Where Have All the People Gone

Thoughtfully considered, well-acted made-for-TV drama stars Peter Graves as a family man on an excavation excursion with his kids in the California mountains who survives a radioactive blast followed by an earthquake; slowly, the family comes to realize the astronomical proportions of the accident when they get back to town and find desolate streets. Writers Lewis John Carlino and Sandor Stern do not trivialize the situation with soap opera; the budget may be slim, but the emotional experiences on hand for Graves and his children (and two others they pick up along the way) are harrowing. Cinematographer Michael D. Margulies does terrific work behind the camera, and the direction is solid except for some stiffness at the beginning and a voice-over narration that was unnecessary. Television movies really came into their own in the 1970s, providing capable TV actors with meatier roles than what was otherwise available to them in the form of popular weekly shows. This is certainly the case with Peter Graves, who retains his laconic, low-key persona but who also excels with some hard-hitting scenes (such as a moment of private grief up in his bedroom); Verna Bloom is also terrific as a mother who has seen her entire family decimated, and young Kathleen Quinlan is outstanding as Graves' warm, maternal daughter (this is a very underrated actress giving an early performance worthy of high praise). Worthwhile, unpretentious fare, a precursor to "Damnation Alley", "The Day After", and many others.

With video stores dumping their videotapes in favor of DVDs (even if they do not have DVDs to replace many of the titles they're getting rid of), and with large video store chains putting mom 'n' pop stores out of business, some unusual videos are turning up for sale.

I'd never heard of this movie, and wasn't even a year old when it was originally broadcast, but when I saw it as an ex-rental for sale for $2... well, actually I passed it up at first, just writing the title down to look up on the IMDb. The comments are pretty favorable on it, and I'm usually intrigued when a movie on the IMDb has relatively few user ratings and no external reviews, and a subsequent internet search fails to turn up any reviews online elsewhere. Consequently, I went back and bought it; I'm glad I did!

It starts off with a voice-over by the young woman Deborah Anders, and occasionally throughout the movie we get some voice-over by her, though the movie is not entirely her narrative. The Anders family is camping in the High Sierras, but Mrs. Anders heads back to their home in Malibu. Mr. Anders, his two children, and a family friend remain. While the Anderses are fossil-hunting in a cave, their friend prepares a rabbit stew and he sees a bright light, which is followed by a short earthquake. The Anderses flee the cave during the earthquake, and they witness their friend's health deteriorating, and can't get and stations on their radio anymore, and can't reach anyone on their walkie-talkie. They make their way back to civilization: Rainbow, California, population 250. Nobody is there.

What happened?

The movie held my attention pretty well. It is definitely a made-for-TV movie, fading to black for commercials, then fading back up again. In spite of that, it works pretty well. As in a number of other movies of this subgenre, there are spooky shots of deserted towns, encounters with dangerous animals and other survivors.

Yup, I was a kid when I saw this, just like nearly all the others. Oddly, I recall it was similar to the Star Trek episode "Omega Glory" as well, what with the white powder left spilling out of people's clothes. I always wondered, since I recall that the main characters' camping companion was feverish and in seeming pain for half the day after being exposed to the solar flare before he tuned to white powder, why so many of the empty clothes with powder spilling out they happened across were in positions that indicated that the occupants had disintegrated immediately without undergoing a period of suffering (e.g. on a playground carousel, behind the wheel of a car, etc.). Oh well, I overanalyze. I remember being likewise bothered by a recent movie where an airline pilot captain had to deal with nearly half his passengers vanishing, leaving empty clothes behind (minus white powder). brr...getting' the shivers.

I have been looking for the title of this movie for nearly 30 years! I saw it as a nine year old back when it first aired. I remember being creeped out to no end. In my teen years I got into scifi and somewhere in my head I always remembered watching this movie - perhaps one of the best apocalyptic films ever made, even if it was for TV. I couldn't remember the name, and no one I asked seemed to recall it - so went high school, college, even grad school... no one could help me find the title. Then, the Internet, a late night search on Google, and thanks to TV Tome and IMDb, I have the title. Now to get a copy! People have commented that it reminds them of the Trek episode... nah, this film is far more effective. It reminds me of The Quiet Earth, but the scenes where the clothes are found is eerie and outstretches TQE, imho.

Thank you all! My 30 year quest is over! Yippee!!!!!

I was eight years old when I saw this movie (actually I saw it once again about a year after I first saw it). Anyway, I have NEVER forgotten it. The image of the clothes laying inside a car was one scene that ALWAYS stuck with me. BUT, I never knew the name of the movie. And for years I lived with this movie in my head never knowing it's name. Until about five years ago, a friend and I were talking about weird movies when I happened to mention this one. I told him about the clothes and that it starred Peter Graves. He said very nonchalantly.."oh..'Where Have All the People Gone'". OH-MY-GOD. I couldn't believe he remembered it too. This was one of the eeriest, scariest and realistic movies I've ever seen. The sense of the survivors desolation was palpable. The feeling of dread it instilled in me was incredible. Why don't they put out a whole bunch of these great 70's TV movies out on DVD? There's a huge market for this. Great to see so many people remember it like I did. If you liked the Twilight Zone, you'll like this one.