Threads (1984) (TV)

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writer:

Barry Hines (writer)

Release Date:

23 September 1984 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | War

Plot:

Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run affects of nuclear war on civilization.

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear | Nuclear Holocaust | Nuclear War | Birth | Expectant Father

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Karen Meagher	...	Ruth Beckett
Reece Dinsdale	...	Jimmy Kemp
David Brierly	...	Mr. Kemp (as David Brierley)
Rita May	...	Mrs. Kemp
Nicholas Lane	...	Michael Kemp
Jane Hazlegrove	...	Alison Kemp
Henry Moxon	...	Mr. Beckett
June Broughton	...	Mrs. Beckett
Sylvia Stoker	...	Granny Beckett
Harry Beety	...	Clive Sutton
Ruth Holden	...	Marjorie Sutton
Ashley Barker	...	Bob
Michael O'Hagan	...	Chief Supt. Hirst
Phil Rose	...	Medical Officer
Steve Halliwell	...	Information Officer

Runtime:

Brazil:110 min

Country:

UK | Australia | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (video rating) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Buxton, Derbyshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

While shooting the movie, the BBC got in trouble with local police when they detonated a large smoke bomb in order to simulate a nuclear explosion. Members of the public, who were not aware that a movie was being shot, panicked and thought that a real explosion had occurred.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the air-raid siren sounds, we see an elderly woman in a red coat and black hat running toward a department store door. Seconds later, after we see the police car and other people running, the camera goes back to an overhead view of the square. The same woman is now standing in the middle of the square, well away from the doors.

Quotes:

Peace Speaker: This time they are playing with at best the destruction of life as we know it and at worst total annihlation. You cannot win a nuclear war! Now just suppose the Russians did win this war... What exactly would they be winning? Well, I'll tell you! All major centers of population and industry would have been destroyed. The soil would have been irradiated. Farmstock would be dead, diseased or dying. The Russians would have conquered a corpse of a country.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Screenwipe: (#2.3)" (2006)

Shocking yet extremely realistic nuclear-war telemovie...

As with most other reviewers who saw this movie, I too have had shocking images burned into my brain that I will never forget.

I first saw this when I was in 8th grade. Our teacher showed us the first half but then she went on sick leave and for some reason, we never got to see the rest of the film. Most of the other students didn't really care, but for years I've always wondered how the movie turned out.

Well I recently rented this after I saw it at video store I just signed up at and all I can say is, "Oh my God." Although captivating, this movie is shockingly and frightfully sickening in the most humane way possible. It focuses on the threat of a nuclear war that is imposed on the residents of an industrial town in Britain, "Sheffield". The nuclear war will affect all of Britain and penultimately, the rest of the world, but we focus on several different characters and families that reside in Sheffield.

We spend the first half of the movie focusing on people in every day life situations which lead into reports of a nuclear war scare and finally, widespread panic in society that results after it becomes apparent that a nuclear war WILL most likely occur.

The halfway point of the movie is the nuclear explosion itself. We see buildings explode, bodies incinerate and perhaps the end of the world as we may all know it.

The second half of the movie focuses on the aftermath of the nuclear devastation and the collapse of a working society. I can't even begin to name all of the horrors that are examined to great detail. We witness cannibalism, famine and disease. We particularly follow the exploits of one character, 'Ruth', pregnant with a child before the nuclear war, we witness the birth of the 'nuclear generation', and particularly, the exploits of her daughter once she is exposed to what world and life has become.

When the credits rolled, my brain couldn't tell me to find the remote and press stop. It was too busy filtering through all the images and 'what if' scenarios that were running through my brain after watching "Threads". I realise that at the time of this movie's initial release, nuclear war was a possible threat. It is now almost 16 years later and this movie still has enough power and grist to tell and show you that ANYTHING 'nuclear' is wrong.

This is a movie every school child should be forced to watch. I admit that it may induce nightmares, but this is a movie that has a message that MUST be received.