Movie Review: Panic in Year Zero! (1962)

Synopsis: Harry Baldwin takes his wife Ann and two teenagers, Rick and Karen, on a camping trip in Sierra, Nevada. While on they are on the road, nuclear war breaks out, wiping out their home in Los Angeles as well as other major cities and quickly throwing the world into chaos. Determined to keep his family safe, Harry drives them as far from civilization as possible and they take up residence in a cave. However, he soon learns even hiding in the deep wilderness isn't enough to protect them from danger.

Who's in it? The movie stars Ray Milland, Jean Hagan, Frankie Avalon, Mary Mitchel and Joan Freeman.

Review: I overslept a bit this morning and realizing I couldn't remember the movie I had planned on watching, randomly selected one from my library. This ended up being Panic in Year Zero! I've seen plenty of end-of-the-world movies and some are much better than others. This is one I would describe as one of those better ones.

One of the things I liked most about this film is the psychological impact nuclear war had on Harry and his family. Harry (Milland) was quick to expect the worst in people while his wife, Ann (Hagan) was doing her best to hold onto her humanity for as long as possible. Rick (Avalon) was a boy who was doing his best to be a man with mixed results while Karen (Mitchel) was stuck somewhere in between, a character who at times didn't seem to understand what happened and at others seemed to be trying to find her place. Unlike too many other movies, it wasn't as simple as them accepting their fate and moving on.

One of my biggest concerns when I started watching this film is it would focus too much on the Baldwin family and get dull fast. That was not the case though. There were quite a few action scenes on their way to the mountains, especially with Harry being forced to resort to violence to get supplies, take an extreme measure to get across a busy highway and defend his family against a carload of thugs looking to rob them. 

Once they were in the mountains, the element of danger remained when they discovered who else was living in the mountains with them in a way that left all of them, especially Karen, changed. And this was before they ended up with an extra mouth to feed and a desperate need for a hospital.

My only real complaint about the movie is the background music, which I thought was a bit too upbeat to fit the overall tone of the film. It's a movie about a man trying to keep his family safe after the end of the world but there are times when the music makes it sound like they are in one of Frankie Avalon's beach party movies.

Final Opinion: It's an entertaining film with quite a bit of action, some suspense and a solid plot. It wasn't my first choice this morning but I'm glad I watched it.

My Grade: A

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Here are some reviews of other movies that take place during or after a nuclear war:

Movie Review: Lady Bug Lady Bug (1963)

Movie Review: The Time Travelers (1964)

Movie Review: America 3000 (1986)

Movie Review: World Without End (1956)