Panic In the Year Zero! (1962)

PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO!  (1962)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Ray Milland
    Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon,
    Mary Mitchel, Joan Freeman, Richard Garland
Ray Milland and the the wife and kids are motoring off on a camping vacation, when, wouldn't you know it, Los Angeles gets vaporized in the rear-view mirror. Their first thought is to turn around and drive right back toward the mushroom cloud to see how grandma's making out, but then they decide it might be smarter to pick up some groceries and guns and gasoline and head for the mountains instead, so that's what they do. How long would it take for civilization to break down in the wake of a catastrophic event? Not long at all, according to this movie, when moral behavior has no value, rational thinking is in short supply, and violence and paranoia rule the land the way Les Baxter's jazz score rules the soundtrack. It's every man for himself out there, and worst of all, the price of gas just went up from 30¢ a gallon to $3, which is a lot more than Ray Milland wants to pay, and he's  got a rifle and a .45. Might as well head for the hills, I guess. We're doomed.