Movie firearm question

He was in a movie where he was a Dr. that developed an eye drop that gave him x-ray vision.
 
DWalt said:
The first apocalypse movie I remember seeing was "On The Beach" (1959) with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. That was really a total apocalypse, the entire population of the Earth was exterminated by radioactive fallout from a nuclear war. No happy ending, just everyone waiting to die. Pretty scary stuff back then, still is. Funny, I do not remember it ever being shown on TCM, etc. Maybe too grim to be considered entertaining.
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It's been on TCM several times over the years. That's where I saw it. I'll keep my eyes peeled and let you know when it's on.
 
DWalt said:
The first apocalypse movie I remember seeing was "On The Beach" (1959) with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. That was really a total apocalypse, the entire population of the Earth was exterminated by radioactive fallout from a nuclear war. No happy ending, just everyone waiting to die. Pretty scary stuff back then, still is. Funny, I do not remember it ever being shown on TCM, etc. Maybe too grim to be considered entertaining.
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It's on youtube now
 
I read Alas Babylon as a kid...60 now and would like to read it again. Still remember reading the description of the greedy guy with all the hot (both stolen and radioactive) jewelry and watches that killed him and the guy that left the sub asking if they had any of those quick death pills for when the time came. Funny how the mind works...had not thought about that in years, yet when I saw the book title those two passages flashed back as clear as when I was about 14-16 years old.
 
Oh, and the power going out and how the main characters first act of filling it with food and ice cream was proven pointless. "How do you like your steaks, Graff?" he asked his dog. Weird I remember that now.
 
Norton 750 said:
I read Alas Babylon as a kid...60 now and would like to read it again. Still remember reading the description of the greedy guy with all the hot (both stolen and radioactive) jewelry and watches that killed him and the guy that left the sub asking if they had any of those quick death pills for when the time came. Funny how the mind works...had not thought about that in years, yet when I saw the book title those two passages flashed back as clear as when I was about 14-16 years old.
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First one with the radioactive jewelry was Alas Babylon, but the second with the sub and cyanide pills was On the Beach.
 
I first read Alas, Babylon back in the 1980's and I've re-read it a couple of times, one of my favorites too.

I recently finished the Survivalist series by A. American and I really enjoyed the entire series.
 
I didn't know the name of movie Panic in the Year Zero but remember parts of it . The father was in charge knew exactly what to do and the family was to do exactly what he says. I'm going to try to stay awake and watch it later
 
Alpo said:
John Rorke? That was by Jerry Ahern.

The Survivalist (novel series) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

Or was this a different series with the same title?
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I remember The Survivalist by Ahern. John Rourke and his pair of Detonics .45's. I wanted to track down a Detonics .45 for the longest time after that.

Good series, but I think it kind of went out in left field at times, like with the Russian woman and suspended animation…but it did make for some good apocalyptic fiction. It kind of seemed similar to Mack Bolan in some ways if Bolen had been a family man.
 
The Last Standing Knight said:
I read "Alas Babylon" back in high school. At the time I had a subscription to "Soldier of Fortune" magazine and was actively talking to Marine recruiters about going in after high school. The teacher found it amusing when I submitted my book report on it about Alaska and Hawaii not being mentioned in it....(I figure the book had been written prior to statehood for both),,,but my comment was that since they hadn't been mentioned, they had probably been vaporized by Russian boomers.
Is that book still even in print anymore? I haven't seen it in years.

As far as movies go, probably the scariest one of the doomsday genre was "Threads" from England. I saw it once and never had an urge to see it again without putting on my old cammie uniform. Like "Night In Fog" those movies tend to make me angry and raise my BP to unsafe levels.
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"Threads" was a pretty grim movie.
 
There was a paperback I read years ago that was pretty apocalyptic, Down to a Sunless Sea. The twist at the end was nasty. Computer One is also worth a read. I think it might have been made into a movie.
 
tlawler said:
I'm a big fan of the apocalyptic thriller/survival genre in both books and movies. I've often stated here that one of my favorite books is Pat Frank's "Alas Babylon."

I was skimming through some old movies on amazon prime and came across one called "Panic in Year Zero." It was made in 1962 and came out just months before the Cuban Missile Crisis. Starring Ray Milland and Frankie Avalon, it followed a family that had just left LA for a fishing trip when LA and several other cities were nuked.

In the film, Ray Milland stops at a hardware store to lay in some supplies and purchases a 1911 from the owner. The owner stated it was "made of magnesium, light as a feather." Of course they can't make a pistol out of magnesium, for obvious reasons. I was still intrigued by that statement and wanted to look it up on IMFDB, but the movie isn't even listed. I was a little surprised to find out a movie with a couple of pretty big names in it wasn't in the database.

Oh well, can't satisfy my curiosity, but I highly recommend it. I haven't seen Milland in many movies, in fact the only one I can remember is "Frogs", and by then he was at the old family patriarch invalid stage of life and not a big part.

In Panic in Year Zero, he was a bad ***! Great acting and he directed it as well. Frankie Avalon put in a pretty solid performance as well. The movie is a little campy and dated, but still very good, especially if you like that era and especially that genre. I can't believe I had never heard of it before!

Two thumbs up!
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Alas Babylon is a great book; read it first as kid and many times since. I finally found a hardcover copy to add to my library. Also have a hardcover copy of Lucifer's Hammer which is another great apocalyptic book.
I remember watching Panic In Year Zero on the one of the TV programs that use to show old monster and horror movies.
If you get a chance check out a 1954 movie called "Them" about giant ants. James Whitmore is the star with James Arness as second lead and even Leonard Nimoy has a small part.
 
This is an online story. Post apocalyptic world. The cause is the flu. Three or four versions of flu that came just one right after the other and killed bunches and bunches of people.

The protagonist is a 16-year-old girl. Her parents had been preppers, and had 40 acres and a house near Perry Florida. Drunk driver killed her parents and her brother and put her in the hospital for a long time, and now she lives with a distant relative in Tampa. And when the world goes to Hell she leaves Tampa and goes to Mama and Daddy's place.

She kept a journal, and this book - a little over 100 chapters - is her journal over the first year.

Pretty good story. Unlike so many PAW stories, where the male hero is running around shooting the mutant zombie bikers, this is more about the girl surviving day-to-day, and growing food, and teaching herself to shoot.

 
DWalt said:
The first apocalypse movie I remember seeing was "On The Beach" (1959) with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. That was really a total apocalypse, the entire population of the Earth was exterminated by radioactive fallout from a nuclear war. No happy ending, just everyone waiting to die. Pretty scary stuff back then, still is. Funny, I do not remember it ever being shown on TCM, etc. Maybe too grim to be considered entertaining.
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Great book by Neville Shute. I also really liked A Town Like Alice and the movie from which it was based.
 
tlawler said:
I'm a big fan of the apocalyptic thriller/survival genre in both books and movies. I've often stated here that one of my favorite books is Pat Frank's "Alas Babylon."

I was skimming through some old movies on amazon prime and came across one called "Panic in Year Zero." It was made in 1962 and came out just months before the Cuban Missile Crisis. Starring Ray Milland and Frankie Avalon, it followed a family that had just left LA for a fishing trip when LA and several other cities were nuked.

In the film, Ray Milland stops at a hardware store to lay in some supplies and purchases a 1911 from the owner. The owner stated it was "made of magnesium, light as a feather." Of course they can't make a pistol out of magnesium, for obvious reasons.

Two thumbs up!
Click to expand...

Of course a gun could be made with a Magnesium frame, just like aluminum! Why do you believe it is obvious" this cannot be done? Given that, there are no magnesium framed guns that I am aware of, but it is absolutely possible!
 
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