The China Syndrome (1979)

Okay guys, I'm really trying to get back into the swing of things and post a new movie review every Saturday!

This week I went nuclear. Not literally of course, but in the form of watching the 1979 thriller "The China Syndrome" about a nuclear power plant's partial meltdown and impending disaster.

The movie stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Wilford Brimley and a host of other actors. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, and won the 1980 Writers Guild of America award for the script.

The film was released on March 16, 1979, just twelve days before the real-life nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. The accident helped propel "The China Syndrome" into a blockbuster.

Fonda stars as TV news reporter Kimberly Wells, who, along with Douglas as cameraman Richard Adams, go to visit the Ventana nuclear power plant outside Los Angeles. This is a part of a series on energy production. As Wells and Adams are observing the control room, the plant goes into a reactor SCRAM, or emergency shutdown.

Lemmon plays shift supervisor Jack Goddell, who notices an unusual vibration during the SCRAM. Turns out, the water levels in the reactor core has risen to high levels; and when the crew attempt to open relief valves to reduce the level, one water level gauge is dangerously low and the core of the reactor has almost been uncovered. Fears of a meltdown mount, but backup systems bring the reactor back under control.

Adams secretly films the activity, which he was not permitted to do for security reasons. When he and Wells return to the station, the news director refused to air the footage in fear of criminal prosecution. Adams then steals the footage and shows it to a pair of experts, who determine that what happened at Ventana was close to "the China syndrome," where the reactor core, at an extreme temperature, would have melted down into the plant and hit the ground water, exploding into the atmosphere and contaminating the surrounding area.

Goddell conducts an investigation of his own and discovers the Ventana plant is unsafe. He determines that if another reactor SCRAM were to occur at full power, the cooling system would be severely damaged. Goddell urges the plant foreman to allow the reactor to be disassembled and inspected. The foreman refuses, not wanting to pay a hefty price and shut down the plant for several weeks. This is where the thriller part comes in, where Wells and Adams come back to film and another SCRAM happens, and...well, you need to watch the movie to see the rest of the action.

Fonda and Douglas are brilliant, while Lemmon is fantastic as the concerned Goddell, just trying to protect the plant and the citizens around it.

If you're looking for classic old-school suspense and being on the edge of your seat, watch "The China Syndrome."

Tune in next week for another review! As always, all comments and review suggestions are welcomed!

-Laura Beth :)