colonel trying to rectify the situation. Other familiar faces in small parts include an equally young Robert Sean Leonard (billed here without the second name), Richard Jenkins, Sully Boyar, and Timothy Carhart.

All in all, it's enjoyable in some ways but has got too many flaws going against it. If it were played more outrageously or comically, it might be easier to swallow, but the film-makers just don't go that route. I listened to the director's (rather dry) audio commentary on the special edition DVD and he seemed to have taken his film seriously. The ending is just way too absurd, with its warm and fuzzy feeling when in real life I can't imagine the kind of trouble that Paul would still be in.

6/10