233 quotes found
"Is it a game, or is it real?"
""Global Thermonuclear War." You may think it's one hell of a game. You couldn't be more right."
"This is the weekend they didn't play chess...but they should have."
"To David Lightman, "Global Thermonuclear War" will just be one hell of a game. To everybody else, it will be hell waiting to happen."
"Where the only winning move is NOT TO PLAY. We shall make world peace so you have a decision to make now."
"Matthew Broderick - David Lightman"
"Dabney Coleman - Dr. John McKittrick"
"John Wood - Dr. Stephen Falken / Voice of Joshua"
"Ally Sheedy - Jennifer Katherine Mack"
"Barry Corbin - General Jack Beringer"
"It's the purest plutonium in the universe. Pretty, isn't it?"
"I just happen to have access to one of the sexiest lasers in the entire free world."
"You try to tough it out with them, they'll lock you in a room and throw away the room."
"Oh, what did you want us to do? Put up a neon sign that says 'Secret Weapons Laboratory'?"
"[as they are about to disarm the bomb] Anybody want to make a bet?"
"I never thought I'd say this to anyone, but I gotta go get the atomic bomb from out of the car."
"Hey, Mister, I betcha can't guess what I've got in this box. An atomic bomb."
"[after being drugged] Jenny. I love you, Jenny. I wanna be your wife."
"You mean I'm gonna die because some asshole didn't bring a pair of pliers?"
"Student: [about Paul] What's the problem? Was he sexually abusing the hamsters or something?"
"Paul Stevens' high school science project has gotten a little out of hand. He just built an atomic bomb. Now he's got 11 hours to make sure it doesn't work."
"The switch is set... The clock has started... Time's running out!"
"John Lithgow - Dr. John Mathewson"
"Christopher Collet - Paul Stephens"
"Cynthia Nixon - Jenny Anderman"
"Jill Eikenberry - Elizabeth Stephens"
"John Mahoney - Lt. Colonel Conroy"
"Robert Sean Leonard - Max"
"Richard Jenkins - Miles"
"Gregg Edelman - Science Teacher"
"[at Col Jacques Bouvar's funeral] Madame, I've, er, come to offer my... sincere condolences. [punches the "widow" in the face]"
"[placing Fiona's body in a chair after her assassins accidentally shoot her; to other guests] Do you mind if my friend sits this one out? She's just dead."
"Sean Connery - James Bond"
"Claudine Auger - Dominique 'Domino' Derval"
"Adolfo Celi - Emilio Largo, SPECTRE #2"
"Luciana Paluzzi - Fiona Volpe"
"Rik Van Nutter - Felix Leiter"
"Guy Doleman - Count Lippe"
"Molly Peters - Patricia Fearing"
"Martine Beswick - Paula Caplan"
"Bernard Lee - M"
"Desmond Llewelyn - Q"
"Lois Maxwell - Miss Moneypenny"
"[about to make love to Helga Brandt] Oh the things I do for England."
"[Coded message to headquarters after being waylaid by attack helicopters] Little Nelly got a hot reception. Four big shots made improper advances toward her, but she defended her honour with great success."
"[after bond throws Hans into a piranha tank] Bon appetit."
"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond."
"You Only Live Twice...and "TWICE" is the only way to live!"
"Akiko Wakabayashi - Aki"
"Mie Hama - Kissy Suzuki"
"Tetsuro Tamba - Tiger Tanaka"
"Teru Shimada - Mr. Osato"
"Karin Dor - Helga Brandt"
"Donald Pleasence - Ernst Stavro Blofeld"
"[after killing what appears to be Blofeld] Welcome to hell, Blofeld."
"[after flinging Mr. Wint with a bomb into the ocean] Well, he certainly left with his tails between the legs."
"[thinking of the satellite's next target after having attacked nuclear assets in the US, USSR, and China] The satellite is at present over... Kansas. Well, if we destroy Kansas the world may not hear about it for years. Perhaps New York, with all that smut and traffic... might give them a chance for a fresh start. Washington, DC. Perfect. Since we have not heard from them, they will hear from us."
""Diamonds Are Forever"...forever...forever...forever..."
"Bond is back...with a vengeance."
"Bond is back...with the action."
"Bond is back...with the excitement."
"Bond is back...with the girls."
"The man who made 007 a household number"
"Jill St. John - Tiffany Case"
"Charles Gray - Ernst Stavro Blofeld"
"Lana Wood - Plenty O'Toole"
"Jimmy Dean - Willard Whyte"
"Bruce Cabot - Albert R. 'Bert' Saxby"
"Putter Smith - Mr. Kidd"
"Bruce Glover - Mr. Wint"
"Norman Burton - Felix Leiter"
"[after a motorcycle Rider falls off a cliff to his death] All those feathers and he still can't fly."
"[after Karl Stromberg fires his bolt] You shot your bolt, Stromberg... Now it's my turn."
"[finding Jaws hiding in a closet] He just dropped in for a quick bite."
"It's the Biggest. It's the Best. It's Bond and Beyond!"
"He's Bond. He's Back. He's 007."
"007 Blasts Back"
"It's Bond And Beyond."
"Nobody does it better."
"Roger Moore - James Bond"
"Barbara Bach - Anya Amasova (Triple X)"
"Curt Jürgens - Karl Stromberg"
"Richard Kiel - Jaws"
"Caroline Munro - Naomi"
"Walter Gotell - General Anatol Gogol"
"Geoffrey Keen - Sir Frederick Gray"
"Englishman. Likes eggs, preferably Faberge, and dice, preferably loaded."
"Mr. Bond is indeed of a very rare breed... soon to be made extinct."
"Nobody does it better...thirteen times."
"James Bond's all time action high."
"Nobody does him better."
"Maud Adams - Octopussy"
"Louis Jourdan - Kamal Khan"
"Kristina Wayborn - Magda"
"Kabir Bedi - Gobinda"
"Steven Berkoff - General Orlov"
"Robert Brown - M"
"Michaela Clavell - Penelope Smallbone"
"My prison, almost as far as I could see, a gray friendless area of space and time, and I resolved that as man had dominated the world of the sun, so I would dominate my world."
"A strange calm possessed me. I thought more clearly than I had ever thought before — as if my mind were bathed in a brilliant light. I recognized that part of my illness was rooted in hunger, and I remembered the food on the shelf, the cake threaded with spider web. I no longer felt hatred for the spider. Like myself it struggled blindly for the means to live."
"I was continuing to shrink, to become... what? The infinitesimal? What was I? Still a human being? Or was I the man of the future? If there were other bursts of radiation, other clouds drifting across seas and continents, would other beings follow me into this vast new world? So close — the infinitesimal and the infinite. But suddenly, I knew they were really the two ends of the same concept. The unbelievably small and the unbelievably vast eventually meet — like the closing of a gigantic circle. I looked up, as if somehow I would grasp the heavens. The universe, worlds beyond number, God's silver tapestry spread across the night. And in that moment, I knew the answer to the riddle of the infinite. I had thought in terms of man's own limited dimension. I had presumed upon nature. That existence begins and ends in man's conception, not nature's. And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing. My fears melted away. And in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something, too. To God, there is no zero. I still exist!"
"Victim of weird mist ! Day by day he shrinks! Science is baffled! Cat becomes monster! Terror at every turn! Deadly attacks! Lost in a flood's fury!"
"A fascinating adventure into the unknown!"
"The Most Incredible Story Ever!"
"Hour by hour he gets smaller and smaller!"
"Moment by moment the terror mounts!"
"Almost beyond the imagination... A strange adventure into the unknown! [UK theatrical]"
"Grant Williams — Scott Carey"
"Randy Stuart — Louise Carey"
"April Kent — Clarice"
"Paul Langton — Charlie Carey"
"Billy Curtis — Midget"
"I wanted, at the time, to have the story structure follow the book, in which you would go to flashbacks, but they didn't want to do that, and accordingly, I think the first part of the film is the dullest. I tried to write my novel that way originally, interestingly enough, and it didn't work at all. I didn't think it had any interest, so I had to jump right into the main body of the story, and then tell the back story through flashbacks, which is the way I think the film should have been done, but nobody did films that way in those days."
"I wonder who was spared. I wonder if New York, Paris, Moscow... are just like Kansas City now."
"[speaking into his shortwave radio] This is Lawrence. This is Lawrence, Kansas. Is there anybody there? Anybody at all?"
"You know what Einstein said about World War III? He said he didn't know how they would fight World War III, but he knew how they would fight World War IV: with sticks and stones."
"You can't see it... you can't feel it... and you can't taste it. But it's here, right now, all around us. It's goin' through you like an X-ray. Right into your cells! What do you think killed all these animals!?"
"Confidence is high. I repeat, confidence is high. Roger, we've got 32 targets in track and 10 impacting points. I want it confirmed... is this an exercise? Roger, copy. This is not an exercise!"
"Roger, understand. Major Reinhardt, we have a massive attack against the U.S. at-at this time. ICBMs...numerous ICBMs...Roger, understand. Over 300 missiles inbound now."
"Disclaimer: The catastrophic events you have just witnessed are, in all likelihood, less severe than the destruction that would actually occur in the event of a full nuclear strike against the United States…"
"No one is going to tune it to two nights of Armageddon."
"The answer print has been tampered with twice. One scene of a child having a nuclear nightmare was set. A psychologist who saw the film said this would be too upsetting for children. Considering what children see on television every week, I found this ludicrous and hypocritical. Also, Ed Hume had written a line about the Pershing II missiles in Germany having set off the confrontation, and the network decided that might be politically inflammatory, so it was cut."
"Columbus day. In the morning at Camp D. I ran the tape of the movie ABC is running on the air Nov. 20. It’s called “The Day After.” It has Lawrence Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia. It is powerfully done—all $7 mil. worth. It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed. So far they haven’t sold any of the 25 spot ads scheduled & I can see why. Whether it will be of help to the “anti nukes” or not, I cant say. My own reaction was one of our having to do all we can to have a deterrent & to see there is never a nuclear war. Back to W.H."
"Some of the survivors of Hiroshima had their eyeballs literally melted out of their heads. Even if we were doing a feature film, that would have been too strong to show. We wanted to create reality, but not horror. My purpose was not to make viewers sick."
"We have left behind the period when America and Russia looked at each other through gun sites ready to pull the trigger at any time. Despite what we saw in the well-known American film, The Day After, it can be said today, tomorrow will be a day of peace, a day less of fear and more of hope for the happiness of our children. The world can sigh in relief."
"There is, and you probably need it about now, there is some good news. If you can, take a quick look out the window. It’s all still there. Your neighborhood is still there, so is Kansas City, and Lawrence, and Chicago, and Moscow, and San Diego and Vladivostok. What we have all just seen–and this was my third viewing of the movie–what we’ve seen is sort of a nuclear version of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Remember Scrooge’s nightmare journey into the future with the spirit of Christmas yet to come? When they finally return to the relative comfort of Scrooge’s bedroom, the old man asks the spirit the very question that many of us may be asking ourselves right now: whether, in other words, the vision that we’ve just seen is the future as it will be or only as it may be. Is there still time?"
"That is not the future at all. The film is a vivid and dramatic portrayal of the fact that nuclear war is simply not acceptable and that fact and the realization of it has been the basis for the policy of the United States for decades now, the successful policy of the United States, based on the idea that we simply do not accept nuclear war. And we’ve been successful in preventing it."
"It seeks to debilitate the United States. This is terribly plain. The guy who wrote it says, “I would like to see people starting to question the value of defending this country with a nuclear arsenal.” That is his motive and people who have seen the film who have thought to debilitate American defenses have gathered around it. It’s become a cause militante. It has a totemic significance, and I’m delighted to hear the Secretary of State say such calm and lucid and cogent things, but that’s unrelated to the effort of this film."
"I think in this country we’ve been sleepwalking during the last 38 years and passed this problem without really coming to grips with how dire and compelling it is, and I think ABC should be congratulated for spurring what I hope will be a year-long debate on this issue, but it’s my unhappy duty to point out that the reality is much worse than what has been portrayed in this movie, and this new emerging reality has significant policy implications. The nuclear winter that will follow even a small nuclear war, especially if cities are targeted, as they almost certainly would be, involves a pall of dust and smoke which would reduce the temperatures of not just in northern and mid latitudes, but pretty much globally to sub-freezing temperatures for months. In addition, it’s dark, the radiation is much more than we’ve been told before. Agriculture will be wiped out, and it’s very clear that beyond the one or two billion people who would be killed directly in a major nuclear war–five to seven thousand megatons, something like that–that the overall consequences would be much more dire and the biologists who have been studying this think that there is a real possibility of the extinction of the human species from such a war."
"I think that this film presents a very simple-minded notion of the nuclear problem and it deals with the most obvious question that a general nuclear war aimed at cities is a disaster and a catastrophe. I wrote a book on the subject 30 years ago when the notion of general nuclear war first arose. The problem of our period, the problem we have to grapple with is how to avoid such a war, how to preserve freedom while seeking to avoid such a war, how to establish, how to create a military establishment that reduces the dangers of such a war, what arms control policies are compatible with this policy, how we handle crises. Those are serious questions. To engage in an orgy of demonstrating how terrible the casualties of a nuclear war are, and translating it into pictures from statistics that have been known for three decades, and then to have Mr. Sagan say it’s even worse than this... I would say: what are we to do about this? Are we supposed to make policy by scaring ourselves to death, or is somebody going to make some proposals about where we are supposed to go? And if people don’t make them, then I do not believe we are making any contribution. That’s my objection to this film. It took this most simple-minded problem that everybody will agree upon. There’s nobody in this room who disagrees with the fact that this must not happen. It’s how to avoid it that we should be discussing."
"We live in a nuclear world by stressing that this is a plus sum game that we’re working on. There is a commonality of interests between the Soviets and the US to avoid the use of these weapons. That’s what that film shows. I totally disagree with those who say it’s a disservice to the nation to show the film. Not at all. It’s stimulating discussion on exactly the issue we ought to be discussing. There’s a million times the Hiroshima destruction power out there. We must ensure it not be used. It’s equally in the interest of the Soviet Union not to use it."
"Not being a nuclear specialists in any way, I’m scared. I’m scared because I know that what is imaginable can happen. I know that the impossible is possible. I’ve seen the film and while I was watching it, I had a strange feeling that I had seen it before, except once upon a time it happened to my people, and now it happens to all people. And suddenly I said to myself maybe the whole world strangely has turned Jewish. Everybody lives now facing the unknown. We are all, in a way, helpless. We are talking about nuclear arms, about the bomb with a capital B, a kind of divinity in itself. Unless those who know militarily what it means, we readers, writers, people... we don’t know what it all means. When I hear about a thousand bombs, megatons... I don’t have that kind of imagination. To me it’s an abstraction, but to me, what all this means is that the human species may come to an end, that millions of children may die simply because one person somewhere... And I am not so much afraid of the big powers. I’m afraid of the small nations. If not now, maybe 10 years from now or 20 or 50, a Khomeini will get hold of nuclear weapons. He won’t hesitate. He will not have a discussion such as the one that we have here."
"Jason Robards - Dr. Russell Oakes"
"JoBeth Williams - Nurse Nancy Bauer"
"Steve Guttenberg - Stephen Klein"
"John Cullum - Jim Dahlberg"
"John Lithgow - Joe Huxley"
"Amy Madigan - Alison Ransom"
"Bibi Besch - Eve Dahlberg"
"Lori Lethin - Denise Dahlberg"
"William Allen Young - Airman Billy McCoy"
"Calvin Jung - Dr. Sam Hachiya"
"In an urban society, everything connects. Each person's needs are fed by the skills of many others. Our lives are woven together in a fabric. But the connections that make society strong also make it vulnerable."
"Britain has emergency plans for war. If central government should ever fail, power can be transferred instead to a system of local officials dispersed across the country. In an urban district like Sheffield, there is already a designated wartime controller. He's the city's peacetime chief executive. If it should suddenly become necessary, he can be given full powers of internal government. When, or if, this happens depends on the crisis itself."
"In the last few days, emergency headquarters like this have been hastily improvised up and down the country, in the basements of town halls and civic centres."
"Many of these officers have had no training at all. Some have learnt of their emergency role in the last few days, and almost all are unsure of their exact duties."
"It is 8:30 a.m. 3:30 in the morning in Washington. Over the past few days, neither the President nor his senior staff will have had more than a few hours rest. This is when they may be asleep. This is when Western response will be slowest."
"The first fallout dust settles on Sheffield. It's an hour and 25 minutes after the attack. An explosion on the ground at Crewe has sucked up this debris and made it radioactive. The wind has blown it here. This level of attack has broken most of the windows in Britain. Many roofs are open to the sky. Some of the lethal dust gets in. In these early stages, the symptoms of radiation sickness and the symptoms of panic are identical."
"Hanging in the atmosphere, the clouds of debris shut out the sun's heat and light. Across large areas of the Northern Hemisphere it starts to get dark, it starts to get cold. In the centers of large land masses like America or Russia, the temperature drop may be severe, as much as 25 degrees centigrade. Even in Britain, within days of the attack it could fall to freezing or below for long, dark periods."
"The entire peacetime resources of the British Heath Service, even if they survived, would be unable to cope with the effects of even the single bomb that's hit Sheffield."
"By this time, without drugs, water or bandages, without electricity or medical support facilities, there is virtually no way a doctor can exercise his skill. As a source of help or comfort, he is little better equipped than the nearest survivor."
"Money has had no meaning since the attack. The only viable currency is food, given as reward for work or withheld as punishment. In the grim economics of the aftermath, there are two harsh realities. A survivor who can work gets more food than one who can't and the more who die, the more food is left for the rest."
"Detention camps are improvised to cope with looters. Their numbers are growing."
"A growing exodus from cities in search of food. It's July. The countryside is cold and full of unknown radiation hazards. By now, five to six weeks after the attack, deaths from the effects of fallout are approaching their peak."
"Collecting this diminished first harvest is now literally a matter of life and death."
"Chronic fuel shortages mean that this could be one of the last times tractors and combine harvesters are used in Britain."
"The first winter. The stresses of hypothermia, epidemic and radiation fall heavily on the very young and old. Their protective layers of flesh are thinner. In the first few winters, many of the young and old disappear from Britain."
"[Radio announcement fragmentary due to Jimmy channel hopping] There's been further fighting in Iran between government and... as the civil war there..."
"[Footage with caption " film"] This film, shot secretly by a West German television crew on Tuesday, shows one of the Soviet convoys on the move in northern Iran. The convoys were first spotted by United States satellites on Monday, moving across three of the mountain passes leading from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Foreign Minister has defended the incursions, and has accused the United States of deliberately prompting last week's coup in Iran. Speaking on his arrival in Vienna, Mr. Gromyko claims the Soviet vehicles were responding to appeals from legitimate government forces from the Bojnord. He went on to define American covert activities in Iran in the period immediately preceding the coup as "destabilising". He warned the United States of the dangers seeking in what he called "an easy return to the reign of the Shah.""
"The United States has hinted it may send troops to the Middle East if the Russians don't move their forces out of Iran. The Prime Minister has joined the chorus of western leaders calling for immediate withdrawal and has spoken of a serious threat to world peace. Four people were killed today on the M6 motorway in Staffordshire when their car was in a collision with a heavy tanker. The accident happened at the junction with the A449 near Dunston."
"On a day that has seen U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean put on high alert, and on the eve of the Iran debate in the United Nations Security Council, this morning's report came as a bombshell to most Americans. Quoting sources close to the administration, the Washington Post says there's been a serious incident involving a United States warship in the waters off the coast of Iran. No further details are given in the story, attributed the paper's defence correspondent. However, one rumour, being heard increasingly in the Capitol this morning, says the vessel is a U.S. submarine that has disappeared whilst on routine patrol in the area. Coming just at the same time, the latest news of a Naval alert [...] has alarmed many people, by seeming to confirm that something very serious has happened. A Pentagon spokesman refused to be drawn one way or other on the crisis parrying all reporter's questions at his regular morning press briefing."
"BBC News at 8 o'clock: The Soviet Union has protested strongly to the United States about what it calls "dangerous provocations" by American warships in the Gulf of Oman yesterday. This follows an incident in which serious damage was caused to the Soviet cruiser Kirov, when she was in collision with the U.S. destroyer Callaghan."
"American and Israeli search and rescue vessels in the area today came across debris and oil slicks that could only have come from the missing submarine. It's still being said in Washington, that the Los Angeles was on a routine reconnaissance mission off the coast of Iran, when she sank last Tuesday with the loss of all hands. After paying tribute to her 127 officers and men, the President went on to say that he held the Soviet Union solely responsible for their deaths, and for the vessel's disappearance."
"The remaining units of the United States 10th Airborne Division, which parachuted into western Iran yesterday, have taken up defensive positions near Isfahan, designed, according the spokesman, to block any possible move towards the oilfields in the Persian Gulf. Squadrons of American B-52 bombers have been arriving at U.S. bases in Turkey since late on Tuesday evening, together with three AWACS early warning aircraft. It's believed that they'll be used in a supporting role to the Middle East task force. The 84th Airborne Division has also been placed on the state of combat readiness, and is set to be able to [...]"
"Worldwide [...] about the superpower confrontation in the Middle East has increased [...] this evening . In a statement issued a short time ago by the Pentagon in Washington, the United States has accused the Soviet Union of moving nuclear warheads into their new base at Mashhad in northern Iran. According to the American spokesman, the war [...] aboard two giant Antonov transport planes late yesterday afternoon and were immediately moved undercover into temporary hangars. [...] predictable flurry of activity in and around the NATO headquarters. Among those arriving in the last half-hour [...] member countries. They entered the building swiftly, and do not comment on the reports at this stage. [...] a statement within the next hour or so. NATO's position on the United States' action in sending its task force to Iran has been cautious up to now [...] from which neither side could back down. Arriving here in Brussels a short time ago, NATO's Secretary General said he [...] in the Middle East. Whether the latest news [...] strengthens the divisions within NATO is something we should know in a few hour's time, when the full council of ministers meets in an emergency session to debate its response to the crisis [...] into London. And we've just heard that the Prime Minister has issued a message of support for the United States government. The statement, just released from Downing Street, condemns what it calls "reckless Soviet actions, which can only worsen an already grave situation.""
"There's been no response from the Soviet government as yet to the United States ultimatum delivered to Moscow last night. The American note calls for joint withdrawal of all U.S. and Soviet forces from Iran by noon on Sunday. However, NATO observers in West Germany have reported increasing build-ups of Warsaw Pact troops and vehicles at points along the central frontier this morning. The Ministry of Defence has announced it's sending more troops to Europe to reinforce the British commitment to NATO. The first contingent left RAF Brize Norton this morning."
"The day has been marked by a number of demonstrations up and down the country, reflecting support for and against the government's decision to reinforce Europe. Although most of these passed off without incident, police made a number of arrests for disorderly conduct at rallies in the North and Midlands."
"The government has taken control of British Airways and all cross-channel ferries: they say it's a temporary step to help move troops to Europe; thousands are stranded at Heathrow and Gatwick; and the Royal Navy is to guard the North Sea oil rigs: the MOD says it's a prudent, precautionary measure."
"Since the expiry of the American ultimatum to the Soviet Union at noon yesterday, there have been intense diplomatic efforts to mediate between the two countries. There is still no information from Iran itself: no news teams have been allowed in or out of the country since phone and telex links were cut on Friday evening. Questioned in the House this morning, the Foreign Secretary said he had no definite news to report, and that it would be unhelpful to speculate in the absence of any hard information from the area."
"There's been a run on tinned food, sugar, and other storable items, which is causing shortages in some areas. A spokesman for the main supermarket chain said that panic buying is unnecessary. Fuel shortages are hindering resupply in some areas, but overall there is no shortage of stocks. They urge the public to calm down, be patient [...]"
"In response to today's news of the outbreak of hostilities between vessels of the United States and Soviet navies, a special session of parliament has this evening passed an Emergency Powers Act. There'll be a special announcement at the end of this bulletin, and details will be given then of how this affects you. The Prime Minister is expected to address the nation on the international crisis later this evening. A statement, issued earlier from Downing Street, said the government is optimistic that a peaceful, negotiated settlement to the conflict is at hand. In the meantime, the public is urged to remain calm, and to continue normally."
"Nevertheless, people are alarmed about the lack of advice or information from the government. Well, the policy of the government is quite clear on the matter, we are urging to people to keep calm, use their common sense and to go about their business as normal. Panic can only make matters worse. We all know the situation is serious but we are in constant touch with our allies in Washington and have firm assurance that it's under control. [...] proceed smoothly. Thank you Minister, and we've just had a newsflash from Bonn, that the Russians have cut the road links into and out of West Berlin. Radio and air communications with the city have apparently also been severed. Details are still coming in, but it seems an American army convoy bound for West Berlin has been turned back at on the East German border. Unconfirmed reports say the Russians have offered a safe passage out of the city to the U.S., British and French garrisons. It's not clear if this move is connected with yesterday's riots in East Germany. We'll bring you more details on the story as soon as we have them."
"Local authorities have been given the power to suspend certain peacetime functions, and to requisition premises and materials for civil defence purposes. A government spokesman said that this was a precautionary move only: it was not a cause for alarm."
"The AA and RAC have reported heavy congestion on roads up and down the country, particularly those leading to Wales and the West Country. The police are urging motorists not to travel unless absolutely necessary, and if it is essential, to use only minor roads and leave motorways and intercity trunk routes clear for official traffic. A full list of designated Essential Service Routes is posted outside your local authority headquarters: it includes the M1, M18, A63 and A629."
"There's growing evidence overnight from scientists and observers in many countries that there have been two nuclear explosions in the Middle East. There's no official confirmation of what has happened, and the Foreign Office in London say they have no comment to make on the report. The evidence also points to two major explosions in Northern Iran on Sunday afternoon. The Swedish government [...] said yesterday that its instruments [...] recorded just before half past one and again at two o'clock our time [...] 100 kilotons were detonated, several times higher than the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The French news agency has [...] bright light [...] Unconfirmed reports from Islamabad, reaching London this morning, suggest [...] that radioactive debris may have fallen on parts of west[ern] Pakistan. According to the report [...] high levels of radiation were reported by army units in the region around and , near the country's border with Iran. The evacuation of the area is also reported."
"Radiation levels are still dangerous. Residents of Release Band A—that is Woodseats, Dore and Totley, and Abbeydale—should not stay out of their shelters for more than two hours per day. Residents of Release Band B—that is Nether Edge, Banner Cross, and Broomhill—no longer than one hour per day."
"All able-bodied citizens—me[n], women and children—should report for reconstruction duties, commencing 08:00 hours tomorrow morning. The [in]habitants of Release Band A—that is Dore and Totley, Abbeydale, and Woodseats—should rendezvous in Abbeydale Park. Release Band B—that is Nether Edge, Broomhill, and Banner Cross—should rendezvous [...]"
"If we are to survive these difficult early months and establish [a] firm base for the redevelopment of our country, then we must concentrate all our energies on agricultural production."
"The Mail on Sunday (poster):"
"The Times:"
"The time has now come to make everything ready for you and your family, in case an air attack happens. This does not mean that war is bound to come, but there is a risk of this, and we must all be prepared for it."
"[attack warning] When you hear the attack warning, you and your family must take cover at once. Do not stay out of doors. If you are caught in the open, lie down. [first note of the theme]"
"If you leave your home, your local authority may take it over for homeless families. And if you move, the authorities in the new place will not help you with food, accommodation, or other essentials. You are better off in your own home. Stay there. [theme]"
"If anyone dies, while you are kept in your fallout room, move the body to another room in the house. Label the body with name and address, and cover it as tightly as possible in polythene, paper, sheets, or blankets. If however, you have had a body in your house for more than 5 days, and, if it is safe to go outside, then you should bury the body for the time being in a trench, or cover it with earth and mark the spot of the burial. [theme]"
"The most widespread danger is fall-out. Fall-out is dust, that is sucked up from the ground by the explosion. Fall-out can kill."
"Here are some ideas for making your inner refuge. One. Make a ‘lean-to’ with sloping doors or strong boards rested against an inner wall. Prevent them from slipping by fixing a length of wood along the floor. Build further protection of bags or boxes of earth or sand, or books, or even clothing, on the slope of your refuge, and anchor these also against slipping. Partly close [...]"
"Have you made your inner refuge, inside the fall-out room? Have you strengthened it with dense materials? Have you put the following items in your fall-out room: enough water, in sealed or covered containers, to last you and your family for 14 days; enough food to last you and your family for 14 days, including tinned or powdered milk for the children, and food for the baby - and a closed cupboard or cabinet in which to store these supplies; a portable radio with spare batteries; a tin opener, bottle opener, cutlery, crockery and cooking utensils; improvised lavatory seat, polythene buckets fitted with covers, polythene bag linings, for emptying the containers, strong disinfectant and toilet paper; candles and matches [...]"
"This time they are playing with, at best, the destruction of life as we know it, and at worst, total annihilation. You cannot win a nuclear war! Now just suppose the Russians did win this war... What exactly would they be winning? What would they have conquered? Well, I'll tell you! All major centres of population and industry would have been destroyed. [Heckler: "Industry? What industry? We ain't got no industry in Sheffield!"] Yes, and if the money hadn't - [trying to make herself heard amongst the jeers] if the money hadn't - if the money hadn't been spent on nuclear weapons, you would have built up industry. We would have put money into welfare, we would have found alternative sources of energy. Industry... [pauses for applause] Industry will have been destroyed. The soil would have been irradiated. Farmstock would be dead, diseased or dying. The Russians would have conquered a corpse of a country."
"As a result of decisions taken in Cabinet last night, and passed to the Home secretary for implementation, you are requested to undertake an initial review of the Emergency Arrangements listed [...] You will, of course, take care that any such review is carried out with discretion and does not cause undue public alarm [...]"
"Emergency Committee - Flint, Langdon, Matthews"
"Controller - Clive J. Sutton"
"Deputy Controller - Alan Boulton"
"Works Officer - George Cox"
"Food Officer - Roger Fisher"
"Manpower Officer - Susan Russell"
"Environmental Health Officer - D. [...]"
"Homelessness Officer(s) - Tony Barnes, Roy Chamberlain"
"Information Officer - D. Talbot"
"Scientific Advisers - Keith H[...], A. Jennings, Charles [...]"
"District Inland Transport Co-ordinator - James Lee"
"The unprovoked attack on our submarine, and the move into Iran, are the actions of a reckless and warlike power. I have to warn the Soviets in the clearest possible terms that they risk taking us to the brink of an armed confrontation, with incalculable consequences for all mankind."
"The United States government has been forced, reluctantly, to take action to safeguard what it believes are legitimate Western interests in the Middle East. This administration has therefore resolved to send units of its rapid deployment force, the U.S. Central Command, into western Iran. We are confident that the Soviet Union will take note of our resolve, and will desist from its present perilous course of action."
"Our intention in making Threads was to step aside from the politics and – I hope convincingly – show the actual effects on either side should our best endeavours to prevent nuclear war fail."
"Nuclear war is everyone’s problem, it’s not just country to country. It’s a worldwide problem, we all share it, and that’s why it’s so frightening now. Since Threads was made I’m sure there have been advances in what nuclear weapons can do."
"Of course, my character goes missing halfway through the film, so half of the filming I wasn’t privy to. [...] You want to know what happens, but you’re not told. I suppose the message is that’s exactly what it’ll be like — nothing will be tied up nicely because people will disappear."
"Who knows? He died, presumably. I have no more idea than anyone else, but that’s the point. That’s why it’s so clever."
"Barry came up with the idea of the two families – one working class, the other lower-middle – and what their lives were like. Sheffield seemed a good place to set it, and Barry knew it well. It was bang in the middle of the country, and a good way from London. Strategically, it also made sense: there were industrial and military targets nearby. Both of us were interested in the idea that none of these characters would ever have a god’s-eye-view of events, and never find out what was happening outside their immediate experience, certainly not outside Sheffield. That seemed to be the way most people would have to deal with a nuclear apocalypse, with most forms of communication vaporised."
"From the point where the bomb happens, the whole nature of the movie changes. In the first half of the movie, I hope, you have a very full soundtrack. You have all the soundtrack of TV broadcasts and radio broadcasts, the sound of birdsong in the country, the sound of musical things happening, the sound of traffic and city noises. And from the moment that the bomb drops you don't have anything. You don't even have the teletype, all these things, they just type out in silence, and all you hear is wind. [...] You hear voices of people screaming, coughing or whatever. You hear wind, you hear no birds. [...] It's gone. That world is gone."
"In this movie, from the outset, I wanted to put it in the scale of people that you might know, people like yourself, your immediate family, relations and so on, and no bigger than that, and not really to show anything except how it would happen to them. So, there's no God's eye view in this movie. You don't actually get to look down and get the overall picture and see maps of Europe and maps of the world and so on. You just get what's happening to these people, and it's all really done from ground level. There's no cinematic crane shots or anything like that. It's just very, very documentary."
"People tell me how relevant they find the movie to what's happening now. It’s comforting, at a time when so many films are being remade, to find that people still appreciate – and are scared by – the original film."
"The idea was to take a movie which was about death...and use the iconography of life to tell the story."
"The real effect of a nuclear weapon is not what it does to things, to buildings, to cities: it's what it does to society, what it does to people, what it does psychologically. I was very struck by the work that an American writer called Robert Jay Lifton had done on the psychological effects of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima on the survivors and I talked to him a lot. It seemed to me that the story that needed to be told was the story of what this does to society as well as what it does to physical things, and you could only really tell that with a drama, with people that you identified with."
"There's the hospital sequence in The Day After and there's the hospital sequence in Threads. [...] In The Day After people are being wheeled in on gurneys and everybody's stressed, but they're coping with it as they would do on ER or something like that. In Threads, the floor is covered with muck and shit and blood and people don't have anything they can work with. [...] We see people having their legs amputated without an anesthetic, just something stuck between their teeth for them to bite on. That's what it's going to be like! And I wanted every part of this movie to be "That's what it's going to be like"."
"What we’d depicted and its implications stayed in the minds of every actor and crew member for a long time. I’m sure there were some nightmares. There are some things so far outside our experience or comprehension that they are unthinkable. Nuclear war is one."
"I think Threads didn't keep people at arm's length, it drew people in because of the characters that everybody knew. I mean, we related to them, and that's what I think made Threads so visceral for people."
"I was unaware really of the importance of it at the time, but I was asked to go for an interview, which I did, and I was the first person that Mick Jackson saw for the part. And I went looking rather radical, because I thought "oh, it's about nuclear war", you know, and I'm a very radical person, so I kind of went wearing my sort of "combat gear" which was very "in" at the time. And it was really strange, because afterwords, when I got the part of Ruth, who turned out to be a very fragile sort of a person, I was surprised and he said having been the first one, he saw me for the part. He obviously saw something in me that was, I don't know, vulnerable, maybe. It was the only time I've ever said to a director "I would really like a part in this, regardless of what that part may be", because I knew that the content would be close to my heart."
"It was cloaked to a great extent in secrecy almost. [...] You knew what it was about, but the script was a close-kept secret I think. Not many people had seen it, and I think they were worried that it would go the same way as War Games, which was made but never seen, so it was all quite mysterious really."
"It's hard to watch and it should be hard to watch. It should frighten people, and if it's done that, it's done its job."