the manhattan project

Director: marshall brickman

Actor: john lithgow,christopher collet,richard council,robert schenkkan

Data Published: Fri Jun 13 1986

Genres: Sci-Fi,Thriller

Key Words: ithaca new york,teenage boy,reporter,military,whistleblower

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091472/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manhattan_Project_(film)

Description: The Manhattan Project is a movie starring John Lithgow, Christopher Collet, and Richard Council. A high school prodigy builds an atomic bomb with stolen plutonium to win the 45th National Science Fair and expose a nuclear weapons...

Plot: Dr. John Mathewson (John Lithgow) discovers a new process for refining plutonium to purities greater than 99.997 percent. The United States government provides him a laboratory located in Ithaca, New York, masked as a medical company. John moves to Ithaca and meets real estate agent Elizabeth Stephens (Jill Eikenberry) while searching for an apartment. He attempts to win the affections of the single mother by inviting her teenage son Paul (Christopher Collet) to take a tour of the lab. John is confident in the lab's cover story but Paul, an unusually gifted student with a passion for science, becomes suspicious when he discovers a statistically impossible patch of five-leaf clover on the grounds. Paul and his aspiring journalist girlfriend, Jenny Anderman (Cynthia Nixon), decide to expose the weapons factory in dramatic fashion. Paul breaks into the lab and steals a container of plutonium. To obtain maximum publicity, Paul decides to build an atomic bomb and enter it into the New York Science Fair. After convincing his mother and his school that his project is about hamsters bred in darkness, he begins research and construction of the nuclear device. The lab discovers that a container of plutonium has been replaced by a bottle of shampoo mixed with glitter. A military investigation team, led by Lt. Colonel Conroy (John Mahoney), arrives on the scene and determines that Paul is responsible for stealing the plutonium. Suspecting him of terrorist intent, the investigators search Paul's home and discover that he and Jenny have left for the science fair. After the agents capture the couple in New York City, John, who feels personally responsible for the crisis, has a private talk with Paul and convinces him to give the bomb to the agents before a group of other participants at the science fair help Paul and Jenny escape from the hotel. In an effort to expose the lab, Paul hatches a plan to return the bomb on his own terms. Ensuring Jenny is a safe distance away, he calls the agents from a pay phone and walks into the lab with the bomb while being surrounded by snipers and agents. During the standoff, negotiations stall and Paul arms the bomb. John, convinced that Paul is not an actual terrorist, attempts to intercede on his behalf. Due to radiation from the plutonium, the bomb's timer suddenly activates on its own and begins to count down with increasing speed. Paul suggests taking the bomb to a quarry outside of the town, but John advises against it, telling Paul that the bomb is much more powerful than he believed. Desperate to defuse the bomb, all sides put down their weapons and frantically work as a team to dismantle it. They manage to disarm the bomb before it explodes. After a brief moment of relief, Conroy decides to arrest Paul. John refuses to cooperate and opens the door to the lab, revealing a large crowd, including Jenny and the press. The film ends as John, Paul, Jenny and Elizabeth all depart the scene.