Miracle Mile

Plot synopsis:
The film takes place in a single day and night. The film opens with the two main characters, Harry (Anthony Edwards) and Julie (Mare Winningham), meeting at the La Brea Tar Pits and immediately falling in love. After spending the afternoon together, they make a date to meet after her shift ends at midnight at a local coffee shop, but a power failure means Harry's alarm fails to wake him and Julie leaves for home.
When Harry awakes that night he realizes what's happened and rushes to the shop, arriving at 4 AM. Harry tries to call Julie on a pay phone, but only reaches her answering machine, where he leaves an apology. When the phone rings moments later he picks it up, hearing a frantic man (presumed to be in a missile silo) telling his dad that nuclear war is about to break out in less than seventy minutes. When Harry finally gets a chance to talk and asks who's calling, the caller realizes he has dialed the wrong area code. Harry then hears him plead with Harry to call his father and apologize for some past wrong before he is being confronted and presumably shot. An unfamiliar voice picks up the phone and tells Harry to forget everything he heard "and go back to sleep" before disconnecting.
Harry, confused and not entirely convinced of the reality of the information, wanders back into the diner and tells the other customers what he's heard. As the patrons scoff at his story, one of them, a mysterious businesswoman (Denise Crosby) named Landa, calls a number of politicians in Washington on her wireless phone and finds that they are all visiting South America at the same time. Convinced of the danger, she immediately charters several private jets out of LAX to a compound in a region in Antarctica with no rainfall. Most of the customers and staff leave with her in the owner's delivery van. When the owner refuses to make any stops, Harry, unwilling to leave without Julie, arranges to meet the group at the airport and jumps from the truck.
Harry is helped and hindered by various strangers, who are initially unaware of the impending apocalypse. In the process he inadvertently causes several deaths and is deeply shaken by that, yet still he goes on. When he finds Julie and later tells her, she notes that there is no confirmation of the attack. Desperate to reach the airport and not having a car, Harry finds a helicopter pilot (Brian Thompson) and tells him to meet them on the roof of the Mutual Benefit Life Building. Julie has also tried to find a pilot on her own, and in the moments it takes to find her, Los Angeles descends into violent chaos. There is still no confirmation any of this is real, and Harry wonders if he has sparked a massive false panic in the example of Chicken Little. However, when he uses a phone booth to contact the father of the man who called him (using the number of the booth and the area code the man was trying to use) he reaches a man who says his son is a soldier. Harry tries to pass on the message he was given, but the man hangs up before Harry finishes.
When they reach the top of the Mutual Benefit building they find the pad empty, and the roof manned only by a yuppie (Kurt Fuller) taking every drug he can find. Any doubts about a false alarm are eliminated when a warhead can be seen streaking across the sky. As they fear the end, the helicopter suddenly returns with the pilot badly wounded but fulfilling his promise to come back for them. After they lift off from the roof, several warheads hit and the EMP from the detonations causes the helicopter to crash into the La Brea Tar Pits.
As the helicopter sinks and the cabin fills with natural asphalt tar, Harry tries to comfort a hysterical Julie by saying someday they will be found and they will probably be put in a museum, or maybe they will take a direct hit and be turned into diamonds. Julie, accepting her fate, calms down and takes comfort in Harry's words, and the movie fades out as the tar fills the compartment. A final explosion seems to imply a direct hit has taken place.

Tags: cult, comedy, violence

Review:
Miracle Mile is one of my favourite films -I know it has its rough edges but I fell in love the first time I saw it at the University of Portsmouth film society ten years ago.
Usually the device is used in suspense movies, but has become popular recently in art house cinema like Timecode and Russian Ark.The set-up is simple -after a day when he has fallen in love at first sight, Harry Washello randomly answers a ringing phone at a phone booth.
We don't know until an unforgettable moment, when the film becomes a race for survival.There are some great, truly profound images -such as the dying Wilson scrambling up the down escalator with the body of his sister, or Harry and Julie lost in a department store surrounded by ticking clocks.
It has a soul and an individuality all of its own -can you imagine an episode of 24 ever being scored by Tangerine Dream?This is a film about chance -the chance of Harry falling in love that day, the chance of him picking up the phone.
*click*As the phone went dead, my heart almost stopped as I watched Harry's expression.I have known of this obscure thriller for years, and it gets better every time I see it.'Miracle Mile' is an apocalyptic classic.
Now, years later, I've just rewatched it (this time on DVD) and I still think it's a very good -- but not great -- movie.Admittedly, there's some over-the-top 80's haircuts and costumes, stuff that would be seriously 'retro' nowadays.
Directed by Steve De Jarnatt who made the cheesy but fun 'Cherry 2000', and starring two actors (Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham) that I feel at best indifferent about, it starts off almost like a John Hughes romantic comedy, and your finger might begin to hover off the "off" button.
Edwards is actually very good in the lead role, and the film is full of all kinds of familiar faces and character actors like Mykelti Williamson ('Truth Or Consequences, NM'), Denise Crosby ('Star Trek TNG'), Robert DoQui ('RoboCop'), even b-grade SF legend John Agar ('The Brain From Planet Arous'), and 'Reservoir Dogs' Mr. Blue Edward Bunker!
The ending is devastating, horrifying and heart warming all at the same time.After seeing this movie for the first time I shivered for hours, and couldn't bring myself to watch it again for 12 years!
And in this case, the differences give it an edge that is quite intriguing.The main character (tom cruise's ill-fated co-pilot in top gun) displays such an acute, personal anxiety that really grabbed my attention and really made the movie hit home.While some of the other acting is less than stellar, in a movie like this it does not detract.This movie really did make me think about what I would do in a similar situation.
This is not your typical big budget,special effects loaded action-vehicle about a full-on nuclear strike but a modest little movie about what happens to a small bunch of people that finds out by accident that their country (USA) has launched a nuclear attack against another unspecified country and are getting back what they've started....If you have your heart at the right place,then this movie grabs you by the throat and won't let go...On the other handiIf you ONLY like comedy's and big budget action movies(which I also like very much)then you're probably going to despise this one...Go now and find this little gem of a movie,I know you want to...Cheers,Dirk.
In Los Angeles, when the musician Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) meets Julie Peters (Mare Winningham) in the museum, he immediately falls in love with her.
Harry accidentally hears a mistaken phone call and a man tells that the United State has just started a nuclear war sending missiles against Soviet Union and in two hours Los Angeles would be hit by the enemy back missiles.
Meanwhile the rumor is spread out and brings chaos to the city.Today I have watched the cult "Miracle Mile" maybe for the sixth time and despite being dated in the present days with the end of the Cold War, it still impresses how a rumor can be so destructive.
To anyone who has not seen this, I would urge you to try & obtain a copy because it is amazing On the face of it, it would appear to be a simple thriller about whether the Anthony Edwards character has listened to a genuine message that a nuclear strike is about to hit Los Angeles, or whether it is a hoax, and the subsequent panic it causes.
In "Miracle Mile," Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham create a lot of their own obstacles just by making rock-stupid, and highly unrealistic decisions.
Though most importantly the I love the pacing and suspense where things just start out slowly then go really fast to the point you almost can't take the breath, it's sort of the dictum of calm before the storm.The two main characters I really like, I like the fact that this couple they look like people we would pass by on the street this just makes the sympathy and emphasize level elevate because it makes us feel that what is happened to both of them could happen to us.
One favorite cinematography shot and scene that I thought was both shocking and beautiful was Harry getting up on top of some van and he sees widespread panic everywhere from traffic completely jammed, cars speeding and exploding, looting, psychos killing people for no reason, and a lot of other bad things you can think about.
Your love on a first date becomes stronger than any love because you know time is very short and the honeymoon period kicks overwhelmingly.De Jarnett begins this movie beautifully to set us on our way for what's to come.
I don't understand how someone can give it more than 3 stars.The plot is simple: One afternoon a guy next door meets the love of his life, at night he loses a date with her and accidentally he receives a call in a pay phone saying that a nuclear attack is going to happen in about one hour.
For years I've kept this superb film at the top of my recommended viewing list,  and nearly everyone who watches it shares the same admiration I have for it.Anthony "ER" Edwards plays a young musician who meets the girl of his dreams (Mare Winningham).
What makes the film work so well is that neither the hero nor the audience knows until the last moment whether or not the threat of nuclear annihilation is real.Many detractors of The Miracle Mile claim that the movie suffers from too many plot contrivances and illogical situations.
This film really struck a chord with me and went on to become one of my all-time favorites (and not just because I live in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles where the bulk of the action takes place).
It's a gem.There is an image that I have been holding in my mind since I first saw "Miracle Mile" ten years ago; of the rooftop parties as the end approachs in the last reel of the movie.
A very hard to describe film, mainly because it defies easy categorisation by avoiding the usual plot lines in this type of film.For a lot of the film the audience knows as little as the lead, not sure if the world is really coming to an end or if it's a hoax, or just a misunderstanding.It's the lack of certainty that makes watching such fun, you can't help but follow the story closely 'cos you are worried what might get missed if you don't.The main cast are all solid if some of the bit parts are less than superb, about what you'd expect for the budget they had.After all the tragedy, all the craziness, all the second guessing it's almost a relief to discover that it was all for real.I saw this film once around the time it came out and it's one of a very few I paid to have tracked down during the long period it wasn't available.
A chilling reminder that human beings are both animal and alittle something more (you'll understand once you've seen the film)....all I can say is that by the movie's end, it took me ten full minutes to think about what I just saw and take it all in.
It takes a nuclear war worst-case scenerio that gets progressively worse over the films' short 85 minute running time.
I am a big fan of the horror genre but this is as frightening as anything you will see in any horror film.Basically it's a love story set over a very short period of time but a love story that takes a decidedly different twist amid the increasing panic that follows the discovery of a nuclear attack that may or may not happen.
Some things to look for include Jeanette Goldstein on the roof (Vasquez from 'Aliens') dolled up but still packing a big gun, Lou Hancock (Henrietta, the human form of the witch in the cellar from 'Evil Dead 2') the rats that suddenly appear on a car bonnet after a tree is bumped etc.The film has proved extremely prophetic in passing years and it simply gets better and better each time i view it since i first saw it in '89.
But the first 10 minutes does not set the tone of the film whatsoever.After the poorly scripted romance stuff is out of the way in the first 10 minutes, Anthony Edwards accidentally overhears of a possible nuclear attack.
I see disaster looming from lots of directions...nuclear, bio-weapons, famine, global warming and a new ice age, mutated insects, extraterrestrials, famine, plague and just the complete breakdown of our civilisation because the power goes off for a week or two.So some of my favourite films are: Dr Strangelove, both Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56 & '78), the old On the Beach and the latest one ('99) all those virus movies  Death In Venice, Day of the Locust...
Run do not walk from this terrible disappointing excuse for a movie!If you want to see a real piece of cinema about Nuclear War, then get yourself a copy of one of the following: American movies "The Day after" & "Testament" or the British films "War Game" or "Threads".Miracle Mile has to be the worst Nuclear War Movie to ever be made.Unrealistic, Terrible effects, None existent plotlines, Just terrible......
Miracle Mile stars Anthony Edwards (before ER and after Revenge of the Nerds) as Harry, a young man who meets and falls in love with Julie, Mare Winningham, at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles (this area of LA is known as the Miracle Mile).
Harry doesn't know what the truth is, but as he tells those around him what may be happening, all hell slowly starts to break loose in the early morning hours along the Miracle Mile.
After years of reading reviews in books and online about how good Miracle Mile was, I finally got the chance to see it tonight on tv.As someone who was seriously moved by other films dealing with impending nuclear doom scenarios such as Testament, The Day After and Threads, I was really looking forward to seeing this.Imagine my disappointment then to sit down and watch a film with a great premise totally ruined by illogical plot development, ludicrous dialogue and characters who I never got to care about.What is it with modern day moviegoers who would accept such laughable execution of an appalling script?
The sequence of a love story intermingled with dramatic end-world situations that unfolded toward the inevitable ending definitely kept me on my seat's edge.The movie still ranks as an all time fav in my mind (I admit, I haven't seen it in a very LONG time).
And this word is ...mess.And it doesn't make any difference whether this film is really more of a comedy or more a drama, because in the end its flaws are so big to overshadow any intended or potential meaning it could have had.Starting off as a romantic comedy, the plot then steers toward a pretty formulaic race against the clock script where the characters (and the actors who portray them) can't seem to remember they're no more in the comedy and they should stop making cheesy jokes and behaving like scatterbrains - to find this realistic and compelling your name has to be Truman and you spent your whole life in a silly TV series.It is interesting to mention how this turn is goofily delivered upon the unsuspecting audience, just to explain how bad the script is.
and obviously he can't tell this stranger from his father) Of course both the character AND the audience keep thinking this is a joke, until the aforementioned soldier is hastily executed live on the phone, which is when I started to think "awww this can't be true" and realized it was going to be worse than the second-rate comedy I had to endure in the first dozen minutes.The whole plot is then propelled forward by such magnificent(ly bad) narrative devices - you would be tempted to think they were spoiling it on purpose, but it wasn't funny, not even by mistake: if this indeed was the aim, the filmmakers should have made it clear with a "DON'T PANIC" caption appearing on screen every five minutes.Miracle Mile is like one of those weird guys that talk strange like they have some great and deep insight, and watching it is like getting to know him better in the hope he will turn out to be a genius, only to find you had just wasted your time listening to the meaningless ramblings of a clueless drunkard..
Since I've seen it on video the first time, I've considered Miracle Mile to be one of the most underrated movies of all time.
A movie that few people know about but is worth a look.UPDATE May, 2009had a chance to re watch this film and the screenplay and story are still terrific, but the director should have been blown up with the missiles.
Like so many movies of the 1980's, this had to overwhelm us with cultural aspects of the decade, things that just make this film look silly and to the eyes of a watcher twenty years later, makes you want to turn away (Mare Winningham's haircut is just brutal!).The story itself is solid an gripping, allowing us to become part of what is going on.
we never find out and is another shortcoming of this film.This would be a great movie to be remade with a much better, and cohesive, story.By the way, no happy ending here..
It is unfair to judge "Miracle Mile" for what it should be without realizing what it is - A low budget movie that takes on the monumental task of telling it's tale about the end of the world - without special effects!!With solid casting, story telling, cinematography and outstanding music - it succeeds brilliantly!
But let me end by WARNING all who have not seen the movie, but have read all the positive comments and are considering buying it: PLEASE, for your own sake, DO NOT buy Miracle Mile!
A shame really because it could have been so much better.The movie starts off with the protagonist (Anthony Edwards) narrating his life story.
From the opening beats of Dr Bio Brain showing us how life began, to the heartstopping and hair-raising phonecall taken by Anthony Edwards Character outside the diner, this movie is sheer class, as well as having saprkling dialogue to boot, especially the final scene between Harry and Julie.This is one Miracle Mile well worth stretching your legs for....you won't regret it, and you certainly won't forget it....
This movie looks a little absurd now, living comfortably in the post-Cold War era, but there was a time not 15 years ago when we all knew that total nuclear anhailation was just 45 hair-trigger minutes away.
A good hearted young man Harry (Anthony Edwards) falls in love with a young woman Julie (Mare Winningham) in one faithful day in Los Angeles.
Starring Anthony Edwards(Goose from Top Gun) and Mare Winningham the entire film takes place in real time in the course of one night.
Starring Anthony Edwards(Goose from Top Gun) and Mare Winningham the entire film takes place in real time in the course of one night.
Starring Anthony Edwards(Goose from Top Gun) and Mare Winningham the entire film takes place in real time in the course of one night.
It starts off like any romantic movie- boy meets girl and promise to meet for date 2 which never happens as suddenly there is a threat of nuclear war and a bomb being dropped.
It starts off like any romantic movie- boy meets girl and promise to meet for date 2 which never happens as suddenly there is a threat of nuclear war and a bomb being dropped.
It starts off like any romantic movie- boy meets girl and promise to meet for date 2 which never happens as suddenly there is a threat of nuclear war and a bomb being dropped.
if i may borrow from alice in wonderland, its the only movie i know of that starts at the beginning, goes to the end, and then stops.although highly unlikely, it's oddly believable, mostly thanks a great performance by anthony edwards.
Miracle Mile is a film I saw on video way back in 1990.
My original interest in this movie was the fact that I'd had the score by Tangerine Dream on cd for about a year before I finally watched the film!
This underrated movie is sort of a combination love story and end-of-the-world thriller.
So sadly, that is NOT saying much, considering the cardboard characters of Armegeddon, Miracle Mile makes most films LOOK GREAT..