The Atomic Kid

During the 1950s, there were a ton of films done about horrible monsters unleashed by dreaded nuclear radiation. The Japanese had their Godzilla-type films and here in the States we had giant bugs and Blix Waterberry! What or who is Blix Waterberry? He's a guy played by Mickey Rooney who just happened to survive a blast near ground zero!! And, unlike these nuclear horror films, this is a comedy about nuclear radiation!

When the film begins, Blix (Rooney) and his friend Stan (Robert Strauss) are lost for several days in the desert while prospecting for uranium. Their spirits rise considerably when they find a lone house in the middle of no where and they assume their problems are over...though they are only about to get much worse. The house turns out to be filled with dummies and the two guys think it's some sort of model house for a new community...little do they know it was built for a nuclear test to examine the effects of the blast on the building! And, to make it MUCH worse, the bomb will soon be detonated. Fortunately for Stan, he leaves the place in a car he finds and is just out of harm's way when the explosion occurs. As for Blix, he takes the brunt of it...and the military folks are AMAZED to find him alive and apparently well...though thoroughly soaked in radioactivity. What's next? Will he grow into a giant menace to society? Will he grow extra limbs? Will he be called to Japan to take on Rodan?! No...he'll have commie spies after him as well as Stan!

I agree with one reviewer who said this easily could have been an Abbott & Costello or Martin & Lewis film. It's entertaining and fun...not the type thing that will change your life but you will have a nice time seeing it despite it being anything but subtle!

This film is a Mickey Rooney production and the nurse, Audrey, is actually played by Rooney's fourth wife, Elaine.

I remember this film from when it was new--if this is the same film. Today I was trying to remember the star, and that's how I ran across this comment.

Does anyone know if there were any other films like it? A comedy with a rube who accidentally finds himself in a house that is at the center of an atomic bomb test? If not, this is it. It made a lasting impression on an 11-year-old who had practiced ducking under the desk. It seems like in the film they surmised that the reason he was able to survive the bomb had something to do with what he was eating at the time. Which, I guess from reading the synopsis, was a peanut butter sandwich. Must have been a huge promotion for Peter Pan!

This movie would come on tv a lot during school holidays in the 1960's. i saw it countless times and i still think it is one of the funniest movies i have ever seen. brilliant comedy. well written and acted. definitely fun from start to finish.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Mickey Rooney and Robert Strauss star in a comedy. A peanut butter sandwich seemingly preserves the life of a poor guy at ground zero during a nuclear test.

This is an unlikely choice of subject matter for light comedy, without the acerbic attitude of a daring movie like Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove".

Director Leslie Martinson is associated with directing for television, but his movie "Fathom" is not just entertaining but one of the crucial early starring features that helped put Raquel Welch on the cinema map forever.

"The Atomic Kid" was based on a story written by Blake Edwards, and produced by Rooney, whose leading lady was played by his wife Elaine Devry.

You have seen several movies where one wanders innocently into testing grounds. Remember "No Time for Sergeants?" Alternatively, "The Power" with George Hamilton?

Well, Blix (Mickey Rooney) comes upon a house where the occupants are real dummies. Not realizing the significance, he proceeds to consume a peanut butter sandwich. The unthinkable happens. But what is this? Blix is still alive and now takes on a glowing complexion. A quasi-love interest appears in the hospital with (Elaine Davis). Then come the FBI and spies. Eventually, there is déjà vu.

There must be something here as it is a story by Blake Edwards.