Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)

Despite the combined star power in front of and behind the camera, Fat Man and Little Boy is a largely tepid retelling of the history of the Manhattan Project, the atomic testing project that led to the U.S. bombing of Japan during World War II (said bombs were dubbed "Fat Man" and "Little Boy"). The Nevada-based project is headed by General Leslie R. Groves (a testy Paul Newman) and scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz of the TV series The A-Team), who later regretted his cooperation in the project. The problem with the film lies not with the acting, which includes solid performances by Bonnie Bedelia, Laura Dern, John Cusack, and future U.S. Senator Fred Dalton Thompson, but with the script by director Roland Joffé and Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I and Joffé's The Killing Fields). A subject as morally complex as the creation of a supreme weapon requires a strong and thoughtful script, but Fat Man and Little Boy never gets further than establishing that indeed, atomic power is something to reckon with. Joseph Sargent's 1989 made-for-TV film Day One, with Brian Dennehy as Groves and David Straithairn as Oppenheimer, covers the same story with twice the depth and avoids the pitfall of a romantic subplot (Oppenheimer's dalliance with a communist played by Natasha Richardson), which this film stumbles into. Cusack's doomed scientist is actually a combination of two real-life physicists, Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotkin, who died from radiation poisoning, albeit long after V-J Day. --Paul Gaita Amazon.com

 Highly recommended
I am a retired research physicist who spent 13 years in New Mexico. I highly recommend this movie for those with an interest in the history of physics or interesting people or whatever. This movie is not completely factual, but I love it anyway. As a historical drama, it is very well done. May 2, 2008

 You also might be interested in the great mini-series "Oppenheimer"...
The BBC released the great mini-series "Oppenheimer" on Region Two DVD format last year.

This great mini-series is still felt to be the best re-creation on film of the people and events leading up to the explosions of the atomic bombs in August 1945. A young SAM WATERSTON plays Oppenheimer brilliantly.

It took years for the BBC to decide to release the series in DVD format, and then it was only in Region Two (PAL), the format used in the UK.

You'd think that they'd release it on Region One (US format), given the fact thatit starts Sam Waterson. However, it has not yet been released in the US.

The three-disc series, which also stars a brilliant David Suchet as Edward Teller, is available thru Amazon in the UK (www.amazon.co.uk) and on eBay in the UK (www.ebay.co.uk) for about $22.00 plus shipping.

Multi-format players are available in the US. It is my understanding that they have to be hacked to play other formats than Region 1,? due to licensing restrictions. I purchased an inexpensive player on eBay (US), which with shipping cost $50.00. The supplier provided the easy instructions to adapt it to Region Two format.

It is worth going to all of this effort to view again this great mini-series, which was virtually ignored in the US when it was shown here, but which remains unrivaled for both its acting and its accurate re-creation of the events surrounding Oppenheimer, his downfall, and the creation of the atomic age.
September 8, 2007

 Very Disappointing
As much as I admire Paul Newman, this film is so terribly flawed that even his presence can't salvage it. The Manhattan Project is such a critical juncture in recent history that I think it's very important that the story be told realistically. This film is 90% Hollywood formula and 10% history. Only in the broadest brushstrokes does this movie give the viewer any kind of concept of that monumental undertaking. Do yourself a BIG favor; watch the far superior (and very accurate) "Day One" instead. In all respects, it is a much better account and much more interesting film. The main characters are presented as scientists, engineers, and military officers, not goofballs and nutty professors, as they are in "Fat Man and Little Boy." June 20, 2007

 Uses for HS chem classes are endless
this is a great movie to teach students about the atomic bomb and its creation. I use it in my chemistry class all the time June 2, 2007

 Disapponting
This is such an important story, with layer upon layer upon layer of aspects of the modern realities ushered in by the Manhattan Project. C.P Snow in his famous essay regarding The Two Cultures raises implications about the way that the humanities department trains young minds relative to the science and engineering department. If the military approached a group of leading poets and declared that poetry possessed a potential they wanted to transform into a super weapon--how would the poets have responded? Posing a similar question to physicists, they all raced to the blackboard to be the first to solve the equation for the authorities.

So many issues, creativity, authority, diplomacy,secrecy, espionage, urgency...all provide the natural elements to a serious, gripping story. But this screenplay chooses to throw in silly romantic subplots, and alter the facts in the service of their silly Hollywood formula.Ughh. Especially annoying is the distortion of the circumstances surrounding the lab accident that befell Louis Slotkin, the Canadian, now morphed into a hybrid romantic figure in this puerile reworking of history. Maybe someday, someone will do the subject justice in a dramatic structure, until then the excellent documentary, 'The Day After Trinity' will have to suffice.

The screenplay illustrates the powerlessness of acting talent in the face of poor writing. Unfortunately, and maybe this is an inevitable remark, the film ends with a whimper, not a bang. April 16, 2007

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