VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

elvircorhodzic ON THE BEACH is a post-apocalyptic science fiction drama about total „annihilation" of the human race. Film was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Nevil Shute.After the World War III, one of the world's superpowers has activated, by mistake, a nuclear weapon. Life on the Northern Hemisphere was completely destroyed. Deadly radiation has, carried by air currents, polluted almost the entire Earth's atmosphere. Australia, as one of the last colonies of mankind, was exposed to a deadly danger. In that madness one submarine captain will not accept that his wife and children are dead. A young Australian naval lieutenant and his wife will review their relationship and marriage. An unhappy and lonely woman will try to find a true love. Time is running out...Life is the greatest miracle. However, it is easy to destroy. This film, in the absence of special effects and scenes of destruction, examines persistence, courage and emotions of a small group of people. People were resigned to their fate. They have, in the absence of hysteria, devoted all attention to love and family. The story is simple, sad and a quite unconvincing. Culprits, conflicts and possibly evil are not essential. This approach is not bad, but the holes in the story are more than obvious. The protagonists have faced depression and fears in different ways. They have accepted a fatal situation. However, emotional sparks constantly smolder.Typically, different characters were exposed to the same conditions.Gregory Peck as Commander Dwight Lionel Towers is a character who leads a quiet and touching monologue with himself. Ava Gardner as Moira Davidson is an unfortunate woman and an alcoholic who, with a smile and flirt, skilfully hides her loneliness. Fred Astaire as Julian Osborn is a scientist who, probably better than anyone, understands what is happening. His character is torn between remorse and ironic views on the rest of this life. Anthony Perkins (Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes) and Donna Anderson (Mary Holmes) are a sort of a personification of a broken family, youth and love.Together and with love against fear of an inevitable fate.

Panamint Fact: Cold War mass nuclear shots were never fired, either in anger or by accident. Cold War mutual destruction never occurred- so with hindsight this film's sense of inevitability is for me its biggest flaw. And the basic concept of this film (just passively sit back and take the bomb hits and fallout) does not reflect the thinking nor reflect the actions of leaders or of a large proportion of humanity at the time. And its a fact that no leader of the USA, Soviet Union or any other country was ever careless or reckless with such weapons during the cold war. Nobody ever went too far with this stuff- plans for nuclear powered aircraft were scrapped, the neutron bomb idea was scrapped, a tactical nuclear howitzer was built but never used, testing of actual nuclear weapons by the major powers was eventually stopped altogether.Nobody just sat around passively. Pro-actively there were endless numbers of bomb shelters being built, enormous salt mines were to be used for mass shelter. The military had nuclear bunkers in use, culminating in the ultimate shelter at Cheyenne Mountain which was constructed in the early 60's. There was talk of using other large mines and existing caverns for mass shelter. There was a nuclear evacuation center at Greenbriar for Congress (although I am not sure when it was finished). Treaties for limitation of nuclear bomb tests and arms reduction were constantly being negotiated beginning in the early 1960's, some of them were signed and honored by the parties over the ensuing decades. I emphasize again: some were signed and honored. Thousands of nuclear weapons were eventually jointly inspected by the opposing countries and dismantled.As has been noted by many reviewers, the film is slow and dull although well-acted by a stellar cast. The dullness doesn't really matter to me since the overall concept is so at odds with most public thinking and so at odds with efforts at negotiation in those days and communication through the "hotline" and other means, the movie is fatally flawed for me. This film's anticipated Cold War accidental apocalypse never happened. But the non-happening was no accident. It was due to deliberate effort, hard work and planning by countless individuals including civilian, military and diplomatic the world over. From the pacifist protester to the hardest-line government planner who wanted to "overwhelm" an opponent in a war to the voters (in countries allowed to vote) to builders of shelters the world over, all walks of life actively tried to do the best they could in their individual way to avoid such conflict, rather than sit around waiting for senseless death by technology.

Richie-67-485852 The movie has a sadness to it and it is done very well. You get to see what it is like when there is no hope and pending death caused by humans mishandling the planet and each other. Its talky but if you pay attention, you figure out what is going on even though it is slow at times. A very touching scene of people all enjoying themselves each their own, knowing they are going to die, in a public setting while a bunch of folks sing Waltzing Matilda a cherished Australian folk song. At one poignant scene, it becomes a focal point and if you can hold back your tears from being moved, you are a better man than I but at a loss for it. The stars do their duty, our imaginations are activated, and we realize in the end that if what the movie is saying is true, you are now seeing the last of mankind. Thus, the sadness and loneliness that will now inhabit this part of the Solar System from now on. Snack for sure, always a tasty drink and reflect on the message of the movie

AaronCapenBanner Stanley Kramer directed this nuclear holocaust drama set in the near-future and stars Gregory Peck as Lt. Commander Towers of the American submarine U.S.S. Sawfish, which has escaped the nuclear war that has devastated most of the world, and ends up in the last safe place: Australia, where Towers meets Moira Davidson(played by Ava Gardner) with whom he begins a relationship. Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins costar as fellow crew-mates who must also deal with the loss and despair following the war, and the inevitable radioactive fallout that is approaching... Good acting cannot save tedious and uneventful film that talks itself to death, though does attempt to say something meaningful.