Tonight's movie was a riveting Cold War thriller called "The Lost Missle"(1958), starring Robert Loggia as a nuclear physicist who tries to prevent the destruction of New York City. It's filmed in the style of a docudrama, almost like a newsreel, which gives the action a "you are there" immediacy. As it opens, the Russians are tracking a missile of unknown origin. It's up over the Arctic Circle and headed in their direction, so they send up a "Hunter" warhead in response (what we would now call an anti-ballistic missile). Ordinarily, their "Hunter" would destroy any incoming ICBM, but this one survives the explosion and is only thrown off course. Now it is orbiting the Earth at an altitude of just 25,000 feet, lower than the level of jetliners.
The Russian Ambassador calls the American President in an attempt to avert World War Three. Both sides swear the missile is not theirs. We the audience see it screaming through the sky. It's a fearsome thing, sleek and chromed, pushing a boundary layer, trailing fire and thus far unstoppable. Where the hell did it come from? No one knows, and now it's heading for Canada.
"Dr. David Loring" (Loggia) picked a bad day to get married. He's needed top priority at the Hart Island Nike Base. His fiance Joan is not happy about this, and in "subplot haste" she calls the engagement off, not realising the apocalypse is at hand. Loring has top secret clearance, he's the designer of the Jove missile, an all purpose weapon that has offensive and defensive capabilities. By the time he gets back to base, the lost missile is headed for Ottowa. It's estimated speed is 4200 miles per hour. Loring concludes that it has a hydrogen based propulsion system, and if so, it will give off a heat signature of one million degrees.
That explains the burned forests in it's wake. What will happen if it reaches Ottowa?
The Canuks send up a squadron of fighter jets to intercept the missile, but it obliterates them all in a devastating flyby. The special effects in these scenes are terrific. First we see the missile in a stock shot, a blazing projectile, then it becomes a bright circle on the horizon. By the time the jets intercept it, it's a blinding wall of light and heat. This is very well done for the era. In another subplot, the wife of Loring's associate "Dr. Joe Freed" (Phillip Pine), is having a baby. She calls him from the hospital to break the news, but he's forbidden to leave by his superiors. All hands are needed to figure out how to shoot down the missile before it's too late. When the base's Nike missiles are activated, Freed freaks out. "No! Don't shoot it down until we determine exactly where it came from! What if it's from another planet? What it if has crewmen aboard? They might even be friendly. Please, gentlemen, let's wait and find out"! Freed is obviously stressed by his wife's impending delivery, which he's unable to attend. It doesn't make any difference if the missile is piloted or not, or whether the occupants are friendly. For God's sake, it's cooking everything in it's path! Get a grip, Dr. Freed.
By this time, a policy dispute has broken out between the media and Washington. The President wants the news kept secret but a top anchorman is threatening to spill the beans on national television. The newsman wins out. Within minutes of his announcement, an evacuation is underway to remove all children from the vicinities of Ottowa and NYC. As a last ditch effort, the Air Force sends up it's own squad of fighter jets, just to track the missile from a safe distance. But then Ottowa gets smoked, and I have to jump in here to say, "Wow, that's some serious negativity on the part of the filmmakers. Negativity or cynicism or hard-headed realism, call it what you want. There's no last minute Hollywood style solution presented to save the city. Maybe because it's Canadian, who knows (sorry, Canada). But yeah, even though it's a spoiler I had to tell ya. The missile reaches Ottowa, and the entire city is annihilated. Yikes!
So yeah, now the American jets are given the okay to attack. They unleash a fullisade of Sidewinders at the thing, none of which do any damage. All of this is depicted with real F-104s firing away, in the best use of stock footage we've seen since "Invasion USA" a couple months ago. In fact, if you like military hardware, this is the movie for you. There's a ton of everything, from rocket launches, to radar tracking (featuring the actual DEW Line stations in Canada), to lots of aerial combat simulations. The story is simple and mostly action based, so much of the screen time is made up of Air Force simulation footage.
It all boils down to the fact that the missile appears indestructible. Then Dr. Loring gets a brilliant idea. "What about using the Jove"? It's still in a testing phase, it's never been launched, but it's sitting right there on the pad. Why not try it? It's the fastest missile the U.S. has ever developed, and it's Loring's baby. He's given the go-ahead to produce a plutonium trigger for the Jove, without actually arming it with a warhead. This will give it just enough explosive power to destroy the runaway missile, without endangering the city below. There's yet another awesome stock scene of the actual equipment on which such a trigger is engineered. The plutonium "bullet" is handled behind protective glass with metal "arms" that are controlled by a physicist, in this case Dr. Loring. He produces the bullet and then races back to the base, but en route - wouldn't you know it! - the screenwriter has a bunch of hoodlums carjack him!
Yeppers and yes indeedy! It's one of the craziest plot setbacks I've ever seen. So here's Loring, driving like a madman with a cargo of extremely radioactive material. He's the only man who can save New York City and a bunch of greasy punks decide to steal his car just for kicks. Wow.
That's all I'm gonna tell ya. Keep in mind that the filmmakers allowed Ottowa to be vaporised. Will they do the same to New York? Good Lordy Moses, I hope not.
"The Lost Missile" is pure adrenaline rush. The only real plot point is the race to save NYC. Everything else, including the human interest subthemes of the marriage and the pregnancy take a backseat to the hard-charging missile. But it's a heck of an exciting ride. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up and a strong recommendation for all fans of Atomic Paranoia flicks. It's one of the best I've seen. Also, Robert Loggia is excellent in the lead role. He's thin and youthful here, with a smooth, somewhat high voice, entirely different from the gruff-sounding, thick set man he became. Anyhow, great movie! Be sure to see it. /////
That's all for now. Gonna read a few pages of "Giza Death Star" before the next movie starts. See you in a bit at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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