Panic in Year Zero!

Tapping into the fear of thermonuclear war that ran rampant in the early 60s, PANIC IN YEAR ZERO! features Ray Milland as Harry Baldwin, who, thanks to a well-timed camping trip with his family, is spared destruction in the nuclear cataclysm that befalls LA. They soon find, though, that surviving the blast itself is only the beginning of their ordeal, in a world where law and order has suddenly given way to chaos and violence. One of five films that Milland would direct after slipping from the front ranks of Hollywood stars, PANIC IN YEAR ZERO! is by far the best known, a minimalist, bracingly unsentimental piece of work that focuses not on the physical devastation promised by nuclear war but the even more disturbing social and moral collapse that could ensue.