Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)

53% of critics liked it
(17 reviews)
44% of users liked it
(3,300 ratings)

"Fat Man" and "Little Boy" were the nicknames given the atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the waning days of World War II. This elaborately assembled film is the story of the events leading up to the dawn of the atomic age. Paul Newman plays General Leslie Groves, a… More "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" were the nicknames given the atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the waning days of World War II. This elaborately assembled film is the story of the events leading up to the dawn of the atomic age. Paul Newman plays General Leslie Groves, a hard-nosed career soldier who in 1942 finds himself the reluctant "nursemaid" to a group of idealistic scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico. As the military head of the top-secret Manhattan Project, Groves intends to have the operation run by the book--and failing that, to have things his way at all costs. The film's storyline narrows down to a battle of egos between Groves and atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), in his own way as contentious and childishly single-purposed as the general. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 10 min.
Directed By: Roland Joffé
Written By: Bruce Robinson, Roland Joffé
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Oct 20, 1989 Wide
On DVD: Apr 27, 2004
Studio: Paramount Home Video

Critic Reviews

Hal Hinson, Washington Post
A singular, powerful experience.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
[Fat Man] is not resoundingly disastrous. That would imply a certain energy.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fat Man and Little Boy is a fiction based on the Manhattan Project, but it is thin and unfocused and hardly even suggests the enormous moral and practical questions that the scientists wrestled with in the New Mexico desert.
Jon Niccum, Lawrence Journal-World
Disappointing biopic about A-bomb creation
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Serious film about the ethics of the men who ushered America into the nuclear age.
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
An interesting historical drama, but lacks the personal touch.
Michael Clawson, West Valley View
Intersting, insightful histo-drama with Newman doing his job above and beyond what is called for.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
A bit clinical, but also quite enlightening.
Chris Hicks, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
It's just too distanced to allow us to get involved.
James Brundage, Filmcritic.com
The movie might actually have been good if it had been done with a little more pinnace.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Alec B

Its an amateurish disaster.There is no focus and any serious moral posturing that could have been put worth is ruined by oversimplifying the questions and the answers.

Cast

            Paul Newman as Gen. Leslie R. Groves

            Dwight Schultz as J. Robert Oppenheimer

            Bonnie Bedelia as Kitty Oppenheimer

            John Cusack as Michael Merriman

            Laura Dern as Kathleen Robinson

            Natasha Richardson as Jean Tatlock

            John C. McGinley as Richard Schoenfield

            Ron Vawter as Jamie Latrobe

            Michael Brockman as William "Deke" Parsons

            Del Close as Dr. Kenneth Whiteside

            John Considine as Robert Tuckson

            Alan Corduner as Franz Goethe

            Jon De Vries as Johnny Mount

            James Eckhouse as Norbert Harper

            Walter Edmiston
            
            Matthew Faison
            
            Todd Field as Robert Wilson

            Mary Pat Gleason as Dora Welsh

            Clark Gregg as Douglas Panton

            Gerald Hiken as Leo Szilard

            Ed Lauter as Whitney Ashbridge

            Madison Mason as Boris Pash

            Alan Oppenheimer
            
            Logan Ramsey as Gen. Brehon Somervell

            Ken Strausbaugh as Observation Officer

            Fred Dalton Thompson as Melrose Hayden Barry

            Jim True as Donald Hornig

            Ronald C. Frazier as Peer de Silva

            Robert Peter Gale as Dr. Louis Hempelmann

            Don Pugsley as Bronson

            Marek Alboszta as Scientist

            Steven Baigelman as Dr. Avenell

            Frank Benettieri Jr. as Messenger

            David Brainard as Samuel Allison

            Roger Cubicciotti as Frank Oppenheimer

            Franco Cutietta as Enrico Fermi

            Peter Halasz as George Kistiakowsky

            Brent Harrison as Peter Oppenheimer

            Wesley Harrison as Peter Oppenheimer

            Arthur Holden as Oakridge Doctor

            Donald Mackechnie as James Tuck

            Tom McFarlane as Scientist

            David C. Parnes as Raincoat Man

            Christopher Pieczynski as Otto Frisch

            Allen Poirson as Howard McDonald

            David Politzer as Robert Serber

            Bill Rubenstein as Times Reporter

            Walter Sullivan as Henry Stimson

            Brian Wandell as Dennis Talmudge

            Barry Yourgrau as Edward Teller

            Nancy Foy
            
            John Williams as Mack Stoddard

            Stan Jones
            
See full cast