Original subtitles

At ease.

Move it. Move it. Move it.

One, two, three.

Those Japs better watch out for you, sir. Good luck.

The Corps of Engineers is going to miss you, sir.

- Yes, sir. - We will, sir.

- Well, thank you, gentlemen. Bronson. - Sir.

I built this place. I'll be glad to eat it.

Well done, sir.

You're a lucky man. Give those Japs hell, Groves.

Thank you, Thomas.

Indeed, I will.

Sir, well, I'll tell you what I am losing.

I'm losing my chance to get out from behind a desk

and lead men in combat. That's what I'm losing.

Colonel Groves, forget it. This has to...

Bronson out there wants to head for the front.

Groves, forget about going to the front.

You're an engineer. You're gonna fight your war here.

That's where you're gonna fight it.

Is this what you're assigning me to, this boondoggle? Dead end?

This dead end, Groves,

has the personal backing of the President.

This is not what I was promised. This is not what I expected.

Then bone up on it.

Head to Chicago. Talk to the scientists.

If it looks possible, run with it.

Pick whoever you want. Have whatever you need.

Just make it work.

Who knows, you might just win this war on your own.

Pick up a star on the way.

...fighting for and they are reported to be giving the Germans hell.

Though these losses represent the most serious setback for the Allies

in this war against the Nazi enemy.

Bad news, too, from the war in the Pacific.

We've just had conformation of the sinking of three US cruisers.

Names are being withheld but casualties are high.

Come in.

Reports speak of an early-morning raid by Japanese dive-bombers...

In here. In here.

- Szard? - Szilard.

General Groves, I was expecting you. Come in! Come in!

Forgive me. Sometimes I get stuck in here.

Metaphorically.

I've read this. Is it possible?

You couldn't put a little more hot in, could you?

And I'm not very good at fairy tales, so just give me the happy ending.

What I wrote is possible, probably inevitable.

Separate Uranium-235,

then arrange for two portions of the element

to be brought together suddenly,

so that the resulting mass, no bigger than this, General,

undergoes a spontaneous self-generating reaction.

And if this was the epicenter of that explosion...

All of Chicago you could see from here would disintegrate.

Hallelujah.

At the moment, all we have are theories, concepts, inspirations,

- inconclusive results... - Now, if we can make this device,

- so can the Krauts. - Yes.

Germany has the scientific capability.

And, General, we need leadership here.

- I can help! - Thank you.

You need an ally, General!

- So tell us about this general. - Why?

Because it's so mysterious.

"Meet me in the middle of God-knows-where.

"Be there no earlier than 4:20, no later than 4:29."

Well, word has it

he's a provincial windbag

who's spent most of his life digging holes in Latin America.

- Graves for the natives, no doubt. - Oh, Frank.

Seriously, Kitty, after all, Robert's a scientist.

If the Army wants him, they'll want all of him.

All of him? Why not take all of him?

Look, I have to at least hear what he has to offer.

- Robert, must we go so fast? - Yes!

- It's crazy. - Yes! Yes!

This way, Dr. Oppenheimer.

Doctor! Up here!

Groves, Leslie. Friends call me Dick.

Sit down.

Ingenuity. I love it.

Created out of nothing but up here.

Clear!

The old man likes his privacy, doesn't he?

Guess what.

The egghead wants a carrot juice.

Get him what he wants, Bronson!

- Get used to it. - What an eight ball this guy is.

Seems this Oppenheimer's a hot little number.

Says here, he's got more damn brains than are decent.

Yeah? He knows it too. Temperamental.

He ain't gonna be an easy horse to corral.

I think the general knows what he's doing.

Oppenheimer ain't one of us.

The general picks that guy, he's gonna be making a big mistake.

It needs to get pulled together.

So, I think you're the man for the job.

And I got a weakness for good men.

The Krauts are working on this, full bore.

If they get it before we do, I don't have to spell it out.

So, where would you start?

Focus.

You have all these great minds, but they're all dancing to a different tune.

You bring them together in one place, isolated, no distractions.

You create an atmosphere of stress. Creative stress.

Everyone competing to solve one problem.

And you have one ringmaster.

Right now, it's splattered all over the place. You centralize.

You centralize everything.

There is a hitch.

There are people out there who don't like the color of your politics.

My politics

are an open book.

Well, I hope so.

You could win a war and the Nobel Prize, God willing.

Sir, Major de Silva wanted me to remind you

you've got a train to catch at 1800 hours.

No rest for the wicked.

Oh, Doctor.

If you take this on, I say this in all humility, intellect...

Don't outrank that.

This general is a meatball, a cipher.

He'd be eating out of the palm of my hand in a week.

So will you accept?

There are questions. There are a kaleidoscope of questions.

I see.

Well, I'm a star at breakfast small talk.

You'll have to save some of that for the evenings

if you're gonna be wife of the big cheese.

Would this mean moving?

Oh, you have to say yes.

You're too brilliant for Berkeley.

Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam.

Origin and destiny.

Origins and destiny.

The struggle to unearth the one and to discover the other.

That is science!

And as I leave here to unravel my own small destiny,

I want to congratulate each of you on being the best of the best.

I have faith in you all.

God keep you, and may your lives be rich and sweet.

- Thank you. - We'll miss you, Oppie!

We'll miss you, Oppie!

Good luck, Oppie!

Hurry up! Move it, move it!

Let's move that thing out back.

Sir!

- Good afternoon, sir. - Give me the good news, Jack.

Well, sir, we've got the utilities on throughout the camp.

We've got the sewage problem taken care of.

We have water down throughout.

- We've got the two science buildings... - That's not good enough.

We gotta be a couple of weeks behind.

You know, I got a bunch of scientists up there.

They're just wandering around, bumping into each other.

Get some bodies in here. In a week, I wanna be two weeks ahead.

Yes, sir.

General, sir, I don't think we have accommodations for extra men, sir.

Well, what would they want accommodations for?

You think they're gonna sleep?

All right, get some tents if it'll ease your conscience,

but put it on your EOR.

Didn't I ask for dogs around that perimeter fence?

- Yes, sir. - Well, I don't see any.

They're coming, General.

So...

Whatever goes on around here is privileged information.

No exceptions.

No wives, no barbers. No exceptions!

What you see,

what you hear, what you read, what you dream about,

whatever

gives you heartburn or feeds your ulcers,

whatever gives you the sweats,

keeps you up at night, whatever,

all of that

belongs to the United States Army.

Or to me, if that makes you feel more comfortable.

Now, you gotta come down out of the clouds, gentlemen,

and get into the business of winning a war.

I'm gonna say it once. I'm only gonna say it once.

For those of you who know, you know. For those of you who don't, you don't.

You are not here to be comfortable.

All right?

You are here to go beyond the theoretical,

the speculative, the fanciful.

You are here to harness your God-given talents,

your minds, your energy,

in the practical pursuit of one thing,

a military weapon.

A nuclear one.

An atomic bomb.

Keep the muttering to just a minimum, gentlemen.

Why do we bother with a bomb? Why not just drop that man on Berlin?

- When you talk about it... - It will have the same effect.

...it will be referred to as "the gadget" or "the device."

Is that clear?

There is one word that I don't wanna hear.

And that's the word impossible.

- You're two days late. - I went to 109 East Palace Street

to report to Mrs. McKibben, but there was nobody there.

So I hopped a construction bus,

and it damn near drove me back to Chicago.

I've been sitting on trains, buses,

railway stations for 60 hours.

I asked about this place in Santa Fe, and they said it didn't exist.

It doesn't.

So where does a fellow get some chow around here?

- We already ate. - Great.

If you wanna take a shower, I'd take one now.

They turn off the water at 2:00.

Keep those two men back there. We still gotta run the power through.

Yeah, you two men there!

Higher! A little more.

All right, that'll do it.

Open this door, now!

I'm sorry. I couldn't get in.

Give it a month, pal,

and you'll be doing that because you can't get out.

- You Merriman? - Yeah.

Richard Schoenfield.

I'm the doctor around here.

You know, I gotta tell you,

you're just what I'm looking for in a roommate, a little brute strength.

Holy shit!

- What in God's name is this? - It looks like a fridge.

Yeah, it does.

It looks stuck.

I guess you arrived just in time then. Thank God you're here.

Which end would you like?

Are you ready?

You want me to get it myself or are you going to help me?

Lift.

Oppie's boys. No problem left unsolved.

Gentlemen, this project has been separated into three areas.

The physics. How much material do we need?

Should it be plutonium or Uranium-235?

Second, manufacture of that material, but that's out of our hands.

That's Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford.

And third, our responsibility, and this is a cinch...

Yeah, sure.

...build the device, test it, and just hope that we can control it.

Gentlemen, we are here...

At the beginning. Our objective is here.

We have a deadline of 19 months.

Nineteen months? It seems such a short time.

Enrico, the 19 months coincides with our initial anticipated delivery date

from Oak Ridge. Gentlemen, we have 19 months, that's it

to box, wrap and deliver this package.

Are there any dissenters?

No?

Good.

Nineteen months and starting from scratch. Jesus.

Still, we've got Oppie, and he's brought together

the best theoreticians and engineers in the world.

Some of these guys are legends and so young.

I mean, it's amazing. The place is a hothouse.

Doc here, he seems like he's gonna be a good man.

He reckons we're gonna be working with some pretty funny stuff.

So, he's gonna be looking out for us.

He's got a whole wing of the hospital that looks like Noah's Ark.

I think of Jimmy fighting in the Philippines,

and I can't complain.

I love you, but I gotta go. The general wants a progress report.

And when Groves wants something, he wants it now.

Again.

We build a cannon, and at the end

weld a stopper made from a subcritical mass.

We fabricate a shell made from another subcritical mass

and fire it down the barrel.

How much of both materials?

We're projecting a device of 30 pounds, sir.

Right now, 30 pounds is as far away as the moon.

Jesus! We're trying to tap into the energy that fuels the universe.

It's petrifying if I stop to think about it.

All we've got so far are problems, and that doesn't include

the ones we haven't even thought about yet.

Shake down the bad news. I'm getting used to it.

At the moment, there are two problems.

Pre-detonation.

The gadget literally disintegrates before it explodes.

Second, it's the weight problem.

In order for the slug to travel at the velocity that we need,

the gun barrel would have to be so heavy and so thick,

I don't think we'd get the gadget off the ground with a crane.

Well, if they're talking about a slug with a seven-inch diameter,

then you'd have to have a barrel thickness of at least four inches.

I hope you guys find the music.

The way things are, we can't even hum the tune.

All right, free discussion. Two groups...

- I'm not comfortable with... - Excuse me, General. Free discussion.

Seth, Deke, the gun barrel. Robert, Michael, pre-detonation.

Damn it! Just, damn it! Maybe it's the altitude.

But if you ask me, we're still just chalk on a blackboard.

We're dead in the water.

Maybe we cast a lighter gun barrel, find a new alloy.

The force would be too great.

We gotta smack these atoms together to trigger a chain reaction.

We gotta concentrate the energy and crush the mass.

All right, let's rethink this.

As it is, we have a gun barrel that's so heavy

we can't lift it with a plane.

To get the explosive power we need, it's gotta be heavy.

Michael!

Michael, come here!

When I squeeze this

- what do I get? - Juice.

No. I squeeze it, I get compression.

Michael, we get a hollow sphere of plutonium,

and we compress it with an explosion that goes in.

- An implosion. - Chain reaction.

- But, Seth, explosives go out. - I know.

But we make one that goes in.

Jesus.

- Michael. - Let's get the boys.

We'll meet down here in the canteen.

Seth, the device is gonna be so light that we don't need a gun barrel!

Got a match, soldier?

Sir, it's Michael and Seth!

I'm sorry to bother you, sir.

But Seth had an idea. I didn't think it could wait.

He was thinking of an orange.

Yes, but I was thinking of jumping up and down on an orange.

- Crushing an orange. - Crushing!

Crushing the core.

Oh, God. This could be very sweet.

- Where are the others? - Canteen, they wanna kick it around.

- Perhaps it can wait till later? - No, that's okay. You go ahead.

- I'd have lost you anyway. - Thank you.

God damn it.

Doctor!

- Come on! - Double up, over here!

I'm sorry. We were looking for testing sites

and the bus got stuck.

You had a meeting last night. You discussed the work in public.

We were discussing Neddermeyer's alternative to the gun...

In public!

It was a small table in the back of the canteen.

There were a half a dozen of us. We were having a free discussion.

Well, let's just talk about that.

See, I don't want free discussion. I want compartmentalization.

I don't want theoreticians knowing what engineers know.

I don't want technicians knowing what ordinance knows...

- Listen to me... - It is a security problem!

Just listen to me for a minute.

These kids are used to pinning their best ideas up on a bulletin board,

so that everybody can see it.

Ideas are community property.

Free access to information, it's a matter of principle.

You force my hand on this and all right, you'll win.

There won't be any free discussion

because there won't be anybody left to have it!

If you'd been there last night

you'd understand what free discussion was all about.

Because Neddermeyer's idea was brilliant.

An implosion. An explosion that goes inwards,

producing uniform compression in a core and it would be lightweight.

So, there's no gun barrel, there's no velocity problem

and there's no weight problem. And all of that out of free discussion.

You've got to give us room to breathe.

- Bronson? - Sir?

Just don't give it to the waitresses.

Oppie's quite a match for the general.

I'm worried, though, that it's not in Groves' nature to rest

until he finds a way to get the upper hand.

We're terrified the Germans are ahead of us.

And working with these restrictions

and regulations is setting just about everybody on edge.

Look, this is typical.

We are people, not numbers!

It's not part of the agreement, General.

And, General, I apologize for complaints.

But barbed wire, dogs, guards!

- Security badges! It's impossible. - Secrets!

I hoped to leave these things in Italy with Mussolini!

And General, openness is a principle matter for scientists!

And there are many other things, General.

I resent the way that my letters are being censored.

Or the FBI talking to me, that's one thing.

But talking to my wife or my family or my neighbors, that's a little much.

That's a little much. Don't you think?

We cannot continue work under these conditions!

What will be next?

- Doctor. - And what about...

Well, that is some monkey house in there.

A mess.

What are you gonna do about it?

I warned you about this.

Look, you give me responsibility for security inside the lab.

We go where we like, as we like, when we like.

Outside the lab, that's yours.

I will sell them on that.

I don't like it. But I will live with it, for now.

The 8th Air Force today,

carried out its heaviest bombing of the war against Germany.

Michael! Michael. What do you say? Good to see you.

- How are you? - Listen, I brought Kathleen with me.

I'll tell you the truth.

I was afraid this party would be a little short on the beauty side,

so I took the appropriate precautions, if you know what I'm saying.

- I mean, she is my favorite nurse. - You two gonna get together?

No. No, we're not. Actually, I'm gonna get a drink.

That's what I'm gonna get.

A good stiff drink, that's all I'm gonna get.

- Two bucks... - It's a short bet.

- Like I said... - This is stuck.

...it can be pretty lonely here.

There's a war on.

Not everybody can go to Acapulco.

- Oh, my. - Are you okay?

Good. Thank you.

Look, they're perfect.

Another minute, they would have been overdone.

Well, I'll put this in the sink.

- Would you like some orange juice? - Yes, kindly.

- I am sorry. - Don't worry about it.

Really.

- This will be taken care of. - It's okay.

Anyway, I'm sure we're going to be allies, General.

We're both trying to seduce the same man.

So is there a Mrs. Groves?

Yes, there is.

And she has the courage to stay in the background.

Some men are on the planet for a purpose, Mrs. Oppenheimer.

A good wife recognizes that

and is happy to smooth the way.

So, you read my theory on degenerate matter, did you?

While this is helpful, it didn't generate much enthusiasm elsewhere.

So, what do you think we'll find at the end of the tunnel, Michael?

A martini.

Probably.

Hey!

Operator.

Berkeley 5558, please.

Hello, Jean.

It's me.

Jean, I know you're there.

I'd given up waiting.

I'm sorry.

- I wasn't able to manage it. - Oppie, I've been so frightened.

You don't phone, you don't write. Nothing, not even a message.

- I can't. - You can't?

No, Jean, I can't.

- Are you coming? - Well...

When are you coming?

Jean.

This isn't talking. This is just making noises.

Why don't we just grunt at each other?

"Excuse me, I gotta run. There's a war to win."

- Jean. - I can't remember a day I wasn't hurting

except with you.

Jean, listen to me. You've got to understand.

Please.

Yes.

I won't keep you, General.

Well, you better had.

Banging on my door at 2:00 in the morning.

I had this typed up, sir. I thought you'd want to see it.

She's working him over, General.

I've seen this before.

That grunting at each other could be a kind of code.

The cipher clerk said it's not code.

Who is this woman?

Sir, Jean Tatlock, sir.

She's a known communist.

Get me her background.

And maybe I am missing some stuff on the good doctor.

- Get it for me. - Yes, sir.

This has got to throw Oppenheimer's position

on this project into serious doubt, sir.

- Dr. Oppenheimer is the project. - Yes, sir.

All due respect, sir, though,

doesn't this make him an unacceptable risk?

No! Failure's a risk.

The thing that concerns me is, if he's with her, he's not with us.

It might be a good time to put the screws to the good doctor.

Yes, sir. May I ask, how do you intend to do that, sir?

No, Colonel, you may not.

Compression not uniform.

Stand by!

If we had a thinner wall, we could increase the compression, yes?

Seth, there's an answer here. Come on.

Look, Oppie, maybe implosion's just a blind alley.

- Are we going again? - Yes!

- That's an excuse for not thinking... - We'll get reset.

Yes.

All clear! Reset the charges!

Reset the charges!

- We got all clear! Let's go! - Let's move! Move!

- Move it! - On the double! On the double! Go! Go!

- Move it! Move it! - Bring it in! Left side! Left side!

Come on! Get the lead out!

On the double, guys! Let's go!

Canyon to Los Alamos.

Hit it! Keep clear!

Come in, Los Alamos.

Canyon to Los Alamos.

Come in, Los Alamos. Come in.

Something set off the detonators.

Stay back! They're all wired up in series.

Get out of there!

No, Oppie.

Shit.

It's all right.

Take it easy, brother.

Thanks a lot.

Move forward.

Do me a favor. Jump in the ambulance, will you?

Let me give you the once-over in the hospital.

You guys are playing with some pretty funny stuff out here.

Let's go. Start 'em up.

Did they teach you that at high school?

You took a risk.

I just ran out and grabbed the guy. I didn't even think.

Just instinct.

Instinct, huh?

You know, I wonder, with this war,

if it's instinct to save a man, what is it that makes us want to kill one?

Is that instinct?

You sound like my old man, shooting me a question like that.

Why, what's he like?

- My old man? - Yeah.

He's a preacher.

Jackson, Illinois.

And I got an older brother, Jimmy, and he's a soldier.

My mom's dead, and...

I don't know, I guess he's kind of hurt that I'm not at the front.

Why?

Well, Jackson is a small town.

He said, "Where you going?" I said, "Box 1662,

- "Santa Fe, New Mexico." - I know.

So, that didn't quite hack it.

When I left he said, "If you're not gonna be a soldier,

"you better be a damn good scientist. The best."

Are you the best?

I was in Chicago.

But, these guys are so bright.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm in way over my head.

But still, I guess I can handle anything they throw at me.

But, can you dance?

Pardon me?

I said, can you dance?

Yeah.

Well, do it.

- Are you serious? - Can't handle it?

Very nice.

- Something like that. - Very good.

Jean Tatlock, graduated in 1932.

They had a thing together before Oppenheimer was married.

Seems Tatlock ran off.

Things went on the back burner between them till about 1942.

Then it all started up again.

One of his associates said,

"If the wife's his ambition, Tatlock's his conscience."

She introduced him to a number of anti-fascist groups, anti-Franco groups

and a number of known communists.

- Bronson. - Sir.

Little less muscle on the gas here.

Colonel's starting a mission pretty soon,

and I'd like him to start it alive.

Yes, sir.

Sir, this makes Oppenheimer a sitting duck for blackmail.

Your permission, sir, I'm gonna insist on his removal.

No, you're not. Just relax.

You know, Major,

if you want to lead a man in a certain direction,

you don't drag him by the nose.

You just close off his options.

Simple as a truck.

Here we are in the top of the ninth.

The Army down to the Scientists by one run.

Dugan shakes it off. Here's Merriman's pitch.

That's a hit.

Roger Dugan digging hard for first base, he's gonna go for two.

Look out. Here's the throw. He's safe at second base on a slide.

Apple scores. That ties the game.

Yes?

Yes?

- Bad time? - Could be better.

The velocity's still presenting us with something of a problem.

Who's this bimbo you're running around with?

What?

Do I have to tell you?

I got it on the QT from somebody who owes me.

What if the next guy doesn't owe me?

Takes that kind of information to the wrong guy?

That could be the end of you. Could be the end of this project.

I don't understand you.

You think you're some kind of bohemian or something.

Blindsided.

I never expected to get blindsided like this.

And there it is. A line drive.

Doctor, might I be of assistance?

What about me in all this? This looks bad.

Reflects on me.

Reflects on my ability to choose men.

I was with this woman before I became involved in this project.

This is not a new thing.

It's no matter.

I am not comfortable with the idea that you can sink me.

This is someone that I care about.

She's a communist.

A communist.

Oh, my God.

It would be bad enough if she were just some

sweet young thing from Indiana.

She's a card-carrying communist.

And your job, classified job.

What do I have to do, draw you a map?

Get on the phone, a secure line, tell her goodbye!

The pitch. It's a line drive!

It's out of there! It's gone! Home run for Merriman.

Home run!

- It's all right, Bronson, we'll live. - Yes, sir.

Well, that's it, folks, Scientists win the game.

It's in your court.

What a shot!

Bridges, next time keep your head up.

All hail the conquering hero.

Pencil pushers defeat the doughboys.

Robert.

- Frank. - Good to see you, bro.

- Are we being followed or something? - Don't joke.

Nearly asked you for your ID.

- That's ridiculous. - Let's just leave here as soon as we can.

They've been hounding me

for the names of every person that I've ever known

who had communist sympathies.

They monitor every move I make.

I'm sure they're even listening to my telephone conversations.

Why stay?

There's an order to it.

An order in some part of my life, at least.

I'm sorry, I didn't get your message till about 5:00.

I was still at the hospital,

and I got all whizzed up into a huge panic.

You look wonderful.

You look so serious. What's the matter?

I don't have much time. I have to go back tonight.

Tonight?

I cooked us dinner.

This can't be about dinner, Jean.

I didn't want to tell you on the telephone.

And that's why I'm here tonight.

Is it because of what you're doing?

Fine.

We're going to spill the blood before we get to the cocktails.

Jean?

Please... Stay tonight.

Please.

Please.

Please. Please.

What you're working on, it's something bad, isn't it?

That's why you can't tell me.

I can't tell you because it's a secret.

Tell me one good thing that's a secret.

We were a good thing.

No, we weren't.

Not when you got married.

Give me up for something I can understand.

Your wife or your child or your conscience,

something alive.

Not something that you have to hide.

Robert.

Robert, I dreamt you'd gone.

So, that's what the silences were.

No letters, no contact.

I thought it was me, I thought it was something I'd done.

Jean, I've already told you...

-...it has nothing to do... - Yes, but you didn't tell me...

So, what is it you're working on?

What is it that's so goddamn important?

That's right. It is important.

So, don't be so goddamn arrogant.

Is it arrogant to want to know where you are?

What's happening to you? To want to be close to you? To understand?

This was the man I loved.

I loved his dreams. I loved what he saw but couldn't prove.

I loved the goodness in him.

He was my proof that the world could be made better.

And if he's dead, I don't want to live.

The world is different.

It's just not what we wanted it to be.

It's just not.

You mattered to me so much.

You really did.

She told me that I had a penchant for destruction,

that I'd lost faith.

Is she wrong?

No.

She's not wrong.

When this war's over, I just want to ride the mesa for six months.

No deadlines.

Nothing.

Thanks, Frank.

He just kissed his brother.

Gotta be a communist.

All right! Let's set that out over there.

Yeah, right there!

Look at it, Oppie, it's twisted. It's got to be flat.

I think implosion is nothing but a pipe dream.

I'm sorry I ever thought of it.

I can't do it.

Oppie, some way I have to focus... I have to focus the shock waves.

Look at me! God, I'm running out of ideas.

This just sounds like an excuse for not thinking, Seth.

If you can't do it, if you're out of your depth...

-...tell me and I'll find somebody else. - Oppie?

- Yes? - Serber needs you back...

...at the lab right now.

- Oppie? - You said it yourself, Seth.

Focus! I know that somewhere, there's somebody

working on a way to focus an explosive shock wave.

And I'm gonna find him. You just keep working.

Jesus!

You know, if Oppie doesn't let up, he's going to implode.

Inside. Inside.

The good news

is the new plutonium from Hanford makes lots of neutrons.

But the bad news

is the spontaneous fission rate is way too high.

The reaction will run away with itself. There will just be a fizzle.

No explosion.

You're certain of that, Edward?

- Who did the calculations? - Cegray.

- Himself? - Cegray, personally.

So, now plutonium is a problem.

That shifts the emphasis back to U-235.

Of course, Oak Ridge is not yet able to produce that in sufficient quantity.

So, we must go with implosion.

But, Neddermeyer has just announced to me

that he and implosion have just reached a brick wall.

We can't fall behind.

Are you all right, Oppie?

You have a deadline to meet.

Banked almost a billion dollars on you guys.

That's not exactly working on the cheap.

- No. - The only thing

I want to hear from you is, "Yes, sir."

Don't talk to me like I haven't given 26 hours a day

eight days a week to this project.

I've given up everything.

Don't give me that.

I don't want to hear that from the...

I've given up everything.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

I don't give a God damn that travel was restricted.

It had to be done face-to-face, and that's the way I did it.

Latest news from the fighting front.

American armies have broken out of France...

...and for the first time, are pushing the Germans back on their own territory.

But, the fighting is desperate.

The Germans are building up for a massive counter-thrust.

Though the Allies are determined to hold this new front the cost will be high.

Who's the Lone Ranger?

Some explosives wiz, but I don't know about Tonto.

So, Neddermeyer had to give up on making his explosion that goes in.

Not Oppie, though.

He brought in two explosive experts from the outside.

We struggle on here in isolation.

And sometimes, the war seems a long way away.

You want a ride, doc?

Hey, Seth. When did you get your driver's license?

Michael!

- You've come to see the boys at play? - Yes.

- Bad news, beautiful. - Oh, no.

I'm not gonna be able to make that movie tonight.

I can, however, join you both for a drink afterwards

if it would make you very happy.

- Sound good? - Perfect.

Right, right.

Well, I promised the monkey we'd be cutting a rug anyway, so...

It's just as well.

Michael, what's wrong with you?

Do you see much of him?

Yes, I like him.

Are you jealous?

Yeah.

You better do something about it.

Tell them I ain't buying.

White House said there wouldn't be any account till after the war.

Since it is so damn tough to get through to you, Groves,

I decided to bring you my problem.

You see the tread on that tire? Because I sure as hell don't.

Yet that's what my men are riding around on.

I don't know what kind of damn-fool deal you've got yourself into, Groves,

but I do care when it cuts in on my territory.

If I'm gonna move supplies around this goddamn country,

I gotta have trucks!

Those trucks run on tires, Dick. When I hear they ain't moving

because of some kind of goddamn tire shortage, I get mad.

You know, when I hear that you're the cause of it, I want to kill.

- Now, we gotta work something... - No dice.

We got a triple-A priority.

White House authority.

We need the product.

You need to know something.

You're getting a lot of people's backs up.

Let me remind you of something else. You see this?

I count two. You got one.

When this war's over, that's going to amount to something.

And...

Dick, I hope you get my meaning.

Because, by all that's holy,

you better have your ass well-covered.

- Well, Bronson. - Sir?

- It's all about ass, isn't it? - Sir?

You kick it or you lick it.

That's what it's all about.

I'm sorry about my language, Bronson.

But, I'm on the limb.

My prima donnas better come through.

Or you are looking at a piece of dead meat.

Yes, sir.

- What's this? - I don't know, sir.

God, almighty.

Is this a stop?

What time is it? There's no scheduled stop here.

Message for General Groves.

I'll see what the problem is, sir.

Message for General Groves.

- Message for General Groves. - This way.

General Groves, sir. This is from Germany.

It was flown in from Weilburg base.

We wired ahead to have the train stopped.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

- Colonel. - General.

Put it in my safe, in the back.

Don't bring it out without my permission.

- General, sir? - That means the Germans

don't have the bomb. Weren't even close.

Sir, is it wise? I mean, suppressing this?

Well, you tell me, Colonel.

It's delicate stuff.

I'm talking about my longhairs, my prima donnas.

Jewish element.

Take Hitler out of the equation,

they might just run out of stink.

Why chance it?

We can give this country the biggest stick in the playground.

And I intend to do that.

I'll tell you something about our bunch.

Get them close.

Then they'll go all the way.

They're just not close enough yet.

Yes, sir.

Perhaps you should think of these explosive wedges

as forming part of a shell.

They do redirect the shock waves

in much the same way as a lens redirects light.

As a matter of interest, we've already used the idea in England

for armor-piercing shells.

Let's pray God it works.

- We'll be back on schedule. - Yes.

Heads up.

Watch your backs.

No one ever used high explosive

as a precision instrument before.

It's so simple.

It just swings the shock waves from convex to concave.

Some orange, hey, Oppie?

No, after the explosion, Seth.

Dr. Oppenheimer.

Dr. Oppenheimer.

A letter for you, sir.

- They said it was important. - Thank you.

Good luck.

We squeezed it! Damn it, we got compression!

We're on the way! Get the right mix, and we're home, Oppie!

We're home free!

We're vindicated, boys. We're vindicated!

We got a ball game here.

Seth, come here!

Next stop, implosion!

Can I come in?

Where is he?

He's out back.

Sitting in the sun with a blanket on his lap.

Nursing a guilty dick, no doubt.

It is not necessary to be vulgar.

Nothing I say could approach the vulgarity

of what you're building in your back yard.

Well,

vulgar or not,

I need him to come through on this.

He owes it to his country. He owes it to himself.

He is the best there is. And he should have whatever he wants.

Don't try to recruit me, General. You don't need my help.

And spare me your homily on being a good wife.

I know it by heart.

Why did you put up with her for so long?

Because he's the best there is. And he should have whatever he wants.

I don't live very well alone.

Some people don't.

We all have different ways of defending our territory.

Concha, you're late. Peter, hurry up.

Didn't I say 2:00?

I'm sorry.

And I am sorry that the news took so long to get to you.

It just got lost in the system. Censors.

You know...

You can't be responsible for keeping somebody else alive.

It isn't possible. It's not to be expected.

I can't work on this anymore.

I don't want to.

And I don't need to.

Germany is finished.

We know it's just a matter of time. They can't pull this together.

You sure?

I don't want to hear your arguments anymore.

I already know that everything is a risk.

That the war is not over until it's over.

That they're lobbing rockets all over London.

That Germany is desperate. That she's resourceful.

That even if she doesn't get a device, she could litter England

with radioactive material

because we thought of something similar, didn't we?

The fact of the matter is...

They're not as good as we are. Or are they?

Christ, I've got rats in my skull.

I'm being asked to throw too many balls in the air at the same time.

When I feel like that, I get down on my knees

and I pray.

And that's how I get conviction.

If you let this slip through your fingers, through our fingers,

and somebody else gets it...

...you're not gonna be counting

how many balls they ask you to throw in the air my friend.

If you need the fire, you find it.

Wherever.

At last, some good news.

Apparently, sufficient uranium is beginning to arrive from Oak Ridge.

But, as brilliant as he is, Oppie's beginning to show the strain.

We all depend on Oppie.

He's our inspiration.

If he were to crack, we'd all fall apart.

Beautiful, isn't it, Michael? Just think,

...a few miles closer to the sun, a few miles farther away,

none of this would be here. Just a cloud of gas

or a block of ice and nobody to enjoy it.

Odi et amor. "I hate and I love." Catullus.

- Do you know it? - No.

I hate and I love. Why, you ask? I don't know.

I feel both and I'm in agony.

Maybe General Groves is right.

Maybe we should just banish thinking forever.

Michael, we have to test the critical mass.

Are you going to help?

Of course.

I wanna show you something.

Come here to see our little toy?

Michael, that's what we call "tickling the dragon's tail."

So a slug of uranium about two by six inches

will be pulled by this weight.

It begins here, then accelerates at 32 feet per second per second.

It passes between these uranium bricks. We have an instant of criticality.

For a split second, we have a chain reaction.

This is as close as we're gonna come to an atomic explosion in the laboratory.

- Without blowing up. - Exactly.

It's essential to determine

the precise amount of material that the device will need.

Ten years ago I could hardly imagine the stuff.

Ten years.

Each molecule collected out of the air, one by one.

Hello?

What?

That is wonderful...

I have the rare privilege of speaking for a victorious army

of almost five million fighting men.

They and the women who have so ably assisted them

constitute the Allied Expeditionary Force

that has liberated Western Europe.

They have destroyed or captured enemy armies

totaling more than their own strength

and swept triumphantly forward over the hundreds of miles

separating Cherbourg from Lübeck,

Leipzig and Munich.

These startling successes have not been bought

without sorrow and suffering.

In this theater alone 80,000 Americans

and comparable numbers among the allies

have had their lives cut short

so that the rest of us might live in the sunlight of freedom.

- Yeah! - Oh, yeah!

What are we gonna do when this is over?

Well, I don't know. Probably start another one.

That's what I love about this job. It's got a guaranteed future.

I'm not wrong.

Believe me, we're all descended from a long line of noble predators.

Richard, you are irrepressible.

I think I'm gonna go be irrepressible down with Fuller.

Come on, baby face.

- You all right? - Yeah, I'm irrepressible.

So, what are you writing?

Something Oppie said today. I don't know.

Well, read it. Go on.

"Just makes you wonder whether there's an intelligence

"somewhere that isn't descended from a long line of noble predators."

I want to kiss you.

Come here.

Sir, is it true that since we KO'd Germany, we're gonna go home?

- I'll drink to that. - That might be true, soldier.

Can I have your attention, please? Please.

Excuse me.

Just seems to me that

we have a shortage of dance partners here on the floor.

So as a tribute to our men in uniform...

I'd like to make available the services of all the longhairs here at Los Alamos

on this dance floor.

And to break the ceremonial ice,

I will choose the first dance partner.

General Groves...

May I have this dance?

Why not?

So, why do you always have that with you?

- I keep it as a record for my dad. - Oh, yeah?

Yeah, if I wrote him a letter, all he'd get is black lines.

This way I can tell him what's going on.

And what are you gonna write about today?

Besides the war being over?

Yeah.

Well, I met this girl.

Did I just kiss you up there?

You gotta bring your heads in out of the clouds, gentlemen.

Out of the clouds.

Keep the muttering to a minimum, please, gentlemen.

Some of you dancing close together.

I don't like the look of it.

There are bosoms in the area.

And this could lead to pregnancy.

Any man getting caught out of hand or getting caught in hand

will have to turn their peckers over to the FBI.

They're having fun. That's nice. They're entitled.

Just so long as they don't think it's over.

Isn't it?

I mean, what's all the celebration for?

Perhaps we can find some other use for this work.

Fascism's dead.

You mean in Europe.

What do they think the Japanese are doing, shooting squirrels?

No, they're not shooting squirrels, and that's not the issue.

What is the issue?

They don't have the technology. They're not capable of it.

So if we don't need it, why make it?

I want you to look at something.

It's the largest collection of nothing in the entire world.

Make them work

and you've got something.

An irresistible something.

Just the threat.

And they're ours.

You know, sometimes, just standing here,

I keep wondering.

Are we working on them or are they working on us?

Give them dignity, Doctor. Then we can start talking

about who can do what.

And what they mean.

What time is it?

Even when I sleep, it's like dogs tearing at a piece of meat.

Robert?

Thinking of resigning?

No.

I'd be written off.

They wouldn't understand. Not in the present climate.

I keep obsessing about the device.

Yes, it's true, but...

If you think beyond,

it's a limitless supply of energy. Think about it, Kitty.

The power that drives the universe.

It's beyond imagination, really.

And we'd have tamed it.

A new world.

Go get them, cowboy.

What the hell's going on over there?

Those cattle destroyed the entire ground cable run.

Ruined two days' work.

Why didn't they simply round them up

and herd them outside the perimeter of the site?

Did anyone suggest that?

Hey, the ranchers just wouldn't move them

and it seems that the Army stopped negotiating.

- This is out of control. - Edward, these estimates...

- Rush, push, speed, deadlines. - For the blast the last week...

This whole project has gotten out of control.

We haven't thought about the consequences, Oppie.

- Oppie? - Wilson!

We've been waiting for the data from the cyclotron for two weeks.

When are we going to get it?

Wilson is correct.

We have to stop talking about what we're all thinking but not saying.

This argument is arcane, Edward.

This thing is becoming real.

It's going to affect lives, thousands of lives.

We have to start to talk.

All right. But not here.

At my home tonight.

So now we tickle the tail of the dragon.

All right, take her up.

I can only hope the uranium slug doesn't get stuck in the pile.

If it does, we'll probably all evaporate.

- What's the reading? - 1. 19K.

Okay.

- Waiting on your word. - Meter's ready.

Ready when you are.

Let's go.

Okay, let's tickle it.

It burst. It burst.

It burst right from here.

All right, add it up.

Cigarette break.

Good job.

Michael. Hey, Michael. You got a moment?

They won't let me in this damn place.

Still going to Chicago, Michael?

Yeah, Frisch can't pick the slugs up. I said I'd go.

Great.

Listen, there's something we'd like you to pick up, if you can.

You know Leo Szilard, right? And Ralph Lapp?

Well, about 20 of our other colleagues from Chicago group,

well, they're proposing a petition

stating that they're opposed on moral grounds to the use of the device.

Evidently, they're concerned about what they think's gonna happen.

So am I.

I got a brother named Jimmy who's in the Philippines right now.

- I know that. - I read the papers. I'm real concerned.

Look, I'm not asking you to endorse anything, all right?

I haven't even read it yet.

I just think it's something that should get discussed.

All I'm asking you to do is go to Chicago, pick it up,

bring it back, let's all have a chance to peruse and make up our own minds.

- I mean, how tough is that, right? - Makes sense.

It's only fair.

I'll pick it up for you.

- See you later. - Okay.

How can you rationalize premeditated murder?

Bullshit. Premeditated murder?

- This is a war. It's about winning. - At what cost?

You can't just outlaw a weapon.

The more effective it is, the more likely it will be used.

We didn't use poison gas, not in this war.

That was stopped, wasn't it?

Oppie, you've got to speak up for us,

because the generals aren't gonna be listening to us.

Yeah, and speak up on behalf of all those kids hiding in foxholes.

I know what they'd say.

"The Japanese brought this on themselves.

"They have only themselves to blame.

And I wouldn't give a shit if the whole goddamn place went up in smoke."

Excuse me, just for a minute, gentlemen.

And I resent the hell out of your suggesting

that I don't recognize a moral argument.

Why are you still awake? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?

I don't like sleeping.

Well, there are lots of things we don't like.

We have to do them if we want to do the things we do like.

So, what's the treat tomorrow?

Go horseback riding.

That's right. Now, how are you going to ride a great big horse

if you don't get plenty of rest?

Now, go to sleep for Dad?

That's a good boy.

It is hot.

You know, we could go to Carlucci's, get some iced coffee and donuts.

The entire project is beginning to unravel.

- What? - There have always been questions.

We've always avoided the answers.

And now, everything is coming to a head.

- Bronson? - Sir?

- Stop the car. - Yes, sir.

Get out there and take a leak or something.

Sir, this is a public park.

Well, pick some flowers. I want to do some shouting.

It's a crisis.

A crisis of conscience.

All right. I'm not shouting.

I'm not even angry.

I am just stumped.

You want to sit on your hands,

polish your conscience,

when we might be able to end this whole thing with one shot?

Crisis of conscience, huh?

All right.

Have it.

Take a bath in it.

Soak in it.

And then, when you're through,

tell me whether you're going to deliver them.

Whether you're gonna finish this job.

You tell me how I'm gonna face a Senate inquiry

and tell them how we spent almost two billion dollars

on a show that's never even gonna open.

Crisis of conscience.

You've got one job, Doctor.

Give me the bomb. Just give it to me.

Atrocious things have been done in Germany

because people didn't speak out.

And we blame them for it.

Right, I think, even though it was dangerous.

But it's not dangerous for us to speak out.

That's what a lot of us in Chicago feel.

You don't have to agree with the contents of this petition, Michael.

You just have to agree it should be discussed.

- Yes, sir. - Good boy, Michael.

Good seeing you again.

- It just came in on the wire. - What?

The Japanese have been feeling out terms for surrender.

They've made a proposition via the Russians.

What kind of surrender? Not unconditional?

Not according to my sources, no.

Good.

No one will buy it.

- Sir? - Nothing.

Come on. Come on. Right here.

Mr. Secretary, a brutal question.

Are you and the President looking to Russia,

figuring they'll come into Japan, assuming there's an invasion?

'Cause if you are, you're not gonna get that for nothing.

Russia's gonna want Manchuria, Sakhalin.

I can give the President Japan.

No invasion, no deals.

Can you guarantee that?

Some of your scientists are getting out of line.

I hear they've been maneuvering to see the President.

I didn't know that.

I will take care of it.

- Very well. Do that, General. - Mr. Secretary.

Good night.

Panton?

Dr. Oppenheimer had

on three separate occasions, meetings with suspected agents,

communists, whatever.

- He gave us one name, is that correct? - Yes, sir.

Press him on the others.

- He needs to feel the branch creak. - Yes, sir.

- Ready? - Yeah, we're ready.

They told me you were down here. I was having lunch.

Yes, I got a call from Captain Panton.

A security problem again.

Well, I'm being harassed, and I'm sick of it.

I thought I had a security clearance. I thought this was a dead issue.

It's never dead with you.

Now, I will try to put a lid on it.

This is not gonna help.

- What's this? - It's a kind of petition,

from your boys in Chicago,

trying to go around us, maneuvering to see the President.

That will never happen.

You know about this?

About the ideas, yes.

They want to demonstrate the device, not use it.

Is it containable?

Can you stop it?

My hash is getting cold upstairs.

- Don't let these dodos distract you. - How can...

Robert, you are this far away

from being the man who won the war.

These are very important people in Chicago

and you can't ignore what they have to say.

All they want is an opportunity to talk about the demonstration.

- What's his name? Zeelar? - Szilard.

Sitting in the bathtub.

I should have drowned that son of a bitch

the first day I met him.

What's wrong with demonstrating the damned thing?

What's wrong with not killing somebody?

You vaporize some uninhabited atoll.

You set out your terms of surrender,

then you send the Japanese packing home.

It's mush. It won't work.

They are kamikazes, all of them.

You had money in your background. That explains it.

- What is that supposed to mean? - Your optimism.

Faith in human nature. I never had any. Money, that is.

Never had a permanent house. Made me a realist.

The idea should go to the President.

Where do you get these ideas?

You know, those boys in Security...

They got a right to ask where these ideas are coming from.

Running demonstrations, stopping work,

sharing with other countries.

You're gonna have a tough time proving to them

that those ideas are coming out of Chicago.

- They're foreign, they're subversive. - They're moral, that's what they are.

- Moral? - Moral.

Was Pearl Harbor moral?

Poland, Munich, moral?

Death March of Bataan, was that moral?

Junk!

Demonstration junk.

I say you show the enemy in the harshest terms

that you can muster,

that you play in the same league that they do.

At that committee meeting tomorrow,

there's gonna be a vote on this demonstration.

There's gonna be a recommendation going to the President.

Now, listen.

You can help yourself here.

Steer it in the right direction.

You're either for us or against us.

- Ernest, how are you? - How are you?

I'd like to introduce Dr. Oppenheimer here.

Well, rumor has it that we might just owe you

for shaking those yellow monkeys out of the trees.

Save us a lot, not going to Japan.

My boys are gonna be grateful.

Yes, I'm pleased to shake your hand. And thank you.

Doctor, I'd like to add my shake, too.

Nice seeing you.

Did you hear what they said?

You keep this on the track, and we are gonna owe you, soldier.

We are in a completely new situation

that cannot be resolved by war.

"A petition to the President of the United States.

"Discoveries of which the people of the United States are not aware

"may affect the welfare of this nation in the near future."

The Russians are our allies.

We drop this without telling them,

we could give them a dose of paranoia that will make us all sick.

The Japanese are on their knees. All this kamikaze stuff is a load of bull.

They're wet-pants scared of us just like we're wet-pants scared of them.

Now, this war seems to have forced a lot of guys on both sides

to resign from the human race.

I hope we're not about to do that here.

I agree.

Our blockade will finish Japan by autumn, maybe even sooner.

This device is not an honorable way to win a war.

And I was taught to fight with honor.

If Custer

had used the machine-gun,

his history would have been written differently.

If you go ahead,

particularly if you drop this thing with no prior warning,

I, for one, will have to resign my commission.

Perhaps you'll excuse me, gentlemen.

Incidentally, what is the opinion of the committee on a demonstration?

Well, if we should agree to a demonstration

with the attendant Japanese observers

and that demonstration failed,

not only would we be unable to induce the Japanese to surrender,

we would face a critical shortage of material.

The dropping of the device has always been implicit in this project.

So, that is the advice I shall pass on to the President.

- Yes, sir. - Yes, that's right.

Yes.

- Sam. - Bob, welcome to Trinity.

- Here she is. - Can I grab one?

- It's all right. - Good trip?

- Are you the accountable officer, sir? - Yes.

- This will be for you. - What's that?

It states that the University of California hereby hands over

a plutonium core of a nuclear device to the United States Army.

Put more simply, it's a bill for two billion dollars.

Let me show you what else your money's bought.

The initiator.

And the other half.

Now, all we gotta do is throw them together and...

Well, let's begin final assembly.

Okay, Mr. Merriman.

Well, you're quiet.

It's coming close, what you're working towards, isn't it?

Yeah.

I can feel it pressing down on everybody.

There's something going on here.

It's got everybody mesmerized, hasn't it?

Yeah.

There's a regular run on sleeping pills and aspirin.

And it's not just the work, it's something else.

- Look, I know you can't talk about it. - I can't.

Well, then talk to Dr. Oppenheimer.

I mean, if anyone has, he'll have thought it through, right?

Okay.

Touch me.

Naked.

Isn't that a beautiful word?

Tonight.

I want to make love.

And I want a future.

That's what I really want

for you and me.

So do I.

For Christ's sake, George.

This pitting.

Must be the mold.

I'm not an explosives expert, but I've obviously been called here

to look at something that's unacceptable.

We must use hand-lathing.

Well, you should have used hand-lathing before calling me, George.

- Hand-lathing. You know what it is? - Yes, I know what it is.

It's dangerous, that's what it is.

Michael, what're you doing here?

Chicago. Leo Szilard.

I read it on the train.

Well, what do you think about it?

It unnerved me.

Are we going to discuss this ever?

Amongst ourselves?

We going on?

I don't see anyone to stop you.

Now, look. We've been asked to solve a technical problem, to build this device.

We're not responsible for its use.

Oppie, it's for you!

Peter's got revised figures.

Look... Let me keep this paper.

We're expecting the initiator in a couple of hours.

We need your lab results. All right?

- All right? - All right.

- Everybody ready? - Meter's ready.

Here we go.

Twenty-one.

Twenty-nine.

Thirty-one.

Thirty-eight.

Got it? Forty. Everybody back. Right now.

Behind the wall!

Critical!

Nobody move! Don't anybody move!

Damn it!

Take out everything metal! Drop it to the floor!

Mark the positions you're standing in, and get out!

Everybody should make it.

Except me.

I'm dead.

Doctor! Doctor! I've been looking all over for you.

- We've got a problem. Bad allergy. - When?

About an hour ago. They're bringing him in now.

- Who is it? - Mr. Merriman.

- Michael? - Yes, sir.

Oh, shit!

Let's go. Come on, let's go!

Yes, sir.

This one right there.

In here! This one's good.

- All right, Mike. - Michael, what's the matter?

Nothing, there's nothing.

Doctor, how much did he get?

- More than a 1,000 rads, I think. - Damn it.

- Richard, what's happening? - Sweetheart, it's under control.

Everything's under control, okay?

Steven, what's going on here?

Excuse me. Excuse me.

There's no patient there. No one's to hear about this.

Not Oppenheimer, nobody. All right. Okay?

God damn it, what happened here?

I want this whole ward sealed off. Come with me.

Get out of here!

It's basically the detonation circuits.

I don't know.

I would like another 24 hours.

I think so, but I can't be certain.

I said one more day! I need one more day!

No. Merriman brought me a copy from Chicago.

Some of the physicists have signed it, yes.

Those pinko fruitcakes!

You get that thing to work, I'm gonna drop it on Chicago, I swear I will.

Yes! I hear you! You hear me?

Finish the damned thing. That's an order!

Well, I got other business.

But I got a plane. I'll be there.

Every time I turn around, somebody else gets to him.

Now they're talking about postponing.

- Clear for Washington? - Yes, sir. We are.

Truman, Stimson arrive Potsdam

tomorrow for conference with Stalin.

Advise results of trinity tests soonest.

Stalin's going to eat Truman alive at this meeting.

- Unless we... - Yes, unless.

We give the President something lethal to stick in his back pocket.

I tell you something it won't be. Postponement!

Oh, lord. So close.

Keep going down slow.

His heart looks larger.

There could be fluid in the pericardial sac.

- Radiation-induced? - Probably.

It's almost doubled in size overnight.

If this continues, his heart will drown.

Is he lucid?

In and out. There's tremendous brain swelling from the radiation.

What happens next?

I don't know. I mean, I have no idea.

No human being's ever gotten this dose of radiation before.

He's dying from the inside out.

We've got other problems, too.

His gastrointestinal tract has been destroyed by the radiation.

Excuse me, Doctors.

You gotta believe we're doing everything we know

how to help Michael, sweetheart.

Absolutely everything.

It's not going to do anybody any good to have you ripping yourself apart like this.

You just gotta get home and get some sleep.

Richard, I can't.

- Some orange. - It sure is, hey Oppie?

Look out!

- Hornig! Hornig! - It's all right!

The other safety is holding.

Does anybody else need a martini?

- What's the word? - Oppie, it doesn't look good.

We have a chance of thunderstorms over the next five days. I'm sorry.

- Why wasn't I told? - Too much panic.

- How is he? - It's difficult to tell.

- But I'd like to go and see him. - We're not permitting visits.

But the men who were with him, have been spoken to.

They understand. Security. Delicate time.

He's a strong young man. He'll pull through.

Schoenfield, how is he? Is he conscious?

He's in and out.

He wants to know whether or not you read the Chicago petition.

It means a lot to him.

Yes, I have.

I mean, that's it? That's all?

"Yes, I have." And then, now I wash my hands of it?

Now, wait a minute. God damn it, Oppenheimer.

I got a friend falling apart in there who thinks you got all the answers

because that's what you let him think. You did!

Do you really know what the Christ is going on in this place,

or is the whole thing out of control?

If you're trying to make a particular point here, what is it?

I've spent the last two years of my life

putting up with all your security,

and your secrecy, and your control.

And, now I don't think all that bullshit

was to keep what's going on in this place from the Germans,

or the Japanese, or even the Russians.

I think, it's to keep it from ordinary American Jacks and Jills,

because they may not happen to like what's goin' on in this place!

Ordinary American people, they don't want to know what's going on here.

The only thing that they wanna know is that their sons are coming home alive.

I'm doing everything in my power to see that they do!

Like Oak Ridge?

Where they're injecting mentally ill and old uncomprehending people

with huge doses of plutonium?

Look, I don't know anything about Oak Ridge, but if you wanna ask

a question about what's happening here, you ask this:

will it be big enough?

Big enough to scare the hell out of all of us and make us stop and think?

Big enough to stop all war forever?

You want to ask a question, you ask that!

Look, I've seen Oak Ridge, all right?

And, that place wasn't built to make one or two bombs.

It was built to make thousands of them. Thousands!

Pretty soon, everybody's gonna have a bomb. They will.

What will they do with them? Sit around, wait till they go off? Until boom?

And then we got ourselves, one world

full of Michael Merrimans dying from the inside out.

Is that what you're looking for?

Because, that's the future you've made for us!

Hey, Oppenheimer! Oppenheimer,

you ought to stop playing god because you're not good at it,

and the position is taken!

His pressure's falling fast. You've got to get that fluid out now.

Needle, Michael.

Okay, you're in. Start to pull it back.

Come on, doc.

The pressure's starting to rise. It's coming up slowly.

Robert, you have to get some sleep.

God. I'm in a dark place.

We've all cooked this stew.

You know, the Germans and the Japanese,

and the Americans and the Brits...

It's an ugliness that goes back. It goes way back.

I'm not a scientist anymore.

I'm a goddamned functionary.

I've got to stay in control.

I've got to control who gets this thing.

Power and control, it's all I ever hear about anymore.

Doesn't life matter to you?

What about love and understanding?

I thought that's what science was all about.

I just wanted us to work.

Does everything have to be sacrificed to this, thing?

I put up with...

Jean...

Because I thought you needed her.

And I thought you'd give her up because of me.

But she didn't count.

I don't count.

Nothing counts for you anymore except this damn bomb.

That's what it is.

But it's not your only creation.

There are the children.

And you need my love and support. I know.

I don't know where it is.

Why me?

Why did he pick me?

- Panton! - Sir!

Security is a mess!

Nobody at the checkpoint. Nobody up here!

What do you think this is, a public beach?

No, sir.

But we've got to call a halt to this. The weather is just too unpredictable!

We're not calling a halt on account of the weather!

What with the wind and the rain, we could send radioactive junk

all the way to Amarillo.

Are you The New York Times reporter?

I want three reports.

One if we succeed, one if we fail, and one if we disintegrate.

General, with the wind blowing in this direction,

Amarillo could get massive fallout!

- Fermi's right. - No, I'm saying no.

The decision is mine!

You understand that?

We go ahead with this.

- Sergeant! - Do something about that dog!

- Yes, sir! - You sound like

you're planning some railway schedule!

No! You are trying to uninvent this!

I can do it without you.

Well, if you do, and I've said no,

and something goes wrong...

Get in the car.

Hurry up. What are you waiting on?

Sir, it looks like it's clearing up.

You know, you build to a moment,

and then you grab it, or it will go right by you.

You always thought that I would do this, didn't you?

Can you buck your own nature?

What will it be like?

Unimaginable.

To a baby.

Do it.

Hallelujah.

He said it's a go.

It's set! Let's go.

Start the countdown!

It's a go! It's a go!

Let's go! Move it out! Come on!

Wilson, wake up!

Wake up the dragon!

Let's go!

Power on.

Power on.

Synchronization relays one open.

Synchronization relay one open.

Synchronization relays two open.

Synchronization relays two open.

I love you, Michael.

Easy.

Breathe easy.

Easy.

Easy. Come back to the ice.

It's okay. Here's the ice.

Kathleen, what are you doing in here?

Kathleen.

Kathleen!

Come on, come on, sweetheart.

You simply can't be here, sweetheart.

I had to be with him.

I wanted to tell him I love him, because he's going to die.

Detonation relays four are open.

Well, it's armed.

Now it's up to the bunker.

Let's get down from here.

Well, I've always believed that the Lord was on our side.

And I think now we're going to prove it.

That must be from the military base.

Enrico, what do you bet on the end?

I bet we accidentally set fire to the atmosphere.

If we are lucky, we only wipe out New Mexico.

If we can ignite the air, we finish off the planet.

Any takers?

I kind of hope the damn thing doesn't go off.

What the hell is that?

It's The Nutcracker suite.

I can't get rid of it.

- Go to 6.5. - 6.5.

- Okay, try seven. - Seven.

Charging the device.

Robert, over here.

The device is fully charged.

It is now zero minus 60 seconds, 59, 58,

57, 56, 55, 54,

53, 52, 51, 50, 49...

Where the hell is that music coming from?

I'm sorry, sir. It's a ground channel.

We can't seem to get rid of it.

...44, 43, 42, 41, 40...

Cut the music.

...38, 37, 36, 35, 34,

33, 32, 31, 30,

29, 28, 27, 26, 25,

24, 23, 22, 21, 20,

19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14,

13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7,

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

Kathleen, my love, you asked me a question once,

"Was it instinct to save a life or to take it?"

Well, I don't know, my darling.

All I do know is that if we are free to choose,

I hope to God we choose life over death,

not because I believe the implacable universe cares a damn,

but because, as I look at you, my darling,

I realize how glorious, how magical life can be.