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List Price: $24.99 | | Label: ACORN MEDIA
Salesrank: 24632
Released: November 13, 2007 |
| Our Price: $15.24 |
| Used Price: $16.13 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
This Emmy® winning, historically accurate drama tells the complex and moving story of the Manhattan Project. Racing against the Nazi war machine and enduring intense military and political pressure, Allied scientists wrestle with the challenge of creating the ultimate weapon. Leading the superb cast are Michael Tucker (L.A. Law) as Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.) as mission chief J. Robert Oppenheimer, Brian Dennehy (Death of a Salesman) as General Leslie Groves, and David Ogden Stiers (MASH) as FDR. Also featuring Hal Holbrook (Mark Twain Tonight!), Hume Cronyn (12 Angry Men), and Tony Shalhoub (Monk).
Before the bomb can be perfected, Hitler's death and Germany's surrender remove one enemy from the equation. But Japan remains. Day One builds quietly to a shattering climax, as the scientists who developed the bomb out of patriotic fervor witness its grisly consequences.
Description of Day One:
The history of the atomic bomb--its conception, creation, and deployment--gets an impressively complex yet propulsive treatment in this compelling docudrama. Day One balances human drama, scientific history, and political machinations with uncommon skill and considerable smarts. From the moment that General Groves (Brian Dennehy, Presumed Innocent) is appointed to drive the Manhattan Project, the movie has a driving force; Dennehy presents a brusk and demanding man who never questions whether he is right or wrong. In contrast comes J. Robert Oppenheimer (David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck), a fundamentally decent man whose conflicts about the consequences of the atomic bomb eat at him--Strathairn captures Oppenheimer's qualms even as his will to succeed drives him forward. Day One cunningly juxtaposes political meetings with scientific discussions, subtly comparing different paths of thought. The compressed script distills enormous debates without simplifying them and--even more striking--making the discussions feel like actual conversation, with irrational and expedient factors as significant as the weighty ideas. The story builds to considerable tension as the bomb is tested and, with highly debatable justification, used on a civilian population. Day One presents history at a breakneck pace, using human detail to keep the broad sweep of events grounded, without losing sight of that big picture. Rarely have momentous decisions been so well interlaced with human fallibility. Also featuring Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Michael Tucker (L.A. Law), and a powerhouse supporting cast of old-school character actors like Hume Cronyn, Barnard Hughes, and Hal Holbrook. --Bret Fetzer
Day One Reviews:
Spotlight on Leo Szilard and Michael Tucker 
2008-10-25 - I also agree with all the insights of the positive reviews to DAY ONE. One point I'd like to emphasize is the point the movie makes of the role of Leo Szilard, played by very well by Michael Tucker.
No other film on the Bomb really captures the whole history, or identifies the significance of the event to the history of science. Szilard represents the need of science to be open and devoted to collaboration. The film shows how vital scientists like Szilard are to real inquiry. And the flim shows how open inquiry is shut down in favor of engineering. And the film thereby shows how much we have changed, as science is privatized or isolated. The film shows how competent Szilard was in other areas as well, such as realizing Jews needed to escape from Germany while there was still time, and realizing how to handle to politics when he devised the way to get President Roosevelt's attention to the threat of a German Bomb. Michael Tucker's protrayal of Leo Szilard demonstrates his authenticity, and demonstrates we did really have alternatives.
And, today, continue to have alternatives in how we conduct science and military policy.
I hope it is not true that the DVD version released in America deleted crucial Szilard scenes I have in my VHS tape.
Excellent, compelling. Outstanding cast.
2008-05-30 - I loved this miniseries when it originally aired. When my daughter had to do a research paper on the topic, I jumped on the opportunity to see it again, and bought it for her to watch as well. There is no better portrayal that tells the story so completely and compellingly. For an amazing book on the subject, definitely read the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes. An incredible book. But for a movie version, you can't beat Day One.
Great Mini Series, Poor DVD Release 
2008-02-17 - I had long been a fan of this outstanding mini series, and having been lucky enough to tape it off the air when it was first broadcast, I was able to watch it again and again. Nevertheless, VHS tapes being what they are, I was also really looking forward to an eventual DVD release and was very gratified when it finally came. Unfortunately, I rejoiced a bit too soon. First, the video quality of this DVD release is rather poor, barely any better than that of my aging VHS tape. Second, the program has been edited from the original release. The editing doesn't seem to be major, but is annoying nonetheless. I have not yet looked at the entire DVD, but I already noticed two 20-30 seconds deletions in the first half hour. The first is when Leo Szilard first arrives to Columbia University in March 1939. The original release showed him emerging from the subway and asking directions to a policeman, which is omitted from the DVD. The second more important deletion comes at the conclusion of Szilard and Wigner's first visit with Einstein. In the original release, Einstein suggests that Szilard and Wigner write a letter to President Roosevelt and tells them that he would be happy to sign it, and this is not shown on the DVD. All in all, such an outstanding movie deserved a much better treatment and the problem is that, now that it has been badly done once, the likeliness of an eventual better DVD release is probably not that high. This means that I will unfortunately not be able to retire my aging VHS tape.
Much better than Fatman and Littleboy 
2007-10-12 - I saw this show when it was first on TV and was impressed. It follows the history quite well, and I felt that the performances represented the actual characters more accurately than the movie Fatman and Littleboy. Also, it did not add in any fictional subplots as was done in the F&L movie.
You might also want to get the great mini-series
2007-09-08 - ...from the 1980's. It has only recently been released by the BBC on DVD, unfortunately in Region Two (PAL) format. It is available thru amazon and eBay in the UK, ([...]), for about $[...] plus shipping.
This is the most widely-acclaimed series on the people and events surrounding the development of the atom bomb and its key player, JR Oppenheimer, played brilliantly by a young SAM WATERSTON, with David Suchet equally brilliantly playing EDWARD TELLER.
All the effort you put into acquiring and playing this series will well be worth the effort.
If you don't have a 'multi-format' DVD player, you may be able to get instructions on like via a 'dvd hack' search on Google, or you can buy an inexpensive so-called 'multi-format' player on eBay. Mine with shipping cost $[...], and I emailed the seller for easy instructions on how to program the player.
