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Epicurus.com - On the Beach
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $9.99
Your Save: $ 4.99 ( 33% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins, Donna Anderson
Directed By: Stanley Kramer
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792843610
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0792843614
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2000-02-29
Running Time: 134
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1959-12-17
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Editorial Reviews:
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The war is over. Nobody won. Only the inhabitants of Australia and the men of the US submarine Sawfish have escaped the nuclear destruction and radiation. Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition,another (Ava Gardner) reaches out for a chance at love. The final chapter of human history is coming to a close... From acclaimed director Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Inheritthe Wind) and screenwriter John Paxton comes this spectacular movie landmarka film masterpiece with a message that will resonate as long as the world has the power to self-destruct at its own fingertips.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Even more impressive given the time of its release.
Comment: On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959)
I saw this movie weeks ago, and honestly, I'm still trying to get my head around the idea that Anthony Perkins wasn't playing someone who was doomed while everyone else around him thrived (as per Psycho or The Trial, naturally). However, it's not too much of a stretch; Perkins' character, Peter Holmes, is most certainly doomed. But here, so is everyone else.
In case you've never read the book (and let me tell you here that you should do so at your earliest convenience, as it's a smashing read), the premise: the world has gone through a nuclear war, and most of it is devastated. In fact, the only place on Earth humans still reside is Australia. They've been living there for a while in relative comfort, but now there's word of a cloud of radiation sweeping down from Russia, and so the Australians know they're living on borrowed time. While most of them are leading lives of the expected hedonism--after all, when there's no future to prepare for, why not live every day as if it's your last?--the navy are still conducting missions to gauge the speed and direction of the cloud. Amidst all this, an American nuclear sub, commanded by Lionel Towers (Gregory Peck), comes to town with what could be amazing news. They've picked up a distress signal from San Francisco, California. The Americans, with a handful of Australian volunteers (including Peter Holmes), head for the northern coast of America to find out if there's anyone still alive in the northern hemisphere.
The movie remains somewhat faithful to the book, though it's a pretty loose adaptation (as usual in the fifties, Hollywood felt the need to inject romantic subplots into everything). Taken as its own creature, though, On the Beach, the film version, is a stunning piece of work, not only because of the movie itself, but because Hollywood in the fifties was not exactly known for its doomsaying. If you made a movie in Hollywood in the fifties, even if it was a monster movie (think, for example, of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Them!, or The Thing from Another World), you had to tack on a happy, or at least optimistic, ending. Not for On the Beach, whose final scene is one of Hollywood's most heart-wrenching, even though you've known all along it was coming.
Needless to say, when you have a director of Stanley Kramer's ability heading up a cast that contains not only Peck and the usually-underrated Perkins, but Ava Gardner as Peck's love interest and Fred Astaire in the movie that proved he could do drama just as well as musical comedy, you've got the potential to create a timeless classic. And even this early in his career, Kramer was no stranger to creating classics; the film he made before this was The Defiant Ones. (His next was Inherit the Wind.) As expected, this is great stuff, gripping and relentless. The shadow of extinction hangs over every scene. Even the love scenes. (Especially the love scenes, actually.) Kramer pulled off a masterpiece here. If you've never seen it, get it on your Netflix list pronto. **** ½
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing cast, Great movie, Depressing subject
Comment: Based on Nevil Shute's classic, the world is on the tail-end of self termination. As a result of a nuclear war between the super powers of the 1960s, the only people left alive are in the Southern hemisphere, eagerly spending their last days while agonizingly anticipating the end. Nuclear fallout, radioactive dust actually, is drifting southward. On the Beach follows the final days of a few Naval men, a drunk changing her ways, and a scientist who knows the minutia of the impending doom.
The cast for this movie is absolutely epic. Gregory Peck plays a nearly perfect submarine Commander Dwight Towers; he's stoic, has a composed, military manner, and he's a born leader. As an American sub commander working with the Australian Navy, he fits the bill perfectly. When invited to the home of his Aussie liaison officer and his wife - Lt. Cmdr. Peter Holmes' (played by a very young Anthony Perkins) and Mary Holmes (Donna Anderson) - for a weekend, all are worried Dwight will become nostalgic and disconsolate about his family in the U.S. Their plan: match Dwight up with the local lush, Moira Davidson (Ava Gardner). Gardner is porcelain-skinned and beautiful, but she's either showing signs of aging or playing into the role of a drunk fairly well. Last but not least, Fred Astaire turns in a compelling performance as Julian Osborne, a deep-thinking scientist who appears to be introspectively remorseful about his fellow scientists' role in the creation of nuclear weapons.
The black and white film quality is superbly remastered, with very little video degradation, jumps, or white specks, as well as some top-notch audio. In fact, the audio may be a bit over the top and the sound effects too loud. The plot-line itself is nearly identical to the book, something I very much appreciate.
Overall it's a great representation of black and white cinema, with an unreal cast, some needed scenes of levity, and a peculiarly interesting, albeit somber topic. The themes, realism, and tones cross generations - disregarding the fact that the affable nature of humankind would probably be completely different today. Despite the film's age, it stands the test of time and should serve as a valuable warning to us all. I highly recommend it for lovers of fine film from a generation past.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ahead of its time!
Comment: I saw On the Beach, as a young boy in 1959, and have never forgotten it, nor it's impacting, hard hitting, unforgettable images! Nobody really knew what to expect from the movie. The movie didn't upset me, but rather, caused me to better understand all that was going on in the world and with the Cold War. (It was a time where "air raid drills" were commonplace in my elementary school . . . all students, single file into the hallways, kneeling down against the wall, hands over head, elbows on the floor . . . and one of us assigned to open the classroom's windows . . . less resistance for the bomb's draft!!!)
I believe this movie was the first nationally seen "visual statement" about nuclear war. The movie is produced beautifully, with outstanding character portrayals by incredible actors. A beautiful, but profoundly sad love story. Classic black and white . . . tremendous photography . . . very moving and provocative. I clearly remember the submarine, the abandoned city streets, the window shade's cord, attached to the signaling devise, sending an aimless, lonely, sustained and incoherent message. It would take the combined efforts of Wordsworth, Keats and Shelly to describe the character's feelings of despair, desperation, hopelessness and profound sadness as they looked at a future of imminent death.
I remember how incredibly silent the movie theater was, when the film ended and everyone filed out . . . not a word spoken. We were watching it at the post theater, and perhaps, the adult audience, was better able to identify with what they'd seen, than the civilian population. This movie is a must see . . . an all time classic!
Customer Rating:
Summary: On the Beach
Comment: Absolutely loved this movie....want the book too!!!
Cried alot of course....but then I like 3 hankie movies!!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: NOSTALGA I WAS THERE WHEN IT WAS MADE
Comment: I have always enjoyed watching "On The Beach" It's a good story well filmed and acted. It's sad to think all the main stars are no longer with us. The film was shot mainly around Melbourne Australia, and it was a big deal to have Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins in our City back in 1958. Stanly Kramer shot the interiors of the sub at the Melbourne Showground on a specially built set, mainly of wood, but looked so like the steel interior of an atomic submarine. Ava Gardner made the comment that you could not find a better city than Melboune for a story about the end of the world. Sydney siders loved that comment, Melbournians, not so amused. I believe she was taken out of context at the time.Recommend this movie to people who live in Melbourne to see the differences in their city now, especially Frankston Train Station
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