 | | | | On the Beach |  | List Price: $19.98
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 82 reviews)
Sales Rank: 23590
Category: Video
Actors: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins, Donna Anderson
Director: Stanley Kramer
Publisher: MGM/Ua Studios
Studio: MGM/Ua Studios
Manufacturer: MGM/Ua Studios
Label: MGM/Ua Studios
Format: Black & White, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Media: VHS Tape
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
UPC: 027616226730
EAN: 0027616226730
ASIN: B00000I1OA
Release Date: August 6, 1996
Theatrical Release Date: December 17, 1959
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
Stanley Kramer's 1959 antiwar movie looks like everything Kramer did: subtle as a car wreck but undeniably affecting. Gregory Peck plays a submarine commander looking for survivors in Australia after a nuclear holocaust. Ava Gardner is among them and, somewhat improbably under the circumstances, becomes his love interest. Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins are among the characters awaiting death from the gradual spread of radiation from the north. One might scoff at Kramer's implicit finger-wagging about nuclear politics in this mad, mad, mad, mad world, but it is hard to stop watching this compelling drama all the same. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 77 more reviews...
NOSTALGA I WAS THERE WHEN IT WAS MADE September 19, 2008
I have always enjoyed watching "On The Beach" It's a good story well filmed and acted. It's sad to think all the main stars are no longer with us. The film was shot mainly around Melbourne Australia, and it was a big deal to have Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins in our City back in 1958. Stanly Kramer shot the interiors of the sub at the Melbourne Showground on a specially built set, mainly of wood, but looked so like the steel interior of an atomic submarine. Ava Gardner made the comment that you could not find a better city than Melboune for a story about the end of the world. Sydney siders loved that comment, Melbournians, not so amused. I believe she was taken out of context at the time.Recommend this movie to people who live in Melbourne to see the differences in their city now, especially Frankston Train Station
 A Place in Time When People Seemed to Care More September 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I remember my parents taking me to this film--at a drive-in, no less. This was the era of "The Blob" and other teen-crazie epics. ON THE BEACH is a serious, thought-provoking film--and it found a deep--if silent--response not only in mature people, but with teens as well.
It reached a deep level of the heart with a generation of folks who seemed to care more about went on in the world around them.
On the casting level, it was brilliant. The teaming of Eva Gardner & Gregory Peck may seem odd at first glance, but the chemistry was undeniable. The earthy beauty of Eva matched with the intellectual integrity of Gregory.
Wow.
Fred Astaire, remembered for his rather fatuous but technically brilliant dance routines, turns in a flawless delivery as Eva's one time lover and now cynical, lonely race car enthusiast.
The scenario is the end of the world, a world doomed by a nuclear war that no one assumes responsibility for. Nobody is quite sure how it all began, but they do know how it will end. Australia is the only land mass left where humans (or any other animals) are still alive--and its days are numbered.
There are so many poignant scenes: Masses of people, families, obediently lining up for their State-issued cyanide capsules.
The Salvation Army singing for redemption...and one by one even their numbers begin to diminish.
The young mother clutching at denial, while her loving husband (Anthony Perkins in a great performance) is forced to make the final decisions on his own.
Toward the conclusion of the film, Gregory Peck is forced to leave his new (and last) love alone in Australia when his crew votes to return "home" (USA) to die.
The final image is poignant in its simplicity:
Eva Gardner walking alone on the cliff as Peck's submarine sails off. At least she has rediscovered her dignity in her final relationship.
There is a more recent remake of this film that I haven't seen. It may be very good, but after viewing the original version again, I don't have any impulse to see it. I want to leave this memory & experience intact.
 No English Captions August 22, 2008
I was disappointed to discover that it only has French and Spanish sub-titles, I still buy a lot of DVD's because they have sub-titles, something which for the most part is not available on my APPLE-TV.
For an old hearing impaired pilot this is a problem.
The product info area should tell which languages are Captioned.
on the beach July 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Was an item I had trouble finding, and it was a gift and never thought I would have it on time but it was delivered very quickly and I had it before I needed it.
Not with a Bang but a Whimper June 28, 2008
There is almost too much that can be said about this splendid and poignant film. On the Beach deals more with the tagedy of people's inevitable deaths than with the nuclear holocaust that causes it.
We are treated to a love story in Beach with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardener which is doomed from the start by the human annialation about
to envelope the last group of humanity living on the planet. I loved Fred Astaire's performance as a nuclear scientist and race car enthusiast and also by Anthony Perkins role as a naval officer and married man with a new-born daughter. No one will survive. to Quote T.S. Eliot, " This is the way the world ends, not with a Bang but a Whimper....." The "Bang" has been nuclear war, leaving only the whimper of total human extinction. The musical score of Waltzing Matilda sounds like a funeral dirge and is the poignant theme of On The Beach.....Sad.
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