Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) - full transcript

At ease.

Move it, move it, move it!

One, two, three.

For he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow

For he's a jolly good fellow
Which nobody can deny! Hoorah!

Boy, those Japs better watch out
for you, sir. Good luck.

The Corps of Engineers
is gonna miss you, sir.

- Thank you, gentlemen. Bronson.
- Sir.

I built this place,
so I'll be glad to eat it.

Well done, sir.

You're a lucky man.
Give those Japs hell.



Thank you, Thomas.

Indeed, I will.

Sir!

I'm losing my chance
to get out from behind a desk

- and lead men in combat!
- Colonel Groves, forget it. This has...

Even Bronson
wants to head for the front.

Forget about the front.
You're an engineer.

You're gonna fight your war here.

Is this what you're assigning me to,
this boondoggle? Dead end?

This dead end, Groves, has the
personal backing of the president.

This is not what I was promised,
not what I expected.

Then bone up on it.
Head to Chicago, talk to the scientist.

If it looks possible, run with it.

Take whoever you want. Have
whatever you need. Just make it work.



Who knows, you might just win
this war on your own.

Pick up a star on the way.

...fighting for, and they are reported
to be giving the Germans hell.

Though these losses represent the
most serious setbacks for the Allies

in this war
against the Nazi enemy.

Bad news, too,
from the war in the Pacific.

We have just had confirmation of
the sinking of three US cruisers.

Names are being withheld.
The casualties are high.

Come in!

Reports of an early-morning raid
by Japanese dive-bombers...

In here.
In here!

- Szard?
- Szilard.

General Groves, I was expecting you.
Come in! Come in!

Forgive me.
Sometimes I get stuck in here.

Metaphorically.

I've read this.

- Is it possible?
- You couldn't put a little more hot in,

could you?

And I'm not very good at fairy tales,
so just give me the happy ending.

What I wrote is possible,
probably inevitable.

Separate uranium 235,
then arrange for two portions

of the element to be brought together
suddenly, so that the resulting mass,

no bigger than this, general,

undergoes a spontaneous
self-generating reaction.

And if this was the epicenter
of that explosion...

...all of Chicago you could see
from here would disintegrate.

Hallelujah.

At the moment, all we have
are theories, concepts, inspirations,

- inconclusive results...
- Now, if we can make this device,

- so can the Krauts.
- Yes.

Germany has the scientific capability.

And, general,
we need leadership here.

- I can help!
- Thank you.

You need an ally, general!

- So tell us about this general.
- Why?

Because it's so mysterious.

"Meet me in the middle
of God-knows-where.

"Be there no earlier than 4:20,
no later than 4:29."

Well, word has it

he's a provincial windbag

who's spent most of his life
digging holes in Latin America.

- Graves for the natives, no doubt.
- Oh, Frank.

Seriously, Kitty, after all,
Robert's a scientist.

If the Army wants him,
they'll want all of him.

All of him?
Why not take all of him?

Look, I have to at least hear
what he has to offer.

- Robert, must we go so fast?
- Yes!

- It's crazy.
- Yes! Yes!

This way, Dr. Oppenheimer.

Doctor!

Up here!

Groves, Leslie. Friends call me Dick.
Sit down.

Ingenuity.

I love it.
Created out of nothing but up here.

Clear!

The old man likes his privacy,
doesn't he?

Guess what.

- The egghead wants a carrot juice.
- Get him what he wants, Bronson!

Get used to it.

What an eight ball this guy is.

Seems this Oppenheimer's
a hot number.

Says here, he's got more damn brains
than are decent.

He knows it too. Temperamental. He
ain't gonna be an easy horse to corral.

Oh, I think the general
knows what he's doing.

Oppenheimer ain't one of us.

The general picks that guy,
he'll be making a mistake.

It needs to get pulled together.

So I think you're the man for the job.

And I got a weakness for good men.

The Krauts are working on this,
full bore.

If they get it before we do,
I don't have to spell it out.

Where would you start?

Focus.

You have great minds,
but all dancing to a different tune.

You bring them together in one place,
isolate them, no distractions.

You create an atmosphere
of creative stress.

Everyone competing
to solve one problem.

And you have one ringmaster.

Right now, it's all over the place.
You centralize everything.

There is a hitch.

There are people out there
don't like the color of your politics.

My politics...

...are an open book.

Well, I hope so.

You could win a war
and the Nobel Prize, God willing.

Sir, Major de Silva
wanted me to remind you

you've got a train to catch
at 1800 hours.

No rest for the wicked.

Oh, doctor.

If you take this on,
I say this in all humility, intellect...

...don't outrank that.

This general is a meatball,
a cipher.

He'd be eating out of the palm
of my hand in a week.

So will you accept?

There are questions.
There are a kaleidoscope of questions.

I see.

Well, I'm a star
at breakfast small talk.

You'll have to save some for evenings if
you're gonna be wife of the big cheese.

Would this mean moving?

Oh, you have to say yes.

You're too brilliant for Berkeley.

Michelangelo's The Creation
of Adam. Origin and destiny.

Origins and destiny.

The struggle to unearth the one
and to discover the other.

That is science!

And as I leave here
to unravel my own small destiny,

I congratulate each of you
on being the best of the best.

I have faith in you all.

God keep you, and may your lives
be rich and sweet.

- Thank you.
- We'll miss you, Oppie!

We'll miss you, Oppie!

Good luck, Oppie!

Hurry up!
Move it, move it!

Let's move that thing out back.

Sir!

- Good afternoon, sir.
- Give me the good news, Jack.

We've got utilities on
throughout camp.

We've got the sewage problem taken
care of. We have water throughout.

- Got the two science buildings...
- Not good enough.

We gotta be
a couple of weeks behind.

You know, I got a bunch
of scientists up there.

They're just wandering,
bumping into each other.

Get some bodies in here. In a week,
I wanna be two weeks ahead.

I don't think we have
accommodations, sir.

Why would they want
accommodations?

You think they'll sleep?

All right, get some tents,
but put it on your EOR.

Didn't I ask for dogs
around that perimeter fence?

- Yes, sir.
- I don't see any.

They're coming, general.

So...

...whatever goes on around here
is privileged information.

No exceptions. No wives, no barbers.
No exceptions!

What you see,

what you hear, what you read,
what you dream about,

whatever...

...gives you heartburn or feeds your
ulcers, whatever gives you the sweats,

keeps you up at night, whatever,

all of that...

...belongs to the United States Army.

Or to me, if that makes you feel
more comfortable.

Now, you gotta come down
out of the clouds, gentlemen,

and get into the business
of winning a war.

I'm gonna say it once.
I'm only gonna say it once.

Those of you who know, know.
Those of you who don't, don't.

You are not here to be comfortable.

All right?

You are here

to go beyond the theoretical,

the speculative, the fanciful.

You are here to harness
your God-given talents,

your minds, your energy,

in the practical pursuit of one thing:

A military weapon.

Nuclear one.

An atomic bomb.

Keep the muttering
to just a minimum, gentlemen.

Why bother with a bomb?
Why not just drop that man on Berlin?

- When you talk about it...
- It will have the same effect.

...it will be referred to as "the gadget"
or "the device".

Is that clear?

There is one word
that I don't wanna hear.

And that's the word "impossible".

- You're two days late.
- I went to 109 East Palace Street

to report to Mrs. McKibben,
but there was nobody there.

So I hopped a construction bus, and it
damn near drove me back to Chicago.

I've been sitting on trains, buses,

railway stations for 60 hours.

I asked about this place in Santa Fe,
and they said it didn't exist.

It doesn't.

So where does a fellow
get some chow around here, huh?

- We already ate.
- Oh, great.

Oh, if you wanna take a shower,
I'd take one now.

They turn off the water at 2:00.

Keep those two men back there.
We still gotta run the power through.

Yeah, you two men there!

Higher! A little more.

All right, that'll do it.

Open this door, now!

Sorry. I couldn't get in.

Give it a month, you'll do that
because you can't get out.

- You Merriman?
- Yeah.

Richard Schoenfield.
I'm the doctor around here.

You're just what I'm looking for
in a roommate, a little brute strength.

Holy shit!

- What in God's name is this?
- It looks like a fridge.

Oh, yeah, it does.

It looks stuck.

I guess you arrived just in time then.
Thank God you're here.

Which end would you like?

Are you ready?

- You want me to get it myself?
- Lift.

Oppie's boys.
No problem left unsolved.

Gentlemen, this project
has been separated into three areas.

The physics.
How much material do we need?

Should it be plutonium
or uranium 235?

Second, manufacture of material,
but that's out of our hands.

That's Oak Ridge, Tennessee
and Hanford. And third,

our responsibility,
and this is a cinch...

Yeah, sure.

...build the device, test it,
and just hope that we can control it.

Gentlemen, we are here...

...at the beginning.
Our objective is here.

We have a deadline of 19 months.

19 months?
It seems such a short time.

19 months coincides
with our anticipated delivery date

from Oak Ridge. Gentlemen,
we have 19 months, that's it...

...to box, wrap
and deliver this package.

Are there any dissenters?

No?

Good.

Nineteen months
and starting from scratch, Jesus.

Still, Oppie's got the best theoreticians
and engineers in the world.

Some of these guys are legends and
so young. The place is a hothouse.

Doc, he seems like
he's gonna be a good man.

Reckons we'll be working with funny
stuff. He's gonna be looking out for us.

He's got a whole wing of the hospital
that looks like Noah's Ark.

I think of Jimmy fighting in the
Philippines, and I can't complain.

I love you, but I gotta go.
General wants a progress report.

When Groves wants something,
he wants it now.

Again.

We build a cannon, and at the end

weld a stopper
made from a subcritical mass.

We fabricate a shell
made from another subcritical mass

and fire it down the barrel.

- How much of both materials?
- Projecting 30 pounds.

30 pounds is as far away
as the moon.

We're trying to tap the energy
that fuels the universe.

It's petrifying. All we've got
so far are problems,

and that doesn't include the ones
we haven't thought about.

Shake down the bad news.
I'm getting used to it.

At the moment, there are
two problems. Pre-detonation.

The gadget disintegrates
before it explodes.

Second, it's the weight problem.

For the slug to travel at the velocity
we need,

the gun barrel
would be so heavy, so thick,

I don't think we'd get the gadget
off the ground with a crane.

If they're talking about a slug
with a seven-inch diameter,

then you'd have to have a barrel
thickness of at least four inches.

I hope you guys find the music.

The way things are,
we can't even hum the tune.

Free discussion.
Two groups...

- I'm not comfortable with...
- Excuse me.

Seth, Deke, the gun barrel.
Robert, Michael, pre-detonation.

Damn it! Just, damn it!
Maybe it's the altitude.

But we're still just chalk
on a blackboard.

We're dead in the water.

Maybe we cast a lighter
gun barrel, find a new alloy.

The force would be too great.

We gotta smack these atoms together
to trigger a chain reaction.

We gotta concentrate the energy
and crush the mass.

All right, let's rethink this.

We have a gun barrel that's so heavy
we can't lift it with a plane.

To get the explosive power we need,
it's gotta be heavy.

Michael, come here!

When I squeeze this...

- ... what do I get?
- Juice.

No. I squeeze it, I get compression.

We get a hollow sphere
of plutonium,

and we compress it
with an explosion that goes in.

- An implosion.
- Chain reaction.

Boom!

- But, Seth, explosives go out.
- I know.

But we make one that goes in.

Jesus.

- Michael.
- Let's get the boys.

We'll meet down here in the canteen.

It's brilliant. The device is gonna be so
light that we don't need a gun barrel!

Got a match, soldier?

Sir, it's Michael and Seth!

I'm sorry to bother you.

But Seth had an idea.
He was thinking of an orange.

Yes, I was thinking of jumping
up and down on an orange.

- Crushing an orange.
- Crushing!

Crushing... the core.

Oh, God.
This could be very sweet.

- Where are the others?
- Canteen, they wanna kick it around.

- Perhaps it can wait till later?
- No, you go ahead.

- I'd have lost you anyway.
- Thank you.

Goddamn it.

Doctor!

- Come on!
- Double up, over here!

I'm sorry. We were looking for testing
sites and the bus got stuck.

You had a meeting last night.
You discussed the work in public.

We were discussing
Neddermeyer's...

- In public!
- A table in the back of the canteen.

- We were having a free discussion.
- Let's just talk about that.

I don't want free discussion.
I want compartmentalization.

I don't want theoreticians
knowing what engineers know.

- Listen to me...
- It is a security problem!

These kids are used to pinning
their best ideas on a board.

Ideas are community property.
It's a matter of principle.

You force my hand and there
won't be any free discussion

because there won't be anybody left
to have it!

If you'd been there you'd understand.
Neddermeyer's idea was brilliant.

An explosion that goes inwards,

producing uniform compression
in a core and it'd be lightweight.

No gun barrel,
no velocity and weight problem.

And all of that
out of free discussion.

You've got to give us room
to breathe.

- Bronson?
- Sir?

Just don't give it to the waitresses.

Oppie's quite a match
for the general.

I'm worried it's not in Groves' nature
to rest until he gets the upper hand.

We're terrified the Germans
are ahead.

Working with restrictions
and regulations is setting us on edge.

This is typical.
We are people, not numbers!

It's not part of the agreement,
general.

I apologize for complaints,
but barbed wire,

dogs, guards!

- Security badges!
- Secrets!

I hoped to leave these things in Italy
with Mussolini!

Openness is a principle
matter for scientists!

And there are many other things.
I resent my letters are being censored.

The FBI talking to me, that's one
thing. But my wife, my family,

that's a little much.
Don't you think?

We cannot continue work
under these conditions!

- Doctor.
- And what about...?

Well, that is some monkey house
in there.

A mess.
What are you gonna do about it?

I warned you about this.

Look, you give me responsibility
for security inside the lab.

We go where we like, as we like,
when we like.

Outside the lab, that's yours.

I will sell them on that.

I don't like it.
But I will live with it, for now.

The 8th Air Force today

carried out its heaviest bombing
of the war against Germany.

Michael! Michael. What do you say?
Good to see you.

- How are you?
- I brought Kathleen with me.

I was afraid this party would be
a little short on the beauty side,

so I took the appropriate precautions,
if you know what I'm saying.

- I mean, she is my favorite nurse.
- You two gonna get together?

No. No, we're not.
Actually, I'm gonna get a drink.

That's what I'm gonna get. A good
stiff drink, that's all I'm gonna get.

- Two bucks...
- It's a short bet.

- Like I said...
- This is stuck.

...it can be pretty lonely here.

There's a war on.

Not everybody can go to Acapulco.

- Oh, my.
- Are you OK?

Good.
Thank you.

Look, they're perfect.

Another minute,
they would have been overdone.

Well, I'll put this in the sink.

- Would you like some orange juice?
- Yes, kindly.

- I am sorry.
- Oh, don't worry about it.

- This will be taken care of.
- It's OK.

Anyway, I'm sure
we're going to be allies, general.

We're both trying to seduce
the same man.

So is there a Mrs. Groves?

Yes, there is.

And she has the courage
to stay in the background.

Some men are on the planet
for a purpose, Mrs. Oppenheimer.

A good wife recognizes that
and is happy to smooth the way.

Read my theory
on degenerate matter, did you?

It didn't generate
much enthusiasm elsewhere.

But what do you think we'll find
at the end of the tunnel, Michael?

- A martini.
- Probably.

Hey!

- Operator.
- Berkeley 5558, please.

Hello, Jean.
It's me.

- Jean, I know you're there.
- I'd given up waiting.

I'm sorry.
I wasn't able to manage...

Oppie, I've been so frightened.

You don't phone. You don't write.
Not even a message.

- I can't.
- You can't?

No, Jean, I can't.

- Are you coming?
- Well...

- When are you coming?
- Jean.

This isn't talking.
This is just making noises.

Why don't we just grunt
at each other?

- "I gotta run. There's a war to win."
- Jean.

I can't remember a day
I wasn't hurting, except with you.

Jean, listen to me.
You've got to understand, please.

Yes?

I won't keep you, general.

Well, you better had.

Banging on my door
at 2:00 in the morning.

I had this typed up, sir.
I thought you'd wanna see it.

She's working him over, general.
I've seen this before.

That grunting at each other,
could be a code.

- The cipher clerk said it's not code.
- Who is this woman?

Jean Tatlock, sir.
She's a known communist.

Get me her background.

And maybe I am missing some stuff
on the good doctor.

- Get it for me.
- Yes, sir.

This must throw Oppenheimer's
position on this project into doubt, sir.

- Dr. Oppenheimer is the project.
- Yes, sir.

All due respect, sir, though, doesn't
this make him an unacceptable risk?

No! Failure's a risk.

The thing that concerns me is,
if he's with her, he's not with us.

It might be a good time
to put the screws to the doctor.

Yes, sir. May I ask,
how do you intend to do that, sir?

No, colonel, you may not.

- Compression not uniform.
- Stand by!

If we had a thinner wall, we could
increase the compression, yes?

Seth, there's an answer here.

Oppie, maybe implosion's
just a blind alley.

- Are we going again?
- Yes!

- That's an excuse for not thinking...
- We'll get reset.

All clear!
Reset the charges!

Reset the charges!

- We got all clear! Let's go!
- Let's move!

- Move it!
- On the double! On the double! Go!

- Move it! Move it!
- Bring it in! Left side! Left side!

Come on!
Get the lead out!

On the double, guys!
Let's go!

Canyon to Los Alamos.

Come in, Los Alamos.

Canyon to Los Alamos.

Come in, Los Alamos. Come in.

- Something set off the detonators.
- Stay back! They're wired in series.

Get out of there!

- No, Oppie.
- Shit.

It's all right.

Take it easy, brother.

Thanks a lot.

Do me a favor.
Jump in the ambulance.

Let me give you
the once-over.

You guys are playing
with some funny stuff out here.

Let's go. Start them up.

Did they teach you that at high school?

You took a risk.

I ran out and grabbed the guy.
I didn't even think.

- Just instinct.
- Instinct, huh?

You know, I wonder,
with this war...

...if it's instinct to save a man,
what makes us want to kill one?

Is that instinct?

You sound like my old man.

Why, what's he like?

- My old man?
- Yeah.

He's a preacher.

In Jackson, Illinois.

And I got an older brother,
Jimmy, and he's a soldier.

My mom's dead.

I don't know, I guess he's kind of
hurt that I'm not at the front.

- Why?
- Well, Jackson is a small town.

- He said, "Where you going?"
- I said, "Santa Fe, New Mexico."

- I know.
- So that didn't quite hack it.

He said,
"If you're not gonna be a soldier,

"you better be a good scientist.
The best."

- Are you the best?
- I was in Chicago.

But these guys are so bright.

Sometimes I feel like
I'm in over my head.

But I guess I can handle
anything they throw at me.

But can you dance?

Pardon me?

I said, can you dance?

- Yeah.
- Well, do it.

- Are you serious?
- Can't handle it?

Very nice.

- Something like that.
- Very good.

Jean Tatlock, graduated in 1932.

They had a thing together
before Oppenheimer was married.

Seems Tatlock ran off.

Things went on the back burner
between them till 1942.

Then it all started up again.

His associate said, "If the wife's
his ambition, Tatlock's his conscience."

She introduced him to a number of
anti-fascist groups, anti-Franco groups

and a number of communists.

- Bronson.
- Sir.

Little less muscle on the gas here.
Colonel's starting a mission.

I'd like him alive.

Yes, sir.

This makes Oppenheimer
a sitting duck for blackmail.

I'm gonna insist on his removal.

No, you're not. Just relax.

You know, major, if you want
to lead a man in a certain direction,

you don't drag him by the nose.

You just close off his options.

Simple as a truck.

Here we are in the top of the ninth.

The Army down
to the Scientists by one run.

Dugan shakes it off.
Here's Merriman's pitch.

That's a hit.

Dugan digging for first base,
gonna go for two.

Look out. Here's the throw.
Safe at second base on a slide.

Apple scores.
That ties the game.

Yes?

Yes?!

Bad time?

The velocity's still presenting us
with something of a problem.

Who's this bimbo
you're running around with?

- What?
- Do I have to tell you?

I got it on the Q.T.
from somebody who owes me.

What if the next guy
doesn't owe me?

Takes that kind of information
to the wrong guy?

That could be the end of you.
Could be the end of this project.

I don't understand you.

You think you're some kind
of bohemian or something.

Blind-sided.

I never expected to get
blind-sided like this.

And there it is.
A line drive.

Doctor, might I be of assistance?

What about me in all this?
This looks bad.

Reflects on me.
Reflects on my ability to choose men.

I was with this woman before
this project. This is not a new thing.

It's no matter.

I am not comfortable with the idea
that you could sink me.

This is someone that I care about.

She's a communist.

A communist.

Oh, my God.

It would be bad enough if she
were just some...

...sweet young thing from Indiana.

She's a card-carrying communist.

And your job, classified job. What do
I have to do, draw you a map?

Get on the phone, a secure line,
tell her... goodbye!

The pitch. It's a line drive!

It's out of there! It's gone!
Home run for Merriman.

Home run!

- It's all right, Bronson, we'll live.
- Yes, sir.

Well, that's it, folks,
Scientists win the game.

It's in your court.

Bridges, next time keep your head up.

All hail the conquering hero.

Pencil pushers defeat
the doughboys.

Robert!

- Frank.
- Good to see you, bro.

- Are we being followed or something?
- Don't joke.

I nearly asked you for your ID.

- That's ridiculous.
- Let's just leave as soon as we can.

They've been hounding me
for names of every person I've known

who had communist sympathies.

They monitor every move I make.
They listen to my phone conversations.

Why stay?

There's an order to it.

An order in some part of my life,
at least.

I'm sorry, I didn't get your message
till about 5.

I was still at the hospital, and I got
all whizzed up into a huge panic.

You look wonderful.

You look so serious.
What's the matter?

I don't have much time.
I have to go back tonight.

Tonight?

I cooked us dinner.

This can't be about dinner, Jean.

I didn't want to tell you
on the telephone.

And that's why I'm here tonight.

Is it because of what you're doing?

Fine.

We're going to spill the blood
before we get to the cocktails.

Jean?

Please... stay tonight.

Please.

Please.

Please.

Please.

What you're working on,
it's something bad, isn't it?

That's why you can't tell me.

I can't tell you
because it's a secret.

Tell me one good thing
that's a secret.

We were a good thing.

No, we weren't.

Not when you got married.

Give me up for something
I can understand.

Your wife or your child
or your conscience,

something alive.

Not something
that you have to hide.

Robert.

Oh, Robert, I dreamt you'd gone.

So that's what the silences were.

No letters, no contact.

I thought it was me,
something I'd done.

- I've told you it has nothing to do...
- Yes, but you didn't tell me...

What is it you're working on?
What is so important?

That's right. It is important.

So don't be so goddamn arrogant.

Is it arrogant to want
to know where you are?

What's happening to you? To want
to be close to you? To understand?

This was the man I loved.

I loved his dreams.
I loved what he saw but couldn't prove.

I loved the goodness in him.

He was my proof that the world
could be made better.

And if he's dead, I don't want to live.

The world is... different.

It's just not what we
wanted it to be.

It's just not.

You mattered to me so much.

You really did.

She told me that I had
a penchant for destruction.

That I'd lost faith.

Is she wrong?

No.

She's not wrong.

When this war's over, I want
to ride the mesa for six months.

No deadlines.

Nothing.

Thanks, Frank.

He just kissed his brother.

Gotta be a communist.

Set that over there.

Look at it, Oppie, it's twisted.
It's got to be flat.

I think implosion's nothing but a pipe
dream. I'm sorry I thought of it.

I can't do it.

Oppie, some way I have to focus...
I have to focus the shock waves.

Look at me!
God, I'm running out of ideas.

That's an excuse for not thinking.
If you can't, I'll find somebody else.

Oppie? Serber needs
you back at the lab right now.

- Oppie?
- You said it yourself.

Focus. Somebody's working on a way
to focus an explosive shock wave.

- I'm gonna find him. Keep working.
- Jesus!

You know, if Oppie doesn't let up,
he's going to implode.

Inside. Inside.

Good news is the new plutonium
makes lots of neutrons.

But the bad news is the spontaneous
fission rate is way too high.

The reaction will run away with itself.
There will just be a fizzle.

- No explosion.
- You're certain of that, Edward?

- Who did the calculations?
- Serber.

- Himself?
- Serber, personally.

So now plutonium is a problem. That
shifts the emphasis back to U-235.

Of course, Oak Ridge is not able
to produce that in sufficient quantity.

We must go with implosion, but
Neddermeyer has just announced to me

that he and implosion
have just reached a brick wall.

We can't fall behind.

Are you all right, Oppie?

You have a deadline to meet.

Banked almost a billion dollars on you
guys. That's not working on the cheap.

Only thing I want to hear is, "Yes, sir."

Don't talk to me like I haven't given
eight days a week to this project.

I've given up everything.

Don't... Don't give me that.

I don't want to hear
that from the...

I've given up everything.

You know exactly
what I'm talking about.

I don't give a goddamn
that travel was restricted.

It had to be done face to face,
and that's the way I did it.

Latest news
from the fighting front.

American armies are pushing the
Germans back on their own territory.

But fighting is desperate.

The Germans are building up
for a massive counter thrust.

Though the Allies are determined
to hold this new front...

Who's the Lone Ranger?

Explosives wiz.
I don't know about Tonto.

Neddermeyer gave up
on his explosion that goes in.

Not Oppie, though.

He brought in two explosive
experts from the outside.

We struggle on here
in our isolation.

And sometimes the war
seems a long way away.

You want a ride, doc?

Hey, Seth. When did you
get your driver's license?

- You come to see the boys at play?
- Yes.

- Oh, bad news, beautiful.
- Oh, no.

I'm not gonna be able to make
that movie tonight.

I can join you both for a drink.
It would make you happy.

- Sound good?
- Perfect.

Right, right.

Well, I promised the monkey
we'd be cutting a rug anyway.

It's just as well.

Michael, what's wrong with you?

Do you see much of him?

Yes, I like him.

Are you jealous?

Yeah.

You better do something about it.

Tell them I ain't buying.
White House said

there wouldn't be
any account till after the war.

It's so damn tough
to get through to you,

I decided to bring
you my problem.

See the tread on that tire?
Because I sure as hell don't.

Yet that's what my men
are riding around on.

I don't know what kind of deal
you got yourself into, Groves,

but I do care when it cuts
in on my territory.

If I'm gonna move supplies around
the country, I need trucks.

Those trucks run on tires, Dick.

When I hear they ain't moving because
of some tire shortage, I get mad.

When I hear you're the cause
of it, I want to kill.

- We gotta work something...
- No dice. We got a triple-A priority.

White House authority.
We need the product.

You need to know something.

You're getting a lot
of people's backs up.

Let me remind you of something else.
See this?

I count two. You got one.

When this war's over,
that will amount to something.

And, Dick, I hope you get my meaning.

Because, by all that's holy...

...you better have
your ass well-covered.

- Well, Bronson.
- Sir?

- It's all about ass, isn't it?
- Sir?

You kick it or you lick it.

That's what it's all about.

I'm sorry about
my language, Bronson.

But I'm on the limb.

My prima donnas
better come through...

...or you are looking
at a piece of dead meat.

Yes, sir.

- What's this?
- I don't know, sir.

God, almighty.

Is this a stop?

What time is it?
There's no scheduled stop here.

Message for General Groves.

- I'll see what the problem is, sir.
- Message for General Groves.

- Message for General Groves.
- In this way.

General Groves, sir.
This is from Germany.

It was flown in. We wired
ahead to have the train stopped.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

- Colonel.
- General.

Put it in my safe, in the back.

Don't bring it out.

That means the Germans don't
have the bomb. Weren't close.

Sir, is it wise?
I mean, suppressing this?

Well, you tell me, colonel.

It's delicate stuff.

I'm talking about my longhairs,
my prima donnas.

The Jewish element.

Take Hitler out of the equation...
they might just run out of stink.

Why chance it?

We can give this country
the biggest stick in the playground.

And I intend to do that.

And I'll tell you something
about our bunch.

Get them close.

Then they'll go all the way.

They're just not close enough yet.

Yes, sir.

Perhaps you should think of these
wedges as forming part of a shell.

They do redirect the shock waves in
the same way as a lens redirects light.

As a matter of interest, we've
already used the idea in England

for armor-piercing shells.

Pray it works.
We'll be back on schedule.

Heads up.

Watch your backs.

No one ever used high explosives...

...as a precision instrument before.

It's so simple.

It just swings the shock waves
from convex to concave.

- Some orange, hey, Oppie?
- No, after the explosion.

Dr. Oppenheimer.

Dr. Oppenheimer.

A letter for you, sir.

- They said it was important.
- Thank you.

Good luck.

We squeezed it!
Damn it, we got compression!

We're on the way!
The right mix and we're home, Oppie!

We're home free, vindicated!
We're vindicated!

- We got a ball game here.
- Seth, come here!

Next stop, implosion!

Can I come in?

Where is he?

He's out back.

Sitting in the sun
with a blanket on his lap.

Nursing a guilty dick, no doubt.

It is not necessary to be vulgar.

Nothing I say could
approach the vulgarity

of what you're building
in your back yard.

Well, vulgar or not...

...I need him to come
through on this.

He owes it to his country.
He owes it to himself.

He is the best there is. And he
should have whatever he wants.

Don't try to recruit me, general.
You don't need my help.

And spare me your homily on being
a good wife. I know it by heart.

Why did you put up with her
for so long?

Because he's the best there is.
He should have whatever he wants.

I don't live very well alone.

Some people don't.

We all have different ways
of defending our territory.

Concha, you're late.
Peter, hurry up. Didn't I say 2:00?

I'm sorry.

And I am sorry that the news
took so long to get to you.

It just got lost
in the system censors.

You know...

...you can't be responsible
for keeping somebody else alive.

It isn't possible.
It's not to be expected.

I can't work on this anymore.

I don't want to.

And I don't need to.

Germany is finished.

It's just a matter of time.
They can't pull this together.

- You sure?
- I don't want to hear your arguments.

I already know that everything is a risk.

That the war is not over until it's over.

That they're lobbing rockets
all over London.

That Germany is desperate.
That she's resourceful.

If she doesn't get a device,
she could litter England

with radioactive material.
We thought of something similar.

The fact of the matter is...

...they're not as good as we are.
Or are they?

Christ, I've got rats in my skull.

I'm being asked to throw too many
balls in the air at the same time.

When I feel like that,
I get down on my knees...

...and I pray.

And that's how I get conviction.

If you let this slip through your fingers,
through our fingers,

and somebody else gets it...

...you won't be counting how many
balls you throw in the air.

If you need the fire, you find it.

Wherever.

At last, some good news.

Apparently, sufficient uranium is
beginning to arrive from Oak Ridge.

But, as brilliant as he is, Oppie's
beginning to show the strain.

We all depend on Oppie.

He's our inspiration.

If he were to crack, we'd all fall apart.

Beautiful, isn't it, Michael?
Just think...

...a few miles closer to the sun,
a few miles farther away,

none of this would be here.
Just a cloud of gas

or a block of ice
and nobody to enjoy it.

"Odi et amor",
"I hate and I love."

- Catullus. Do you know it?
- No.

I hate and I love
Why, you ask? I don't know

I feel both
And I'm in agony

Maybe General Groves is right. Maybe
we should just banish thinking forever.

Michael, we have to test
the critical mass.

- Are you going to help?
- Of course.

I want to show you something.

Come here to see our little toy, huh?

Michael, that's what we call
tickling the dragon's tail.

So a slug of uranium
about two by six inches

will be pulled by this weight.

It begins here, then accelerates
at 32 feet per second per second.

It passes between uranium bricks.
We have an instant of criticality.

For a split second,
we have a chain reaction.

As close as we come
to an atomic explosion in the lab.

- Without blowing up.
- Exactly.

It's essential to determine the amount
of material the device needs.

Ten years ago I could
hardly imagine the stuff.

Ten years.

Each molecule collected
out of the air, one by one.

Hello?

What?

I have the rare privilege
of speaking for a victorious army

of almost five million fighting men.

They and the women
who have so ably assisted them

constitute the Allied
Expeditionary Force

that has liberated Western Europe.

They have destroyed
or captured enemy armies

totaling more than their own strength

and swept triumphantly forward
over the hundreds of miles

separating Cherbourg from L?beck,

Leipzig and Munich.

These startling successes
have not been bought

without sorrow and suffering.

In this theater alone,
80,000 Americans

and comparable numbers
among the allies

have had their lives cut short

so that the rest of us might live
in the sunlight of freedom.

- Yeah!
- Oh, yeah!

What are we gonna do
when this is over?

I don't know.
Probably start another one.

That's what I love about this job.
A guaranteed future. I'm not wrong.

Believe me, we're descended
from a long line of noble predators.

You are irrepressible.

I think I'm gonna go be
irrepressible down with Fuller.

Come on, baby face.

- You all right?
- Yeah, I'm irrepressible.

So, what are you writing?

Something Oppie said today.
I don't know.

Well, read it. Go on.

Makes you wonder
if there's an intelligence

that isn't descended
from a long line of predators.

I want to kiss you.

Come here.

Sir, is it true that since we KO'd
Germany, we're gonna go home?

- I'll drink to that.
- That might be true, soldier.

Can I have your attention, please?
Please.

Excuse me.

Seems to me that we have a shortage
of dance partners on the floor.

So as a tribute
to our men in uniform...

...I'd like to make
available the services

of all the longhairs at Los Alamos
on this dance floor.

And to break
the ceremonial ice,

I will choose
the first dance partner.

General Groves...
may I have this dance?

Why not?

- Why do you have that with you?
- I keep it as a record for my dad.

If I wrote him a letter,
all he'd get is black lines.

This way I can tell him
what's going on.

And what are you gonna
write about today?

Besides the war being over?

Yeah.

Well, I met this girl.

Did I just kiss you up there?

You gotta bring your heads in out
of the clouds. Out of the clouds.

Keep the muttering to a minimum,
please, gentlemen.

Some of you dancing...

...close together.

I don't like the look of it.

There are... bosoms in the area.

And this could lead to pregnancy.

Any man getting caught out of hand
or getting caught in hand

will have to turn their peckers
over to the FBI.

They're having fun. That's nice.
They're entitled.

- So long as they don't think it's over.
- Isn't it?

I mean,
what's all the celebration for?

Perhaps we can find
some other use for this work.

Fascism's dead.

You mean in Europe.

What do they think Japan
is doing, shooting squirrels?

No, they're not shooting squirrels,
and that's not the issue.

What is the issue?

They don't have the technology.
They're not capable of it.

So if we don't need it...

...why make it?

I want you to look at something.

It's the largest collection
of nothing in the entire world.

Make them work...

...and you've got something.

An irresistible something.

Just the threat...

...and they're ours.

You know, sometimes,

just standing here,

I keep wondering.

Are we working on them
or are they working on us?

Give them dignity, doctor.
Then we can start talking...

...about who can do what...

...and what they mean.

Oh, what time is it?

Even when I sleep, it's like dogs
tearing at a piece of meat.

Robert?

Thinking of resigning?

No.

I'd be written off.

They wouldn't understand.
Not in the present climate.

I keep obsessing about the device.

Yes, it's true, but...

...if you think beyond...

...it's a limitless supply of energy.
Think about it, Kitty.

The power that drives the universe.

It's beyond imagination, really.

And we'd have tamed it.

A new world.

Go get them, cowboy.

What's going on over there?

Cattle destroyed the entire ground
cable run. Ruined two days' work.

Why didn't they herd them outside
the site? Anyone suggest that?

The ranchers wouldn't move them.
Seems the Army stopped negotiating.

- This is out of control.
- Edward, these estimates...

Rush, push, speed, deadlines.

This whole project
has gotten out of control.

We haven't thought about
the consequences, Oppie.

- Oppie?
- Wilson!

We've been waiting
for the data for two weeks.

When are we gonna get it?

Wilson is correct.

We have to talk about what we're
all thinking but not saying.

This argument is arcane, Edward.

This thing is becoming real.

It's going to affect lives,
thousands of lives.

We have to start to talk.

All right. But not here.

At my home tonight.

So now we tickle
the tail of the dragon.

All right, take her up.

I can only hope the uranium
slug doesn't get stuck in the pile.

If it does,
we'll probably all evaporate.

- What's the reading?
- 1.19-K.

- Waiting on your word.
- Meter's ready.

Ready when you are.

Let's go.

OK, let's tickle it.

It burst. It burst.

It burst right from here.

All right, add it up.

Cigarette break.

Good job.

Michael. Hey, Michael.
You got a moment?

They won't let me in this place.
Still going to Chicago?

Yeah, Frisch can't pick the slugs up.

Great. There's something we'd
like you to pick up, if you can.

You know Leo Szilard, right?
And Ralph Lapp?

Well, about 20 of our other
colleagues from Chicago,

they're proposing a petition stating
they're opposed to the device.

They're concerned about
what they think's gonna happen.

So am I. I got a brother who's
in the Philippines right now.

I read the papers. I'm concerned.

I'm not asking you to endorse
anything. I haven't even read it yet.

It should be discussed.
All I'm asking is pick it up,

let us peruse it and make up
our own minds. How tough is that?

- Makes sense.
- It's only fair.

I'll pick it up for you.

- See you later.
- OK.

How can you rationalize
premeditated murder?

Oh, bullshit. Premeditated murder?

- This is a war. It's about winning.
- At what cost?

You can't just outlaw a weapon.

The more effective,
the more likely it will be used.

We didn't use poison gas.
That was stopped.

You got to speak up.
The generals won't listen to us.

Yeah, and speak up on behalf
of all those kids hiding in foxholes.

I know what they'd say. The
Japanese brought this on themselves.

They have themselves to blame.

I wouldn't care if the place
went up in smoke...

Excuse me,
just for a minute, gentlemen.

And I resent your suggesting

I don't recognize a moral argument.

Why are you still awake?
Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?

- I don't like sleeping.
- There are lots of things we don't like.

We have to do them if we
want to do the things we do like.

- What's the treat tomorrow?
- Go horseback riding.

That's right. Now, how are you
going to ride a great big horse

if you don't get plenty of rest?

Go to sleep for Daddy?

That's a good boy.

It is hot.

We could go to Carlucci's,
get some ice coffee and donuts.

The project is beginning to unravel.

- What?
- There have always been questions.

We've always avoided the answers.
Now, everything is coming to a head.

- Bronson?
- Sir?

- Stop the car.
- Yes, sir.

- Get out, take a leak or something.
- This is a public park.

Well, pick some flowers.
I want to do some shouting.

It's a crisis.

A crisis of conscience.

All right. I'm not shouting.

I'm not even angry.

I am just stumped.

You want to sit on your hands,

polish your conscience,

when we might be able to end
this whole thing with one shot?

Crisis of conscience, huh?

All right.

Have it.

Take a bath in it.

Soak in it.

Then tell me whether you're
going to deliver them.

Whether you're gonna finish this job.

You tell me how I'm gonna face
a senate inquiry

and say we spent two billion dollars
on a show that's never gonna open.

Crisis of conscience.

You got one job, doctor.
Give me the bomb. Just give it to me.

Atrocious things have been done
in Germany

because people didn't speak out.

And we blame them for it. Right,
I think, even though it was dangerous.

But it's not dangerous
for us to speak out.

That's what a lot of us in Chicago feel.

You don't have to agree
with the contents of this petition.

You have to agree
it should be discussed.

- Yes, sir.
- Good boy, Michael.

Good seeing you again.

- It came in on the wire.
- What?

Japanese are feeling out terms for
surrender. They made a proposition.

What kind of surrender?
Not unconditional?

Not according to my sources, no.

Good.

No one will buy it.

- Sir?
- Nothing.

Come on. Come on. Right here.

Mr. Secretary, a brutal question.

Are you and the president

looking to Russia,

figuring they'll come into Japan,
assuming there's an invasion?

If you are, you're not
gonna get that for nothing.

Russia's gonna want
Manchuria, Sakhalin.

I can give the president Japan.

No invasion, no deals.

Can you guarantee that?

Some of your scientists
are getting out of line.

I hear they've been maneuvering
to see the president.

I didn't know that.

I will take care of it.

- Very well. Do that, general.
- Mr. Secretary.

Good night.

Panton?

Dr. Oppenheimer had...

...on three separate occasions,
meetings with suspected agents,

communists, whatever.

- He gave us one name, correct?
- Yes, sir.

Press him on the others.

- He needs to feel the branch creak.
- Yes, sir.

- Ready?
- Yeah, we're ready.

They told me you were down here.
I was having lunch.

I got a call from Captain Panton.
A security problem again.

Well, I'm being harassed,
and I'm sick of it.

I had a security clearance.
This was a dead issue.

It's never dead with you.

Though I will try to put a lid on it.
This is not gonna help.

- What's this?
- Some kind of petition

from your boys in Chicago trying to go
around us to see the president.

That will never happen.

Do you know about this?

About the ideas, yes.

They want to demonstrate
the device, not use it.

Is it containable?

Can you stop it?

My hash is getting cold upstairs.

- Don't let these dodos distract you.
- How can...?

Robert, you are this far away
from being the man who won the war.

These are important people
in Chicago.

You can't ignore
what they have to say.

All they want is an opportunity
to talk about the demonstration.

- What's his name? Szilard.
- Szilard.

Sitting in the bathtub.

I should have drowned that
son of a bitch the first day I met him.

What's wrong with demonstrating?
What's wrong with not killing?

You vaporize some uninhabited atoll.

Set terms of surrender,
then send the Japanese home.

It's mush. It won't work.

They are kamikazes, all of them.

You had money in your background.
That explains it.

- What does that mean?
- Your optimism.

Faith in human nature.
I never had any. Money, that is.

Never had a permanent house.
Made me a realist.

The idea should go to the president.

Where do you get these ideas?

You know, those boys in security...

...got a right to ask where
these ideas are coming from.

Demonstrations, stopping work,
sharing with other countries.

You're gonna have
a tough time proving

that those ideas
are coming out of Chicago.

- They are foreign, subversive.
- They're moral.

- Moral?
- Moral.

Was Pearl Harbor moral?

Poland, Munich, moral?

Death March of Bataan,
was that moral?

Junk!

Demonstration junk.

I say you show the enemy
in the harshest terms

that you can muster, that you play
in the same league that they do.

At that meeting tomorrow there's
gonna be a vote on this demonstration.

There's gonna be a recommendation
going to the president.

Now, listen.

You can help yourself here.

Steer it in the right direction.

You're either for us or against us.
Ernest, how are you?

I'd like to introduce
Dr. Oppenheimer here.

Well, rumor has it
that we might owe you

for shaking those yellow monkeys
out of the trees.

Save us a lot, not going to Japan.
My boys are gonna be grateful.

Yes, I'm pleased to shake
your hand. And thank you.

Doctor, I'd like to add my shake too.

Nice seeing you.

Did you hear what they said?

You keep this on the track,
and we are gonna owe you, soldier.

"We are in a completely new situation
that cannot be resolved by war.

"A petition to the president
of the United States.

"Discoveries of which the people
are not aware

"may affect the welfare
of this nation in the near future."

The Russians are our allies.
If we drop this without telling them,

we could give them a paranoia
that will make us sick.

The Japanese are on their knees.
All this kamikaze stuff is a load of bull.

They're wet-pants scared of us just
like we're wet-pants scared of them.

This war seems to have forced
a lot of guys on both sides

to resign from the human race.

- I hope we're not about to do that.
- I agree.

Our blockade will finish Japan
by autumn, maybe even sooner.

This device is not an honorable way
to win a war.

And I was taught to fight with honor.

If Custer...

...had used the machine-gun...

...his history would have been
written differently.

If you go ahead,

particularly, if you drop this thing
with no prior warning...

...I, for one, will have to
resign my commission.

Perhaps you'll excuse me, gentlemen.

Incidentally, what is the opinion of
the committee on a demonstration?

Well, if we should agree
to a demonstration

with the attendant
Japanese observers

and that demonstration failed,

not only would we be unable
to induce the Japanese to surrender,

we would face a critical
shortage of material.

The dropping of the device
has always been implicit in this project.

So that is the advice I shall
pass on to the president.

- Yes, sir.
- Yes, that's right.

Yes.

- Sam.
- Bob, welcome to Trinity.

- Here she is.
- Can I grab one?

- It's all right.
- Good trip?

- Are you the accountable officer?
- Yes.

- This will be for you.
- What's that?

It states that the University
of California hands over

a plutonium core of a nuclear device
to the United States Army.

Put more simply,
it's a bill for two billion dollars.

Now, let me show you
what else your money's bought.

The initiator.

And the other half.

Now, all we gotta do
is throw them together and...

Well, let's begin final assembly.

OK, Mr. Merriman.

Well, you're quiet.

It's coming close, what you're
working towards, isn't it?

Yeah.

I can feel it pressing down
on everybody.

There's something going on here.

It's got everybody mesmerized,
doesn't it?

Yeah.

There's a regular run
on sleeping pills and aspirin.

And it's not just the work,
it's something else.

- Look, I know you can't talk about it.
- I can't.

Well, then talk to Dr. Oppenheimer.

I mean, if anyone has,
he'll have thought it through, right?

OK.

Touch me.

Naked.

Isn't that a beautiful word?

Tonight.

I want to make love.

And I want a future.

That's what I really want...

...for you and me.

So do I.

- Oh, for chrissake, George.
- This pitting, must be the mold.

I'm not an explosives expert,
but I've been called

to look at something
that's unacceptable.

We must use hand lathings.

You should have used hand
lathings before.

- Hand lathings, you know what it is?
- Yes.

- Michael, what are you doing here?
- Chicago, Leo Szilard.

I read it on the train.

- Well, what do you think about it?
- It unnerved me.

Are we gonna discuss this ever?

Amongst ourselves?

- Are we going on?
- I don't see anyone stopping.

Now, look, we've been asked
to solve a technical problem,

to build this device.
We're not responsible for its use.

Oppie, it's for you.

Peter's got revised figures.

Look, let me keep this paper.

We're expecting the initiator.
We need your lab results, all right?

All right?

All right.

Everybody ready?

- Meter's ready.
- Here we go.

Twenty-one.

Twenty-nine.

Thirty-one.

Thirty-eight.

Got it? Forty.
Everybody back, right now.

Behind the wall.

Turn it off!

Nobody move! Don't anybody move!

Damn it!

Take off everything metal. Drop it.

Mark the positions
you're standing in and get out.

The incident never happened.

If anyone should ask,
it did not happen.

Everybody should make it.

Except me.

I'm dead.

Doctor! Doctor!
I've been looking all over for you.

We've got a problem.

- Bad allergy.
- When?

- An hour ago. They're bringing him in.
- Who?

Mr. Merriman.

- Michael?
- Yes, sir.

Oh, shit.

Let's go.

- Come on, let's go!
- Yes, sir.

This one won't do.

- In here. This one's good.
- Take it easy. All right, all right.

- Michael, what's the matter?
- Nothing, everything's fine.

- Doctor, how much did he get?
- More than 1,000 rads.

- Goddamn it.
- What's happening?

Sweetheart, it's under control.
Everything's under control, OK?

- Steven, what's going on?
- You should not be here.

Excuse me, there's no patient here.

No one's to hear about this.
Not Oppenheimer. Nobody.

- OK?
- Goddamn it, what happened here?

I want this ward sealed off.
Come with me.

I want military doctors in here.

Get the hell out of here!

It's the detonation circuits.

I don't know.
I would like another 24 hours.

I think so, but I can't be certain.

I said one more day.
I need one more day.

No, no, Merriman brought me
a copy from Chicago.

Some of the physicists
have signed it.

Pinko fruitcakes. Get that thing
to work, I'm gonna drop it on Chicago.

I swear I will.

Yes, I hear you. You hear me?
Finish the damn thing. That's an order.

Well, I got other business.

But I got a plane. I'll be there.

Every time I turn around,
somebody gets to him.

Now they're talking about postponing.

- Cleared for Washington?
- Yes, sir. We are.

"Truman, Stimson arrive Potsdam
for conference with Stalin.

"Advise results of Trinity Test soonest."

Stalin's gonna eat Truman alive
at this meeting.

- Unless we...
- Yes, unless...

...we give the president something
lethal to stick in his back pocket.

I'll tell you something
it won't be... postponement.

Oh, Lord... so close.

Sir.

Keep going down slow.

His heart looks larger. Could be
fluid in the pericardial sac.

- Radiation induced?
- Probably.

It's almost doubled in size overnight.

If this continues, his heart will drown.

- Is he lucid?
- In and out.

There's tremendous brain swelling
from the radiation.

- What happens next?
- I don't know. I mean, I have no idea.

No human being's ever gotten
this dose of radiation before.

He's dying from the inside out.

Other problems. His gastrointestinal
tract has been destroyed by radiation.

Excuse me, doctors.

You've got to believe
we're doing everything we know how.

Absolutely everything.

It's not gonna do any good
to have you ripping yourself apart.

- You've gotta go home and sleep.
- Richard, I can't.

- Some orange.
- Sure is.

Hey, Oppie?

Look out!

Hornig?

- Hornig?
- It's all right.

The other safety's holding.

Does anybody else need a martini?

- What's the word?
- Oppie, it doesn't look good.

We have a chance of thunderstorms
over the next five days. I'm sorry.

I'm not telling you
what this guy's got up there.

- Why wasn't I told?
- Too much panic.

- How is he?
- Difficult to tell.

- I'd like to see him.
- We're not permitting visits.

But the men who were
with him have been spoken to.

Security. Delicate time.

He's a strong young man.
He'll pull through.

Schoenfield, how is he?

- Is he conscious?
- He's in and out.

He wants to know
if you read the petition.

- It means a lot to him.
- Yes, I have.

And then, that's it? That's all?

Yes, I have and then now
I wash my hands of it?

Now wait a minute, Oppenheimer.

I got a friend falling apart
who thinks you got the answers.

That's what you let him think.

Do you know what the Christ is going
on, or is the whole thing out of control?

If you're trying to make a point,
what is it?

I have spent the last
two years of my life

putting up with all your security
and your secrecy and your control.

I don't think that bullshit
was to keep what was going on

from the Germans
or the Japanese or the Russians.

It's to keep it from
American Jacks and Jills

because they may not
like what's going on.

American people don't
want to know what's going on.

They want to know
that their sons are alive.

I'm doing everything in my power
to see that they do.

Like Oak Ridge, where they're
injecting ill and old

people with huge doses of plutonium?

I don't know about Oak Ridge,
but if you want to ask

what's happening, ask this:
Will it be big enough?

Big enough to scare all of us
and make us stop and think?

Big enough to stop all war forever?
You want to ask a question, ask that.

Look, I've seen Oak Ridge, all right?

That place wasn't built
to make one or two bombs.

It was built to make
thousands of them. Thousands.

And soon everybody's
gonna have a bomb. They will.

What do they do with them?
Sit and wait till they go off, until "boom"?

Then we got one world
full of Michael Merrimans

dying from the inside out.
Is that what you're looking for?

Because that's the future
you've made for us.

Hey, Oppenheimer! Oppenheimer,
you ought to stop playing God

because you are not good at it
and the position is taken.

His pressure's falling fast.
You've got to get that fluid out now.

Needle, Michael.

OK, you're in. Start to pull it back.

Hang in, Michael.

Hang in, pal.

Come on, doc.

Pressure's starting to rise.
It's coming up slowly.

- Robert, you have to get some sleep.
- God.

I'm in a dark place.

We've all cooked this stew.

The Germans and the Japanese
and the Americans and the Brits.

It's an ugliness that goes back.
It goes way back.

I'm not a scientist anymore.

I'm a goddamn functionary.

I've got to stay in control.

I've got to control who gets this thing.

Power and control,
it's all I ever hear about anymore.

Doesn't life matter to you?

What about love and understanding?

I thought that's what science
was all about.

I just wanted us to work.

Does everything have to be
sacrificed to this... thing?

I put up with...

...Jean,

because I thought you needed her.

And I thought you'd give
her up because of me.

But she didn't count.

I don't count. Nothing counts for you
anymore except this damn bomb.

That's what it is.

But it's not your only creation.

There are the children.

And you need my love and support.
I know.

I don't...

I don't know where it is.

Why me?

Why did he pick me?

- Panton!
- Sir?

Security's a mess. Nobody at
the checkpoint. Nobody up here.

- What do you think this is, a beach?
- No, sir.

We've got to call a halt.
The weather is unpredictable.

We are not calling a halt
on account of weather.

With the wind we could send
radioactive junk all the way to Amarillo.

You The New York Times reporter?
I want three reports.

One if we succeed, one if we fail
and one if we disintegrate.

With the wind blowing this direction,
Amarillo could get a fallout.

- Fermi's right.
- No, I'm saying no.

The decision is mine!

- Do you understand?
- We can't do it.

We go ahead with this. Sergeant,
do something about that dog.

You sound like you're planning
a railway schedule.

No, you are trying to uninvent this.

I can do it without you.

Well, if you do and I've said no
and something goes wrong...

Get in the car.

Hurry up.
What are you waiting on?

Sir, it looks like it's clearing up.

You know, you build to a moment,

and then you grab it,
or it will go right by you.

You always thought that
I would do this, didn't you?

Can you buck your own nature?

What will it be like?

Unimaginable.

It's your baby.

Do it.

Hallelujah.

He said it's a go.

Let's go.

Start the countdown.
Come on. It's a go.

- Let's go! Move it out!
- Wilson, wake up!

- Wake up the dragon.
- Let's go. Let's go.

Power on.

- Power on.
- Synchronization relays one open.

Synchronization relay one open.

- Synchronization relays two open.
- Synchronization relays two open.

I love you, Michael.

Easy.

Breathe easy.

Easy.

Easy, come back to the ice.

It's OK, here's the ice.

Kathleen, what are you doing in here?

Kathleen? God!

Come on, come on, sweetheart.

- You simply can't be here, sweetheart.
- I had to be with him.

I wanted to tell him I love him,
because he's going to die.

Detonation relays four open.

Well, it's armed.

- Now it's up to the bunker.
- Let's get down from here.

Well, I've always believed
that the Lord was on our side.

And I think now we're gonna prove it.

- Must be from the military base.
- Enrico, what do you bet on the yield?

I bet we set fire to the atmosphere.

If we're lucky,
we only wipe out New Mexico.

If we can ignite the air,
we finish off the planet. Any takers?

I kind of hope the damn thing
doesn't go off.

What the hell is that?

It's The Nutcracker Suite.

I can't get rid of it.

- Go to six-five.
- Six-five.

- OK, try seven.
- Seven.

Charging the device.

Robert, over here.

The device is fully charged.

It is now zero minus 60 seconds.
Fifty-nine, 58,

57, 56,

55, 54,

- 53, 52, 51, 50, 49...
- Where is that music coming from?

It's a ground channel.
I can't get rid of it.

44, 43, 42, 41, 40...

Goddamn music.

37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30,

29, 28,

27, 26, 25,

24, 23, 22, 21, 20,

19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14,

13, 12, 11, ten,

nine, eight, seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one, zero.

Kathleen, my love.
You asked me a question once.

Was it instinct to save a life
or to take it?

Well, I don't know, my darling.

All I do know is that
if we are free to choose,

I hope to God
we choose life over death.

Not because I believe the implacable
universe cares a damn,

but because as I look at you,
my darling,

I realize how glorious,

how magical life can be.