Today’s movie is a
biographical drama with a scene that happens on November 13. Watch it tonight
and enjoy.
SILKWOOD
Karen Silkwood lives with her boyfriend Drew Stephens and
her friend Dolly Pelliker. They all work at the Kerr-McGee plutonium processing
facility in Crescent, Oklahoma. The facility is understaffed and working on a
tight schedule that does not allow for carrying out safety drills. The three
travel to Texas so Karen can see her three kids, who live with their father.
After Karen gets blamed for causing a contamination shutdown and appearing to have
caused anther one, she is transferred to another section. There she learns the
company is retouching x-rays of defective nuclear fuel rods. The company finds
enough votes to force a decertification election on the union. Dolly moves her
lesbian lover, Angela, a funeral home beautician in with her. Karen goes to
meetings in Washington, D.C. with the
union and the Atomic Energy Commission. She tells the union leaders about the
touched up x-rays and they ask her to investigate. Drew, upset by the fact that
Karen has become a full time union activist, moves out. The union stays certified, but some workers
blame her for actions that could result in the facility being closed. Karen sets off two more alarms and her house
is found to be contaminated with radiation. The company thinks she did it
herself, while she thinks Kerr-McGee is trying to kill her. When she goes for
treatment she finds her exposure is still below the recommended maximum
exposure levels. On November 13, 1974 [2:02:59 to 2:06:50] Karen Silkwood goes
to meet a reporter for the New York Times. Se never gets there and found dead
the next day in an apparent one-car crash.
A movie where the three leads totally become their
characters. Excellently played low key by Streep, Cher and Russell. The movie
leads you to think she was murdered, but this is still unproven.
Unsolved Crimes: Follow the Trail of the World’s Most
Notorious Cold Cases by John Wright (Amber Books, Ltd., London, 2010) at page 23 and the
film at 2:06:55 give the date of her death
Awards – The movie was nominated for the Best Actress
(Streep), Best Supporting Actress (Cher), Best Director, Best Original
Screenplay and Best Film Editing Oscars at the 56th Academy Awards
Screenplay - Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen
Producer - Michael Hausman
Director - Mike Nichols
Runtime – 2 hours 11 minutes
Released – December 14, 1983
Starring –
Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood
Kurt Russell as Drew Stephens
Cher as Dolly Pelliker
Craig T. Nelson as Winston
Fred Ward as Morgan
Diana Scarwid as Angela
Ron Silver as Paul Stone
Josef Sommer as Max Richter
Charles Hallahan as Earl Lapin
Sudie Bond as Thelma Rice
Bruce McGill as Mace Hurley
David Strathairn as Wesley
Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014.
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