'' The Night That Panicked America'' is an American
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
that was originally broadcast on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
network on October 31, 1975. The telefilm dramatizes events surrounding
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
Martian
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...
s was occurring in the area near Grover's Mill in West Windsor,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
The Welles broadcast and the reaction to it had been earlier dramatized on television as '' The Night America Trembled'', a live presentation that aired September 9, 1957, on '' Studio One''.
Plot
''The Night That Panicked America'' tells the story of the 1938 broadcast from the point of view of Welles and his associates as they create the broadcast live, as well as from the points of view of a number of different fictional American families, in a variety of locations and from a variety of social classes, who listened to the broadcast and believed the imaginary
Martian
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...
invasion was actually occurring, with some people even committing suicide.
Cast
*
Paul Shenar
Albert Paul Shenar (February 12, 1936 − October 11, 1989) was an American actor and theater director, known for portraying the Bolivian drug lord Alejandro Sosa, in '' Scarface'' (1983).
A veteran Broadway and Shakespearean actor, he was one ...
as
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
*
Vic Morrow
Victor Morrow (born Victor Morozoff; February 14, 1929 – July 23, 1982) was an American actor. He came to prominence as one of the leads of the ABC drama series ''Combat!'' (1962–1967), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstandin ...
as Hank Muldoon, Ann's husband
*
Eileen Brennan
Eileen Brennan (born Verla Eileen Regina Brennen; September 3, 1932 – July 28, 2013) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the satire ''Divorce American Style'' (1967), followed by a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's ''The L ...
as Ann Muldoon, Hank's wife
*
Cliff DeYoung
Clifford Tobin DeYoung (born February 12, 1945)According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com is an Ame ...
as Stefan Grubowski
*
Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine (born Gus Efstratiou (Ευστρατίου); May 22, 1927 – August 31, 2021) was an American actor. He is most widely recognized for his portrayal of Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula ...
as Jess Wingate, Walter's father
*
John Ritter
Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...
as Walter Wingate, Jess' son
*
Walter McGinn
Walter Vincent McGinn Jr. (July 6, 1936 – March 31, 1977) was an American actor. He was best known for playing Louis Howe in the critically acclaimed television film '' Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years'' (1977), for which he posthum ...
as Paul Stewart
*
Will Geer
Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In Ca ...
as Reverend Davis, Linda's father
*
Meredith Baxter
Meredith Ann Baxter (born June 21, 1947) is an American actress and Film producer, producer. She is known for her roles on the CBS sitcom ''Bridget Loves Bernie'' (1972–73), American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama series ''Family (1976 TV ser ...
as Linda Davis, the Reverend's daughter
* Tom Bosley as Norman Smith
*
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...
as Mercury Theatre player
Reception
''
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...
'' praised the film's recreation of events in the radio studio, but was unimpressed by its depiction of the resulting panic, calling it "a routine
disaster movie
A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as ...
with hackneyed characters reacting in predictable ways." Through the 1980s, some local stations in various areas of the United States made an annual tradition of rebroadcasting ''Night'' on October 30 (the anniversary of the original radio broadcast) or on October 31 (
Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
).
The movie received three
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nominations, winning for Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing – For a Single Episode of a Regular or Limited Series in
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
CBS Home Entertainment
CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...
on October 28, 2014.
See also
* ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
List of American films of 1975
A list of American films released in 1975.
'' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The highest-grossing film of 1975 was ''Jaws''.
__TOC__
A–B
C–G
H–M
N–S
T–Z
See also
* 1975 in the Uni ...
Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby (; November 13, 1913 – February 22, 1985) was an American film, television, and voice actor known for his deep and resonant voice and Mid-Atlantic accent. He is best known for his film role as the ruthless mob boss Mike ...
,
Ed Asner
Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' an ...
, and
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...
.
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...
made his television debut, and, in one of his earliest acting roles,
Warren Beatty
Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...
appeared in the bit part of a card-playing college student.