In Australia, four teenagers in a Sydney theater are astounded to hear the news that a nuclear war has broken out in Eastern Europe. They try to figure out the best way they can survive the coming conflagration.
We are introduced to 4 young 20something year olds in the down yonder just before the end of the world becomes their only reality. Held up in the Sidney Opera House for what is likely their last night on Earth. We follow these young people (2 men and 2 women) through their agonizing transition from
... lives full of promise to where their lives are ever so quickly coming to an abrupt end.
Extremely melodramatic! The acting is simply splendid!!! Those young actors really became entrenched in their characters. Throughout the movie the young adults tune into a radio station about reports of World War III breaking out all across Europe and America and of their own impending doom after a Nuclear Bomb is detonated just south of Sydney. Throughout the movie a white rabbit appears - for what reasons, I have yet to figure out - was the director trying to send a message to the viewer? The most impacting scene is the video camera footage broadcast on local TV of distressed and burned survivors somewhere 'north of New York'. This scene really packs a punch! Especially since the movie just kind of tugs along and then WHAM you get hit with this very graphic and disturbing scene! Burned victims, men and women crying out in agony, Soldiers in radiation suits guiding blind and burned victims to a make shift shelter where the news camera keys in on people with skin hanging from their bodies, charred remains of humans and animals and the piercing cry of women and children! I don't think there is one scene from 'The Day After' or 'Threads' that packed a shocking punch as this one brief scene in the movie (One Night Stand). Oh and Midnight Oil is in this movie! Am I the only yank that likes this band?????
Extremely rare video to purchase. It is not available on DVD. I was lucky to purchase a copy on Ebay recently in VHS format! The back of the VHS box states:
"How would you spend your last night on Earth? Four young people find themselves deciding just that, as they end up thrown together on what may be their last night to live.
When Sharon, Eva, Brendan, and Sam hear on the radio that World War III was begun, they decide that the best way to deal with the situation is to try and have a good time. They play strip poker, mix drinks, flirt, and joke around. But between the banter they draw close together as they realize that these may be the last friends they'll ever have.' Featuring the music of Midnight Oil."
In closing, I would love to see a DVD version of this film with a Director/Actor(s) narrative! One other tid bit, this movie was filmed entirely on location: New York, Sydny and Paris.
