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Oppenheimer

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The recent release of the 1976 Adams Chronicles on DVD left only the release of Oppenheimer to complete the bifecta of the two finest dramatic miniseries ever broadcast on PBS. This seven part series was originally filmed in 1980 as a joint BBC and WGBH (Boston) production and was shown over seven consecutive weeks beginning May 11, 1982 as part of the PBS program American Playhouse. It depicts 15 years in the turbulent life of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who died in 1967, at the age of 62, but whose life and career remain controversial to this day. The story begins in 1938, when Dr. Oppenheimer was already recognized as a brilliant theorist in both particle physics and astrophysics (he was co-author of a prescient paper, along with graduate student Hartland S. Snyder, developing equations based on Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, demonstrating the possibility of a star collapsing in upon itself and forming a black hole). Together with Dr. Ernest Lawrence, Oppenheimer had turned the University of California at Berkeley into a renowned center for teaching physics. Sharply played by a distracted, self-absorbed and often edgy Sam Waterston, Dr. Oppenheimer is portrayed as a somewhat vain and preening professor, surrounding himself with an adoring clique of occasionally shallow yet brilliant students. He almost unconciously flits through 1930's left-wing circles, never seeming to land anywhere. Fascism is on the rise in Europe and Japan, and the Communist Party is in the vanguard of what the script labels - somewhat ironically given Stalin's immanent pact with Hitler - as 'uncompromising opposition'.

This period will prove to be the source of his later difficulties, especially his troubled affair with the Communist Party member Jean Tatlock, as well as the left-wing affiliation of his brother and sister-in-law. Oppenheimer always refused to join the party, expressing doubts about life in the Soviet Union. Oppenheimer eventually heads the Manhattan Project, the crash program to develop an atomic bomb, which was successfully exploded in the New Mexico desert in July 1945. After the war, Oppenheimer was a chief advisor to the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission, using the position to lobby for international control of atomic energy and to avert a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He angered many politicians with his outspoken political opinions during the McCarthy era. Eventually, he had his security clearance revoked in a much-publicized and heavily politicized hearing in 1954. In that hearing, the lukewarm endorsement of Dr. Edward Teller, developer of the Hydrogen bomb, proved especially damaging to Oppenheimer. Teller's relationship with many colleagues was damaged, as well.

Waterston's performance as Oppenheimer is stunning: revealing subtle aspects of the physicist's personality that only a wonderfully realized performance can provide. His large supporting cast, playing the famous scientists surrounding Oppenheimer, is equally superb. Especially noteworthy is David Suchet (Poirot) as the complex, enigmatic Edward Teller, carefully avoiding portraying the 'heavy' or malign presence he might easily have become. Edward Hardwicke is Enrico Fermi, playing his brilliance with a touch of humor. Kate Harper is a poignant Jean Tatlock. Manning Redwood is Gen. Leslie Groves, the military leader of the project, in charge of a group of unruly scientists he regards as flakes, prima donnas and security risks. The entire ensemble cast is magnificent.

This seven hour series is one of the finest ever shown on American television. Our world was created out of these events, they are impossible to overdramatize. From science to world affairs, this series has it all. The events depicted here are enthralling. Most strongly recommended.

Mike Birman.

I copied all seven episodes off-air when it first aired in 1982. I have watched the entire series so many times that the tapes are wearing out. The program absolutely makes Oppenheimer come alive. Casting in general is excellent, with almost every actor looking and behaving just like the person they are playing. The actor playing Edward Teller looks more like Teller than Teller himself. Sam Waterston, one of the finest character actors in America, captures Oppenheimer as well as anyone I could imagine. Of all the actors who have played General Groves (including Paul Newman) this is the only one who doesn't treat the role like a caricature. I teach a course on the history of the atomic bomb every year, and every year I show all seven episodes to my students. They are inevitably riveted by the experience. I have been looking for a commercially available version for at least 10 years. Please reissue the series on DVD before my VHS tapes completely disintigrate.

I watched this television series in 1982 and again in 1983. I was spellbound. Sam Waterson was brilliant as the flawed genius; all the supporting cast were perefect for their roles.. The storytelling was paced just right, and there was enough technical information to make it educational as well. The tension between the military and their almost Keystone cops attempt to stop scientists chattering was a very good sub-plot. The later descent into the MacCarthy era, the bizarre suspension of his security clearance.....PLEASE PLEASE if there is anyone out there listening, release this series on DVD. I am sure there must be at least 10000 others like me.

Dr Munchi Choksey

Yes, yes, this was an engrossing seven-part series, originally appearing on the BBC in 1981 and imported to the U.S. in 1982 as a PBS "American Playhouse" presentation. I saw it again a few years later on the A&E channel, I believe (where it was not a little diminished by frequent commercial interruptions and time compression techniques), and I have kicked myself many times since for not having caught it on videotape during its initial broadcast. I'd love to be able to purchase it on DVD now.

It was directed by Barry Davis, produced by Peter Goodchild, and written by Peter Prince. Sam Waterston gave one of the great performances of his career (so far) as the brilliant, driven, politically savvy, and ultimately tragic J. Robert Oppenheimer. The cast also included David Suchet as Edward Teller, Kate Harper as Jean Tatlock, Garrick Hagon as Oppie's brother Frank, Jana Sheldon as Kitty Harrison, Edward Hardwicke as Enrico Fermi, Matthew Guinness as Hans Bethe, Colin Bennett as Seth Neddermeyer, Barry Dennen as Isidor Rabi, Bob Sherman as Ernest Lawrence, and, memorably, Manning Redwood as General Leslie Groves.

The production has been rightly criticized for taking liberties with the historical record, for caricaturing many of the principals - dumbing down Groves, for instance, and villifying the architects of Oppenheimer's postwar fall from power - and for manufacturing dramatic material to fill gaps in what is known to have happened. But that's what you're going to get with a docudrama: it's not supposed to be viewed as archival footage. Oppenheimer's career was a critical part of the twentieth century, and the miniseries format only gives you time to write a short story, not a biography. This miniseries succeeded to the extent that it captivated me while I watched it and it induced me to pursue the biography afterward.

I've been looking for a home video release of this excellent mini-series for over 20 years. I had a similar obsession for Alec Guiness' "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and it was finally released on DVD. I believe the producers could release "Oppenheimer" starring Sam Waterston in the home video market and sell it for a premium. Put me down for the first copy...

I remember the series done in the early 80's. It actually inspired me to read all the books I could find on Oppenheimer. Please have this series released on DVD. I'd bet there are many people who are still facinated by Oppenheimer and would purchase this series. If I recall the portrayal was excellent as was the historical accuracy- JT

2004 marked the Centennial of Oppenheimer's birth. The release of this title on DVD is long overdue, and will provide a complement to the recent publication of the first 3 full length biographies of Oppenheimer, by a spectrum of recognized authorities in the field

J Robert Oppenheimer: A Life by the physicist Abraham Pais, who has previously done books on Einstein and Bohr,
J Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century by the historian of science David Cassidy who has done a biography of Werner Heisenberg,
American Prometheus by 2 prominent historians of the Bomb and the Cold War, Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird.
The science writer Jeremy Bernstein has a new book, Oppenheimer, Portrait of an Enigma, which was a previously unpublished, extended magazine profile.
The Cold War historian Gregg Herken has also contributed a volume on the Brotherhood of the Bomb( Oppenheimer, Lawrence and Teller).

Lastly, the papers presented at the Oppenheimer Centennial Conference held at UC Berkeley in May of 2004 have been collected and published, as have several more recent analyses of the Oppenheimer security hearing(by Richard Polenberg and Priscilla MacMillan,respectively.
A play, In the Matter of J Robert Oppenheimer( also the title of the actual published transcripts of the security hearing) based upon the hearings, originally performed in the 1960's, is being revived off Broadway this year.

With all of the aforementioned renewed interest in this brilliant, complex, and controversial scientist, who ushered in the atomic age, and later became one its most important philosophers, we now have a long awaited DVD issue of this dramatic series, based upon the book( or perhaps vice versa) of Peter Goodchild: J Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds. This was a joint production of the BBC/WGBH ( fitting, as was the Manhattan Project a joint American/British effort ), starring Sam Waterston as JRO. Although the script took some liberties with dialogue, it was for the most part accurate, both historically, and, insofar as was possible, in that it was dealing with a subject based upon still classified material, scientifically. It alludes to a large FBI file on Oppenheimer, which I believe was becoming more available at the time of production, and an invaluable source for historians.
The 7 episodes follow Oppenheimer from his Berkeley days to Los Alamos where the bomb was built and tested, to Princeton and Washington,where he held court after the War, as the director of the Institute of Advanced Studies( where he was Einstein's boss)and a consultant to the AEC as the nation's premier advisor on atomic energy, through the beginning of his exile following the stripping of his security clearance. The drama is especially good on both the deliberations of the Interim Committee, which discussed the possible uses of the bomb once it was to be finished, as well as the Security Hearing which led to the stripping of Oppenheimer's clearance. Notable performances are given by both Sam Waterston, as Oppenheimer, and Manning Redwood as Groves. David Suchet is also memorable as Edward Teller.
I trust that Amazon will be dying for you all to run out and buy the books mentioned above, as well a other videos associated with this topic:

The Day After Trinity: a documentary history of Oppenheimer and the Bomb
Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped an ABC News Documentary very well done by Peter Jennings
Lifting the Fog: The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

These feature the contributions of prominent historians/biographers such as John Dower, Gar Alperovitz, Samuel Walker,William Lanouette, and perhaps the world's foremost historian on the Atomic Bomb, Barton Bernstein of Stanford, who's lectures were a model of precision, clarity,nuance, comprehensiveness,and expertise, which captivated me during my senior year in college, and still do to this day.

There is also a forthcoming documentary from the BBC. Hiroshima

Hiroshima: a 3 hour dramatic film which is Japanese production focusing on both the historical events as well as the American and Japanese deliberations from the death of Roosevelt to the Japanese surrender in the wake of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Day One: a TV movie based upon the book of the same name by Peter Wyden. It begins with Leo Szilard taking the last train out of Berlin and shortly thereafter conceiving the idea of nuclear fission/chain reaction while watching light signals change as he crosses a London street, and ends with Oppenheimer addressing his colleagues about the necessity of post war control of atomic energy, and the dangers of nuclear proliferation. This is currently unavailable, but I can recommend it as worthy of being issued. Particularly good for the reactions of Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy and Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower to the bombings, even though these later writings or interviews are moved into the context of the immediate aftermath of the bombings.

I would recommend these outstanding sources of information and commentary especially in the wake of the shameful episode involving the cancellation of the proposed Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian in 1995. What was intended to be a thoughtful exploration of the questions, issues, and events concerning the end of the war and the atomic bombings of Japan, which degenerated into a one sided, grotesque shouting match directed at the historical advisory committee to the exhibit, by the Air Force Association, a lobbying group which purported to represent the sensibilities of WWII veterans who they claimed thought the exhibit to be disrespectful to the memory of their service. One can make up one's own mind on this question by reading the proposed scripts of the exhibit( which the AFA demanded be suppressed), as well as a history of the controversy written by it's curator in the following:

An Exhibit Denied by Martin Harwitt
Judgement at the Smithsonian by Philip Nobile (including a comprehensive analysis of the affair by the aforementioned Barton Bernstein)

Mark Borowsky, M.D.

I have been waiting for this DVD ever since the series aired over 20 years ago on PBS. I have been shocked that there have been no re-runs on PBS of this series portraying the contributions of Robert Oppenheimer to the development of the A bomb and his political punishment for working against the Hydrogen bomb. Oppenheimer is one of the most remarkable people of the 20th century and this DVD demonstrates the political price he paid for opposing Ed Teller and the other war mongers after 1945. I can't wait to see this again. I believe that this was Waterston's finest role and makes his appearances on Law and Order pale in comparison.

I saw this series on PBS when it came out and I have always thought that American Playhouse made the most accurate portrayal of the characters and the events at Los Alamos during the war. I have wished for this series to be released on DVD for many years. I will certainly be one of the first to buy it.

This wonderful film is now available through Amazon UK for only 15 Pounds! It is in the UK format but those in the know realize a number of US DVD players can be converted to this format with a simple software command. From the other reviews it should be evident what an ejoyable presentation of the life of Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb story this is. Enjoy.