The China Syndrome (1979)

Directed by

James Bridges

Genre

drama film, action film, science fiction film, disaster film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 02m

Rated

PG

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 522 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A TV reporter and her cameraman uncover evidence of safety violations at a nuclear power plant. They try to expose the truth while facing resistance from the plant's operators.

tensesuspensefulurgentparanoidgrippingseriousdisturbingmethodical

What happens

The China Syndrome is a 1979 American thriller film directed by James Bridges and written by Bridges, Mike Gray, and T. S. Cook. The film stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas (who also produced). It follows a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. "China syndrome" is a term that describes a fictional result of a nuclear meltdown, where reactor fuel melts through reactor containment structures and into the underlying earth, "all the way to China". The China Syndrome premiered at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or while Lemmon received the Best Actor Prize. It was theatrically released on March 16, 1979, twelve days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, which gave the film's subject matter an unexpected prescience. It became a critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised the film's screenplay, direction, and performances (most notably of Fonda and Lemmon), while it grossed $51.7 million (equivalent to $229,343,000 in 2025) on a production budget of $5.9 million (equivalent to $26,173,000 in 2025). The film received four nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards: Best Actor (for Lemmon), Best Actress (for Fonda), Best Original Screenplay and Best Art Direction. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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