Fat Man and Little Boy [Shadow Makers] ** (1989, Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia) – Classic Movie Review 7023

Director Roland Joffe (The Mission) tackles a big subject of the making of atomic bombs in his 1989 film drama and comes a cropper.

Paul Newman stars as General Leslie R Groves who in 1942 heads the American military project to invent the atom bomb, but J Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), the tortured pacifist genius capable of inventing the weapon, clashes with him over the nuclear issue.

The screenplay by Bruce Robinson and Roland Joffe, based on a story by Robinson, fails to find drama in the story, Newman is uncharacteristically one-dimensionally stiff-upper-lipped, the female characters are the merest cyphers and there is a lack of subtlety and conviction in the script, acting and handling.

It is a great pity because this is an honourable and rare attempt to make a film about ideas rather than action. Despite all the talent involved on both sides of the camera and the serious subject, it is a real disappointment.

When Fat Man and Little Boy failed at the box-office in the US, grossing only $3,563,162, it was re-named Shadow Makers worldwide.

Also in the cast are Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack, Laura Dern, Ron Frazier, John C McGinley, Natasha Richardson, Ron Vawter, Michael Brockman, Del Close, John Considine, Allan Corduner, Jon DeVries and Todd Field.

Fat Man and Little Boy (Shadow Makers) is directed by Roland Joffe, runs 126 minutes, is produced by Lightmotive, is released by Paramount, is written by Bruce Robinson and Roland Joffe, based on a story by Bruce Robinson, is shot in Technicolor by Vilmos Zsigmond, is produced by Tony Garnett, and is scored by Ennio Morricone.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7023

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com