This Is Not a Test

1962 Cold War movie

Rating: 4/20

Plot: A deputy sheriff is ordered to set up a roadblock in order to catch an escaped convict. Within five minutes, about fifteen people have gathered. Nobody new shows up in the next half an hour though. While the travellers are waiting, news comes that an atomic bomb is on its way. They deal with the situation in various ways until finally the sheriff thinks of a brilliant plan to save their lives--getting inside a truck trailer. Those are bomb proof, right?

I really wish this would have been a test. A more accurate title for this movie would probably be This Is Not a Movie You Want to Watch. Or maybe This Is Not Worth Your Time. Or This Is Not Professionally Made. To be completely fair, this does have a good premise. It's also got a great scene where an angry crazy guy starts slamming chickens on the ground. Unfortunately, once the situation is set up, there's not a single thing that happens (other than the guy throwing the chickens) that I cared about. Terrible performances abound. I would be really surprised to find out that this movie took more than two nights to make--one night to write and one night of shooting. Supporting that idea is the "ending" to This Is Not a Good Enough Plot for an Entire Movie. I'm less frustrated with the indeterminacy and more frustrated with the three characters who ran off with a new plan for survival and were never heard from again. It's almost like they weren't able to finish the movie. This should be remade with a terrorist attack plot. And puppets.