PANIC IN YEAR ZERO! (1962)

Ray Milland and family (wife Jean Hagen, daughter Mary Mitchel and son Frankie Avalon) leave Los Angeles early one morning to go on a fishing trip.  After they're only a few miles out of town a nuclear explosion levels all of L.A.  They soon hear on the radio that major cities all over the world have also been blown to smithereens.  Father Milland goes into panic mode and starts gathering up all the supplies he can get his hands on, even if it means armed robbery!  Eventually they move into a secluded cave way off in the woods, but they're not totally alone.

As far as apocalyptic films of the 1960's go, PANIC IN YEAR ZERO! is entertaining.  The action starts off immediately and keeps going at a steady pace for the entire film.  My biggest complaint though, and the reason I'll probably never watch it ever again, is it's just too dated, low-budget and tame.  There's talk of looting and violence, but practically none of it is shown on camera.  The tagline in the poster even promises "An ORGY of LOOTING and LUST..." but that doesn't happen at all.  Not even close!

PIYZ! is interesting from a historical point of view to see the filmmakers vision of what the collapse of society would look like, but nowadays it just seems naive.  Worth a watch, but it's nothing to get excited about.  The snazzy music by Les Baxter was sweet though.

If you need me I'll be in my room reading Robert McCammon's "Swan Song".

Hard to believe, but I think that's Paul Gleason from THE BREAKFAST CLUB and DIE HARD.

Not sure what's going on here, but Frankie straight up gives the camera the bird for 7 seconds.

CAVE IN! (1983)

CAVE IN! is rumored to have been filmed in 1979 but not broadcast on TV until 1983...and I can see why.  This sucker is boring!  Things get off to a quick start with a police chase, but after just a few moments you can already tell that this movie is about as low-budget and quickly slapped together.  Next we're introduced to the cave and I swear to Satan that this cave has been featured in like a thousand movies and TV shows!  Anyway, the cave has been having some problems recently with dirt and small rocks falling down, but yet the people who run it insist on keeping it open.  So, of course, there's a cave in and some people are trapped inside.  Compared to all of the other Irwin Allen films I've seen, the disaster moment this time takes place waaaaay earlier than usual, but I guess that's because this time they figured it was kind of hard to drum up any build-up excitement over a cave.

Anyway, people are trapped and now they (kinda like survivors in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE) have to find a way out.  Boiling water, swimming underwater, walking across an old rope bridge...all the same old shit we've seen a thousand times before, but this time neutered by being on network television.  I wish it could have at least been fun to laugh at, but for the most part everything was so bland there really wasn't much to laugh at.

Maybe good for a watch if you're a fan of old made-for-TV movies, but I found the entire affair to be too bland to be enjoyable.  Even ol' Ray Milland as a cranky professor didn't help much!  Skip it.

NEXT TIME WE LOVE (1936)

Nineteen thirty-six was a very busy year for Jimmy Stewart.  He starred in eight full-length movies and NEXT TIME WE LOVE was his first outing as a leading man.  And he does a great job.  The film opens with him and his girlfriend (Margaret Sullavan) talking nonstop love stuff and then getting married.  It's all very sappy, but then the film takes a serious turn. A very serious turn.  James and Margaret quickly learn that love cannot overcome financial difficulties and when James takes a job as a foreign correspondent in Russia they solve the financial part, but now they have the long distance thing to deal with...and in 1936 Russia was way more long distance than it is now.

I have no idea how successful (or unsuccessful) NTWL was at the box office, but I liked it quite a bit and will definitely be watching it again.  The story is mature and maybe even a little bit ahead of it's time?  Or maybe not, I don't know, GRAND HOTEL and I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG were both made four years earlier and both even more depressing.

My biggest complaint is the movie just isn't long enough.  The story, especially towards the end, goes way too fast and it doesn't give the viewer enough time to react emotionally.  Also the ending just ends.  I wanted more or at least some closure.  Even so, NEXT TIME WE LOVE is an enjoyable watch and a nice chance to see a young Stewart before he became a household name.