Miracle Mile (1988)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Steve De Jarnatt

Writer:

Steve De Jarnatt (written by)

Release Date:

19 May 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

You just found out that you have 24 hours to live. What are YOU going to do?

Plot:

A young man hears a chance phone call telling him that a nuclear war has started and missiles will hit his city in 70 minutes.

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear War | Phone | Los Angeles California | Police | Single Day

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Anthony Edwards	...	Harry Washello
Mare Winningham	...	Julie Peters
John Agar	...	Ivan Peters
Lou Hancock	...	Lucy Peters
Mykelti Williamson	...	Wilson (as Mykel T. Williamson)
Kelly Jo Minter	...	Charlotta (as Kelly Minter)
Kurt Fuller	...	Gerstead
Denise Crosby	...	Landa
Robert DoQui	...	Fred the Cook (as Robert Doqui)
O-Lan Jones	...	Waitress
Claude Earl Jones	...	Harlan
Alan Rosenberg	...	Mike
Danny De La Paz	...	Transvestite
Earl Boen	...	Drunk Man in Diner
Diane Delano	...	Stewardess

Runtime:

87 min | West Germany:81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | West Germany:16 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | France:U | Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Johnie's Diner - 6101 Wilshire Blvd - Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Originally written to be one of the segments in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Harry lands on the road from the moving van. Before he lands on the ground, his glasses are already on the road and broken.

Quotes:

Landa: Mike, I want you and Susie to make a list for me. People who we might want to bring along. Scientists, leaders, great minds. I want it in five minutes, okay?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

what starts like a bad made-for-TV movie turns into a compelling character-driven sci-fi horror

I first saw this movie on video around the time it was produced. I immediately liked it even though it was a bit bleak. But the late 80's were full of apocalyptic nuclear holocaust movies and this was the only one that stayed with me. Now, years later, I've just rewatched it (this time on DVD) and I still think it's a very good -- but not great -- movie.

Admittedly, there's some over-the-top 80's haircuts and costumes, stuff that would be seriously 'retro' nowadays. And the acting, particularly in the beginning, is 'obvious' and a bit tiring. But when the hero receives that fateful phone call, it all changes. Suddenly, it's like watching a stage-performance of a play, a pressure-cooker where everyone suspects everyone else and no one knows what's really going on.

In fact, one of the best parts of the screenplay is that we, the audience, also don't really know what to believe (until the very end). We watch the hero struggle with what to tell people who's help he needs: if he tells them the awful truth, they may not believe/help him; if he tells them a more believable lie, is he denying them the chance to survive or at least to die with their loved ones. Either way, both he and the people he meets turn to progressively more and more extreme behavior -- people die! . . . and what if it all turns-out to have been a hoax?

In all, I think this movie ranks as a great sci-fi film, and in the truest sense of the genre: What If. It's not about aliens or galactic empires or anything else that's more fantasy than reality. Instead, it's a situation that any of us could easily imagine and I think this is why it stayed with me all these years, why it now forms a part of the framework for my imagination whenever I find myself catastrophizing about terrorism or natural disaster, anything that could separate me from the ones I love. What would I do?