''Chosen Survivors'' is a 1974 Mexican-American
horror science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
film directed by Sutton Roley and starring
Jackie Cooper
John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...
,
Alex Cord
Alexander Viespi Jr. (May 3, 1933 – August 9, 2021), known professionally as Alex Cord, was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in 55 episodes of the television series ''A ...
,
Richard Jaeckel
Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 – June 14, 1997) was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominatio ...
,
Bradford Dillman
Bradford Dillman (April 14, 1930 – January 16, 2018) was an American actor and author.
Early life
Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930, in San Francisco, the son of Dean Dillman, a stockbroker, and Josephine (née Moore). Bradford's pa ...
,
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.
Pedro Armendáriz Bohr (April 6, 1940 – December 26, 2011), better known by his stage name Pedro Armendáriz Jr., was a Mexican actor.
Life and career
Pedro Armendáriz Bohr was born in Mexico City to Mexican-American actor Pedro Armendáriz ...
and
Diana Muldaur
Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938) is an American film and television actress. Muldaur's television roles include Rosalind Shays on ''L.A. Law'' and Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. She also ...
Plot
After being selected at random by a computer to seek safety in an underground
bomb shelter
A bomb shelter is a structure designed to provide protection against the effects of a bomb.
Types of shelter
Different kinds of bomb shelters are configured to protect against different kinds of attack and strengths of hostile explosives.
Air ...
on the eve of a
nuclear attack, a group of refugees makes a horrible realization: They are sharing the space with a colony of
vampire bats
Vampire bats, species of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are leaf-nosed bats found in Central and South America. Their food source is blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the com ...
. And since going back above ground is not an option, they are forced to stay and fight for their lives.
Cast
*
Jackie Cooper
John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...
as Raymond Couzins
*
Alex Cord
Alexander Viespi Jr. (May 3, 1933 – August 9, 2021), known professionally as Alex Cord, was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in 55 episodes of the television series ''A ...
as Steven Mayes
*
Richard Jaeckel
Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 – June 14, 1997) was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominatio ...
as Major Gordon Ellis
*
Bradford Dillman
Bradford Dillman (April 14, 1930 – January 16, 2018) was an American actor and author.
Early life
Bradford Dillman was born on April 14, 1930, in San Francisco, the son of Dean Dillman, a stockbroker, and Josephine (née Moore). Bradford's pa ...
as Peter Macomber
*
Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. as Luis Cabral (credited as Pedro Armendariz Jr.)
*
Diana Muldaur
Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938) is an American film and television actress. Muldaur's television roles include Rosalind Shays on ''L.A. Law'' and Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. She also ...
as Alana Fitzgerald
*
Lincoln Kilpatrick
Lincoln Kilpatrick (February 12, 1932 – May 18, 2004) was an American film, television, and stage actor.
Biography Career
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Kilpatrick attended Lincoln University and earned a degree in drama before he began acting. ...
as Woody Russo
* Gwenn Mitchell as Carrie Draper
*
Barbara Babcock
Barbara Babcock (born February 27, 1937) is an American actress who played Grace Gardner on ''Hill Street Blues'', for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress—Drama Series in 1981, She played Dorothy Jennings on ''Dr. Quinn, ...
as Dr. Lenore Chrisman
* Cristina Moreno as Kristin Lerner (credited as Christina Moteno)
* Nancy Rodman as Claire Farraday
*
Kelly Lange
Kelly Lange (born Dorothy Scafard; December 14, 1937) is an American journalist, most notable for being the first woman to be a nightly news anchor in Los Angeles. Lange, a Shakespeare major in college, is a longtime news anchor in Los Angeles, a v ...
as Mary Louise Borden
Releases
The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 24, 1974. The original distributor was
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
.
The film was released on DVD in a double feature with ''
The Earth Dies Screaming
''The Earth Dies Screaming'' is a 1964 British science-fiction horror film directed by Terence Fisher, written by Harry Spalding, and starring Willard Parker, Virginia Field, and Dennis Price.John Hamilton, ''The British Independent Horror Fi ...
'' as part of MGM's
Midnite Movies
''Midnite Movies'' is a line of B movies released first on VHS and later on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment. The line was begun by MGM in March 2001 following its acquisition of Orion Pictures, which bought out Filmways, the owner of American Int ...
series.
Most recently, film restoration company Kino Lorber released blu-ray collectors edition on October 16, 2016.
See also
*
List of American films of 1974
A list of American films released in 1974.
''The Godfather Part II'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
A–Z
Documentaries
See also
* 1974 in the United States
References
External links
1974 films ...
*
Midnite Movies
''Midnite Movies'' is a line of B movies released first on VHS and later on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment. The line was begun by MGM in March 2001 following its acquisition of Orion Pictures, which bought out Filmways, the owner of American Int ...
References
External links
*
*
*
1974 films
1974 horror films
American science fiction horror films
Mexican science fiction horror films
English-language Mexican films
1970s science fiction horror films
Apocalyptic films
Columbia Pictures films
Films scored by Fred Karlin
Metromedia Producers Corporation films
Films directed by Sutton Roley
1970s English-language films
1970s American films
1970s Mexican films
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