Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.4 / 5.0

A good story, but...:

On the Beach, based on the 1957 novel by Nevil Shute, is about the effects of radiation following a nuclear war in the northern hemisphere. The fallout is slowly creeping towards Australia, where suicide pills are being offered in preference to a slow, painful sickness. The film is set in Melbourne in 1964.

Shute's novel and Kramer's film are effective, but I have to say the story is now very dated. It's always dangerous for writers to give an exact year for an apocalyptic story. In the novel characters... more info

Brilliant Human Story:

To me, the poignance of On The Beach lies not in it's anti-nuclear war message, which mercifully was proved wrong by events in the real world (Julian's speech railing against the idea that nuclear weapons could keep the peace is the one dated part of the film. It's now evident that the reason why there never was another ground war horror on the order of WWI and WWII was *because* of the atomic bomb) but in it's human elements, and exploring how people react to the reality that life is fast coming to an end... more info

Worth viewing, even if not realistic:

On the Beach fails the realism test in two ways: scientifically and behaviorally. The first is forgivable; 40+ years ago, there was less understanding of what nuclear war would do the planet. But the second aspect -- human behavior -- is where the story fails. The idea that people would get up, wash and shave and dress, go to their jobs, peacefully obtain their rations of food and so on, with a cloud of certain death getting closer every day... it just doesn't ring true. Looting, pillaging, murder, and... more info

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