Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but the two men clash fiercely on a number of issues. Despite their frequent conflicts, Groves and Oppenheimer ultimately push ahead with two bomb designs — the bigger "Fat Man" and the more streamlined "Little Boy."
Acting
Newman's gruff Groves vs. Schultz's twitchy Oppenheimer is electric.
Direction
Joffé makes the desert feel like purgatory with deadlines.
Director
Roland Joffé
Paul Newman
Gen. Leslie R. Groves
Dwight Schultz
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Bonnie Bedelia
Kitty Oppenheimer
John Cusack
Michael Merriman
Laura Dern
Kathleen Robinson
Ron Frazier
Peter de Silva
John C. McGinley
Richard Schoenfield
Natasha Richardson
Jean Tatlock
Ron Vawter
Jamie Latrobe
Del Close
Dr. Kenneth Whiteside
John Considine
Robert Tuckson
Allan Corduner
Franz Goethe
Jon DeVries
Johnny Mount
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Dwight Schultz was primarily a TV actor (The A-Team) and this was his dramatic breakout; Newman personally vouched for him.
Released months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, this was Hollywood's last Cold War-era meditation on nuclear origins — Oppenheimer (2023) would later eclipse it entirely.
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