Where Have All the People Gone

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!!!!!

Four people have gone camping and while three members of a family are inside a cave looking around, a bright light appears outside followed by an earthquake. The other person, "Jim Clancy" (Noble Willingham) just happened to be outside when it happened and not long afterward he gets sick and dies. Totally on their own, the father, "Steven Anders" (Peter Graves) decides to take his teenage son, "David" (George O'Hanlan Jr.) and his daughter, "Deborah" (Kathleen Quinlan) back to Malibu in search of their mother who left the campsite earlier in the day headed for home. On the way back they find that what happened to them wasn't an isolated incident as entire towns are totally deserted and empty. Everybody is gone. Anyway, rather than answer the question of "what happened to everybody" I will leave it to the viewer to see for themselves. I will say however, that even after watching the film in its entirety I still thought there were one or two unanswered questions. Additionally, one particular drawback was the fact that it was narrated in the past tense by one of the family members, which took some of the mystery out of it in my opinion. But even so the film managed to maintain suspense for the most part. I especially liked Peter Graves' calm and collected demeanor throughout the movie as it added a solid character to the film. In short, for a low-budget made-for-television movie this one wasn't too bad and I give it an average rating.

Judging by the other user comments I'm not the only one who saw this movie only once and still can't forget it. I was probably about five when I saw this and I can still vividly recall scenes from the movie. (It seems like a lot of us who have commented on this movie saw it at an impressionable age; I wonder if that's why it has stayed with us all for so long?)

I would love to find this thing on tape or catch it on television some night. Bring back some of those wonderful willies that so easily came in the 70's thanks to movies like Chill Factor, Trilogy of Terror, Gargoyles and countless others.

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.

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.