The Atomic Kid

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.

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.

'Blix' Waterberry (Mickey Rooney) and Stan Cooper (Robert Strauss), a couple of uranium prospectors lost in the Nevada desert, wander into an experimental house at ground zero of an atom bomb test. Despite hiding in the closet, Blix is exposed to the full force of the nuclear blast but miraculously survives, emerging radioactive and manifesting odd abilities. Made in the early years of the cold war, this was one of the first 'atomic comedies' and a typical example of a Hollywood 'radiation can do anything' plot-line. Blix is 'hot' enough to glow in the dark and fog film but even the scientists don't seem worried that he might sterilise (or induce cancer in) anyone he stands near. The 'living chain-reaction' wears a Geiger-counter wrist-watch that clicks when his 'neutrons' become temporarily exited (by kissing a pretty girl for example), his proximity causes slot-machines to 'jackpot', and his arms function as radio antenna. All of this nonsense is played strictly for laughs in Blake Edward's simplistic screenplay but even to contemporary audiences the premise must have seemed a bit ridiculous ("...far-fetched and forced" according to Variety's Dec 8, 1954 review). Rooney mugs it up in a typical 'lovable sucker' role, rough-voiced Strauss is fine as his conniving buddy/manager and Elaine Devry (one of serial-groom Rooney's many brides) is pretty as Blix's nurse-love-interest Audrey (another cookie-cutter role). The first half of the film, up until Blix 'escapes' from the hospital, is moderately amusing but the casino scenes with Audrey are just silly and there is a tacked-on 'espionage' sub-plot so Strauss has something to do when producer Rooney is not on screen. Clearly writer Edwards ran out of ideas as the down-hill slide of the story ends abruptly and inexplicably, setting up one last predictable gag. Silly but topical at the time of release, now just silly.

This is an enjoyable little programmer from the early 1950s. Mickey Rooney (the #1 box office draw in the late 1930s and early 1940s) was no longer an A list star, and was hardly a "kid" at 34. The breezy plot, with it's sci-fi/comedy blend, along with Rooney and Strauss having an abundance of charisma, make this a great waste of time. If you enjoy the Bowery Boys, Francis The Talking Mule (Rooney actually starred in the final 'Francis' film) and The Ma & Pa Kettle series, this should be right up your alley! Rooney and Strauss have a great chemistry, and they clearly could have thrived as a defacto comedy team in a few more pictures. You may have a hard time locating this film, but for a few dollars, it's well worth it!

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!