I haven't been this excited since I was a kid to see a movie. Oppenheimer finally comes this weekend.
- Thread starter Mr. Potter
- Start date
I'm reading the book right now and trying to rush thru before seeing the movie. Lovin it so far. I just visited the K-25 plant History Center, in Oak Ridge TN, which is where they manufactured Uranium 235 for the first atomic bomb. So this is coming at the perfect time for me. Oddly enough the town built around the site there was called Happy Valley, but it was anything but that.
Last edited:
I hope this movie is better than Dunkirk.
A very good (I thought) interview with Heisenberg's biographer David Cassidy. Groves chose Oppenheimer, insisted on him.
Last edited:
I felt the same way when Debbie Does Dallas came out!!
I think I would probably enjoy this movie. Alas. I’m going with my wife and daughters tonight to see the Barbie movie. For my birthday.
The song during the last scene in Debbie Does Dallas gets stuck in my head. I wanted to steal the riff.
I had not known this: Oppenheimer was shot in 57 days.
Realistically, once they set off the nuclear bomb, they weren’t going to yell, ”Cut! Let’s run it again!”
I would be curious to see some behind the scenes info for how Nolan shot this one. He is known for not screwing around and really does a good job with practical effects when possible. In Tenet for example, they bought an old 747 plane and crashed it into a building instead of using CGI.
No CGI for Oppenheimer, I understand. Nolan doesn’t use storyboards, either.
The opening scenes of Dark Knight (bank heist) and Dark Knight Rises (mid-air kidnapping) are incredible uses of practical effects.
And the Inception hallway fight scene. I love Nolan movies, I wish we had many more directors like him.
Computer-generated imagery - Wikipedia
Go see it. An outstanding film and more a study of the rise and downfall of “Oppy”. The entire cast was outstanding and especially the leads (Murphy, Blunt, and, wow to Robert Downey, Jr!). It is a sobering film because of what it led to for the world.
About the “downfall” of Oppenheimer, it was political more than anything else. He retained the respect of the scientific community and wasn’t canceled in the sense we understand today; he was named director of the Institute of Advanced Study in 1947 and retained this position through the Strauss hearings. He was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award in 1963, pretty much JFK’s final official act. Oppenheimer was wronged, no question about this, but he continued to be a respected voice in the scientific community. Strauss didn’t fare as well but f him. Teller found himself with very few scientific friends after he turned on Oppenheimer.
They were a pack of jackals for sure.The last portion of the film focused on Oppenheimer’s betrayal.
I have a goodly number of scientific biographies, Feynman, Heisenberg, Hilbert, Nash, Turing, Godel, Einstein, Ramanujan. (The Man Who Knew Infinity is one of the greatest books ever.) For whatever reason, I’ve avoided reading American Prometheus and have to ask myself why. I’m seeing the movie next week open captioned, and will try to read the book before that.
Godel is in the movie. Makes sense, IAS. Godel was as weird a character as found anywhere.
Everyone in the movie is a superstar. It warms my heart that Seth Neddermeyer will be front and center.
Last edited:
Why did they shoot him and why did it take so long?
I recommend this flic. In my opinion, Robert Downy Jr, Emily Blunt, and Cillian will all receive nominations for Oscars. Of course the book was excellent and the film within three hours captured exactly how rudedude summed it up the rise and downfall of Opp. Excellent film. On the way out all of the kids and Mom's that came to watch Barbi was an event in and of itself.
Shabbat Shalom
Shabbat Shalom
I’m really looking forward to it. A few days ago I tried buying tickets for this weekend and there were only single seats available here and there. I’m tied up next weekend, so I may need to wait until early august to see it. I’m holding out for an IMAX showing.
Lion Jim wrote "About the “downfall” of Oppenheimer, it was political more than anything else." I disagree. Oppenheimer's security clearance was pulled because his wife and mistress were both members of the Communist Party USA, which were under the control of the USSR. How do I know the CPUSA was under the control of USSR. In 1939 to 1941 there position was that WW2 was a fight between capitalist countries and the USA should stay out and not support either camp. That changed in June 1941 when Germany invaded USSR and now the party called for the USA to get into the war and open a second front. Since the fall of the USSR we know that there was several leaks between the project and the USSR. Oppenheimer himself may have been a member of the party.
So it may have been political in the sense the he was for communism and against capitalism.
So it may have been political in the sense the he was for communism and against capitalism.
Murphy is an interesting guy - very much not part of the Hollywood establishment. Has zero social media, plays in a band, very selective about which parts he takes (he’s a Nolan player though and in ant least half his films), etc. Read a story once where he was living in England and noticed his kids started to get English accents so he promptly moved everyone back to Ireland.
Take it up with Groves. Nothing changed between 1945 and the Strauss hearings. Oppenheimer’s connections with the CPUSA were well known at the time of his appointment as director of the Manhattan Project (Oppenheimer never tried to hide it), but Groves vouched for him. It’s my understanding that the only other serious candidate for director was Ernest Lawrence, and Oppenheimer’s theoretical chops won the day.
There is zero evidence that Oppenheimer was in cahoots with the Russians, much less Klaus Fuchs. (If there had been, it would have come out in the Strauss hearings.) Richard Rhodes, who wrote The Making of the Atomic Bomb, followed up with Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, and this book makes it clear that Teller’s opposition to Oppenheimer was due in zero part to suspicions of Oppenheimer’s supposed disloyalty to the United States. Teller took this stand because Oppenheimer was pushing against Teller’s baby, the H-Bomb. Crudely put, Teller wanted Oppenheimer out of the way.
Dark Sun is terrific about Klaus Fuchs and the Rosenbergs, very highly recommended.
Last edited:
"Oppenheimer had a deep fascination with Sanskrit and ancient Hindu texts, including the Bhagavad Gita. A quote from the Gita, "Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds," played a significant role in the film as it did in Oppenheimer's real life when he witnessed the atomic bomb's power"
Also, I. I. Rabi in Dark Sun, paraphrased: Oppenheimer was already out of government in 1954, no more than a consultant at the pleasure of the DoD. If the government thought he was a security risk, then don’t consult him, problem solved.
I'll have to wait on the movie until i can stream it. Because of my hearing problem, The only way I can watch anything on the screen is with head phones & subtitled.
Get unlimited access today.