The Manhattan Project |  | Director: Marshall Brickman
Actors: John Lithgow, Christopher Collet, Richard Council, Robert Schenkkan, Paul Austin
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $5.21
as of 3/20/2010 22:41 EDT details
You Save: $9.77 (65%)
New (1) Used (11) from $5.21
Seller: previously-enjoyed
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 56310
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 117 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0792852710
UPC: 027616876621
EAN: 9780792852711
ASIN: B000063JDL
Theatrical Release Date: June 13, 1986
Release Date: June 4, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Directed and cowritten by Woody Allen collaborator Marshall Brickman, this comedy-thriller doesn't seem to know where it wants to go or what it wants to say (other than, obviously, nuclear weapons are scary things). Christopher Collet plays an overachieving high school student who decides to show just how dangerously easy it is to construct a nuclear device. He builds one for his science fair, using his mother's relationship with a government official (John Lithgow) to sneak into a secret facility and steal plutonium. When the feds find out what's going on, they overreact in a brutish showdown that threatens nuclear annihilation of everyone within a 10-mile radius. While the movie makes some antinuke points and features a strong performance by Lithgow, it seems a little too breezy, given what's going on. --Marshall Fine
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
 Cold War Inpiration March 8, 2010
K. Hernandez
One of my favorite movies ever. This film would've inspired me to become a scientist except for the butt load of trouble the kids get into throughout!! Excellent!! Takes me back.
I purchased the disk used but played like new and the packaging was nice.
outstanding (cries out for a remake) 4.6/5 March 3, 2010
falcon (canada)
gotta say,i loved this movie.it's very well crafted.the atmosphere of
the film is fantastic.i loved the way the film is lit.the characters
are well constructed and believable,as well as being sympathetic.the
acting is first rate.the music score couldn't have been better.the
suspense is built to just the right point and isn't over done.the movie
is almost two hours long but it moves comparatively quick for a movie
of that length.i'm actually surprised there wasn't a sequel or that
there hasn't been a remake.i think a remake(especially set in present
times)has the potential to be an interesting movie if done right with
the right director/producer/cast.anyway,for me,The Manhattan Project is
a 4.6/5
 Manhattan Project December 26, 2007
Valerie A. Roux
The DVD transfer of this OLDER movie looks great in a upconverted 780P source. The story line may be a bit outdated, but cast does a good job. If you liked the old VHS or DVD release, this one is well worth the cost.
BRING BACK JOE TORRE November 27, 2007
J J BAGS (MASSACHUSETTS USA)
Chemistry whiz Council gives us an exhibition of public protest last seen in the 1970's. A supposed laser plant in a rural area is loaded illegally with governmental plutonium, and after being given a cursory tour by scientist Lithgow,
Council is ready to spill the beans bigtime. He methodically constructs a nuclear device, which he plans to exhibit at a statewide science fair,using a hamster project as a coverup. Meanwhile, "Uncle Sam" is hot on his trail, having discovered the missing plutonium. The mood of the film abruptly turns taut and tense, leading to several twists of uncertainty until the entire situation is resolved. One has a good feeling having seen this movie, which should attract multiple viewings by many.
The movie has even more resonance after the cold war in an age of threatened suitcase bombs April 11, 2007
Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While the central character in this movie is a teenager, a very smart teenager, it isn't anything like the other "science fair" movies you have seen. True, what the kid does he wants to show at a science fair and the other smart kids there have a bit of a role in the plot in addition to their purpose of adding some color and comic relief.
John Lithgow plays Dr. John Matthewson. A new business moves to town and he befriends Elizabeth Stevens (Jill Eikenberry). He takes a shine to her brilliant teenage son Paul (Christopher Collet). One of the interesting aspects of the movie is the suble way we are shown how bright Paul is and how they use his girlfriend to make him very sympathetic and human. When Paul is given a tour of the facility, he quickly sees through the cover story and decides to expose them. Now, the plan he concocts is quite over the top, but he decides to build his own, small, atomic bomb.
Paul's girlfriend, Jenny Anderman (Cynthia Nixon), helps him by distracting some folks while Paul gets his hands on the key ingredient. Again, what Paul then goes through in attempting to build the device is quite interesting, but not really possible for even a genius without very specialized equipment. It isn't the kind of stuff one can simply build on one's own. But we suspend disbelief for the movie.
Things escalate and the final sequence, of course, involves Matthewson and Paul and a bunch of government types inside the facility. This is where the plot has to ride on our sympathy for Paul. In real life, I would suspect, and in fact I would hope that once the realized that Paul hadn't yet armed his device that they would kill him before he could. But that would be too harsh for a Hollywood movie. One simply doesn't kill good boys who have done something stupid even if they are going to accidentally on purpose blow up an entire city and poison a couple of small states downwind.
Still, it is a pretty good thriller and Lithgow and Eikenberry bring good adult maturity to the story without becoming villains or fools. I enjoyed that. And Collet and Nixon do have a very caring and human relationship. While the movie isn't, in the end, realistic, it isn't a cartoon either.
A quite good movie that still holds up after the cold war. In fact, in our age of terrorism and the threat of suitcase bombs, it probably has an even louder ring to it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
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