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Testament
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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786300214576
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6300214575
Label: Paramount
Languages: English (Original Language), Analog
Manufacturer: Paramount
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount
Release Date: January 01, 1998
Running Time: 90 minutes
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: 1983-12
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Editorial Review:
There seemed to be a particular spike in nuclear-war paranoia in the early 1980s, probably having to do Reagan's finger being on the trigger. Whatever the cause, it resulted in two particularly powerful 1983 films on the subject: the made-for-TV The Day After and Lynne Littman's Testament, which had a theatrical release before playing on PBS's American Playhouse. Starring Jane Alexander (and Kevin Costner in a cameo), the film shows what happens to a suburban family in the Pacific Northwest after a nearby nuclear attack. As it turns out, those killed by the initial blast are the lucky ones; Alexander and her family must suffer through radiation poisoning and sickness, the daily diminution of life this causes, and, for Alexander, the eventual deaths of those around her. Quietly powerful and never overstated. --Marshall Fine
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Whoops apocalypse!
I must have radiation poisoning as this pile of over-sentimental schmaltz had me feeling nauseous and reaching for the sick bag for it's entire length.
I cannot believe the 50 five-star reviews - there's a part of me that's convinced everyone was viewing a different movie. I watched the entire thing waiting for the film that everybody seems to have rated so highly to arrive, sadly it never happened. I know this review will not make me Mr. Popular, but please, even Hallmark would be embarrassed ... Read More
Rating:  - Pretty good considering it was 1983...
Early in the film, I got the impression that this could've been taken seriously upon it's release but may be kind of a joke now in 2008 (like 'The Net' for example). Anyway, it got morbidly bizarre as it progressed on. It wasn't what they showed, but what they didn't show that made some of that laughter turn to serious and puzzling thoughts. *Spoiler warning* The movie takes a turn when people begin dying from not-so-obvious signs of radiation poisoning, and they die by the thousands. By the time the shocking ... Read More
Rating: - Terrifying and uncontrived.
There are times in our lives, perhaps crossroads, where we can turn to the ones that surround us and think, in one way or another, what if this was their last trip to the store, what if this were their last holiday with us, what if this year was the very last time we would see them. In all its purpose, films on that same token come around every once and again, and show us, truly and significantly how important the art of cinema and film making can be. This powerful strong voice of something well grounded and objective, ... Read More
Rating: - The Lasting Effects of Nuclear War
This movie takes place in an area a ways from the targeted - being San Francisco but yet the impact and lasting effects of the nuclear attack are felt all the same. While "The Day After" and the UK-made "Threads" deliver a more grizzly picture - relying on the actual destruction, as they tend to focus on areas in which are the targets or are near such a target, this movie shows a community far away suffering all the same from the economical and radioactive fall out. This movie paints a grim and bleak situation with no ... Read More
Rating:  - Duck and cover
Strange as it sounds, there was a "golden era" of anti-nuke films, circa 1980-1984 (a veritable flurry of cautionary tales, spurred on, no doubt, by the dreaded thought of Ronnie R's itchy trigger finger wagging ever more perilously close to The Button with every perceived Soviet slight).
One of the best of the bunch (and as timely as ever, actually) is 1983's Testament. Originally an "American Playhouse" presentation on PBS, the film was released to theatres and garnered a well-deserved Best Actress nomination ... Read More
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