Where Have All the People Gone

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!!!!!

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.

I was 11 years old when I saw "Where Have All The People Gone?" and it really left an impression on me. Other reviewers of this film here on IMDb seem to be sharing the same feeling; we were young and were privileged to see films like this one on TV at a time when they were just a bit more edgy. It's comforting to know there are others out there my age who seemed to appreciate these more cerebral films at such a young age! Other examples that have stayed with me were 1974's "Dying Room Only" with Cloris Leachman, and 1970's "The Neon Ceiling." These were very serious and even frightening scenarios, and even schlock films like 1973's "Horror At 37,000 Feet" and 1974's "Killdozer" were edgy, truly unique, and highly entertaining.

The idea of everyone in the world turning into dust from a bizarre solar flare type incident except a handful of survivors here and there really scared me. Like "Last Man On Earth," and "The Omega Man" before it and even "Night Of The Comet" and "The Quiet Earth" much later, it's a theme that will intrigue and never let go.

Peter Graves was a great choice for this film, and it was nice seeing Kathleen Quinlan too. You could just feel their dread as they went through a city and saw nothing but clothes on the ground where people used to be (particularly seeing a playground with children's clothes scattered about), and having to deal with dogs that seemed to be unaffected by the phenomenon, all running wild in the streets and quite vicious.

They just don't make 'em like this anymore. They can try, and with state of the art digital effects to boot, but it just seems you can't beat these early 1970's TV films that relied more on dramatic content, creativity, and substance rather than flashy effects. It seems many of us are all hoping to find "Where Have All The People Gone?" on home video and it would be a smart idea for whoever controls the rights for it to consider releasing it! It's a piece of nostalgia that still holds up today and just takes me back to a time when I really looked forward to something on TV.