Product Details

• Actors: Brian Dennehy, David Strathairn, Michael Tucker, Hume Cronyn, Richard Dysart
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Lions Gate
• VHS Release Date: February 2, 1994
• Run Time: 141 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302973740
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,463 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The history of the atomic bomb--its conception, creation, and deployment--gets an impressively complex yet propulsive treatment in this compelling docudrama. Day One balances human drama, scientific history, and political machinations with uncommon skill and considerable smarts. From the moment that General Groves (Brian Dennehy, Presumed Innocent) is appointed to drive the Manhattan Project, the movie has a driving force; Dennehy presents a brusk and demanding man who never questions whether he is right or wrong. In contrast comes J. Robert Oppenheimer (David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck), a fundamentally decent man whose conflicts about the consequences of the atomic bomb eat at him--Strathairn captures Oppenheimer's qualms even as his will to succeed drives him forward. Day One cunningly juxtaposes political meetings with scientific discussions, subtly comparing different paths of thought. The compressed script distills enormous debates without simplifying them and--even more striking--making the discussions feel like actual conversation, with irrational and expedient factors as significant as the weighty ideas. The story builds to considerable tension as the bomb is tested and, with highly debatable justification, used on a civilian population. Day One presents history at a breakneck pace, using human detail to keep the broad sweep of events grounded, without losing sight of that big picture. Rarely have momentous decisions been so well interlaced with human fallibility. Also featuring Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Michael Tucker (L.A. Law), and a powerhouse supporting cast of old-school character actors like Hume Cronyn, Barnard Hughes, and Hal Holbrook. --Bret Fetzer

Review

History written large --The New York Times

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't watch it often enough, February 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Day One [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Day One" is the best treatment so far of an overarchingly important era in American history: the development of the Atomic bomb and its use against Japan. Brian Dennehy gives the performance of his career as Gen. Leslie Groves, the military head of the Manhattan Project, and is superbly supported by a cast including Hume Cronyn, Richard Dysart and Tony Shalhoub (memorable as Enrico Fermi). The drama is first-rate, the pace brisk, the dialog crisp and to the point. Even more important, the history is mostly accurate--a real achievement given the controversial nature of this material. Top notch!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Atomic Docudrama, April 3, 2007

By 

Skoro "Slow Reader" (Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Day One [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As a physics teacher, I appreciate that the Manhattan Project is an important part of recent history that remains controversial to many and interesting to most students. In my opinion, Day One is the most accurate portrayal of this huge endeavor. The three primary actors (Dennehy as General Groves, Strathairn as Oppenheimer, and Tucker as Szilard) not only do an outstanding job of capturing their characters, each also bears a strong resemblence to the person they play. Strathairn, in particular, is marvelous and really drives home the angst that Oppie endured. The film remains very true to actual events, for the most part. There's very little artistic license at play here. Towards the end, the plot wanders and moralizes somewhat. But the use of atomic weapons to end WWII remains something of a moral dilemma, even 60 years after the fact. My only real criticism is the rather shallow characterization of President Truman. But overall, this is THE "must-see" film for those who have any interest in the dawn of the nuclear age.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Mini Series, Poor DVD Release, February 17, 2008

By 

Jean-Luc Glorieux - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Day One (DVD)

I had long been a fan of this outstanding mini series, and having been lucky enough to tape it off the air when it was first broadcast, I was able to watch it again and again. Nevertheless, VHS tapes being what they are, I was also really looking forward to an eventual DVD release and was very gratified when it finally came. Unfortunately, I rejoiced a bit too soon. First, the video quality of this DVD release is rather poor, barely any better than that of my aging VHS tape. Second, the program has been edited from the original release. The editing doesn't seem to be major, but is annoying nonetheless. I have not yet looked at the entire DVD, but I already noticed two 20-30 seconds deletions in the first half hour. The first is when Leo Szilard first arrives to Columbia University in March 1939. The original release showed him emerging from the subway and asking directions to a policeman, which is omitted from the DVD. The second more important deletion comes at the conclusion of Szilard and Wigner's first visit with Einstein. In the original release, Einstein suggests that Szilard and Wigner write a letter to President Roosevelt and tells them that he would be happy to sign it, and this is not shown on the DVD. All in all, such an outstanding movie deserved a much better treatment and the problem is that, now that it has been badly done once, the likeliness of an eventual better DVD release is probably not that high. This means that I will unfortunately not be able to retire my aging VHS tape.