Episode 738: On the Beach (1959)

The Projection Booth Podcast

The Projection Booth

Film Reviews, Film Interviews, Film History, Tv & Film

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2025

⏱️ 119 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Co-hosts Maurice Bursztynski and Jonathan Melville join Mike to take on a Patreon request from listener John Atom—Nevil Shute’s On the Beach. They dive into both the 1959 Stanley Kramer film and the 2000 TV mini-series directed by Russell Mulcahy. Set in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust, the story centers on a U.S. submarine that finds refuge in Melbourne, Australia, where residents face the grim reality that the fallout is heading their way.

The episode explores the emotional depth and existential dread of both adaptations, from the restrained melancholy of Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner to the more modern approach with Armand Assante and Rachel Ward. With perspectives shaped by different eras, the hosts unpack how each version captures the quiet devastation of waiting for the end.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hold your ears, folks.
0:06.8	It's showtime.
0:08.6	People pay good money to see this movie.
0:10.9	When they go out to a theater, they want cold sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters in the projection booth.
0:17.3	Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring.
0:20.0	Shut it off.
0:25.5	Turn it off.
0:47.2	Listen. Listen to the words of Anthony Perkins, one of the stars who stand on the beach.
0:49.7	Listen, listen.
0:53.8	Oh, you don't know, Julian, you just don't know.
0:57.1	You didn't see a face when I told her.
0:59.1	You'd have thought I was a murderer or something.
1:01.2	And all I was doing was what I felt I had to do.
1:04.3	How do you tell a woman, you love, that she has to kill herself and a baby?
1:22.6	If you never see another motion picture in your life, you must see On the Beach, starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins as the lover who faced what no other lover ever faced before.
1:27.7	You must see on the beach. You must see on the beach.
1:31.3	You must see.
1:36.9	Welcome to the projection booth.
1:38.4	I'm your host, Mike White.
1:39.3	Join me once again as Mr. Morish-Buschinskkeed.
1:42.1	I'm just wondering how we're going to get through 400 bottles of sherry in this
1:46.0	podcast.
	...

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