This is Not a Test (1962)

Not a made for television movie, This is Not a Test (1962) was nevertheless never released in theaters and aired on TV sometime in 1962. In it, Deputy Sheriff Dan Colter is instructed to set up a road block in the mountains in an undisclosed location, probably California. He’s simply following orders so sincerely has nothing to tell the people he forces to park and get out of their vehicles. Then, over the radio in Colter’s car, they hear:

All units, all units – Situation 13-10, Situation 13-10. This is not a test! Condition yellow. Air raid! Air raid! Extreme emergency. All officers take charge: Operation Eager – 13-10. Yellow alert – this is not a test!

The sheriff and his detainees speculate that the country is under attack. Let’s meet our contestants for survival in This is Not a Test:

Jacob Eliot Saunders (Thayer Roberts) and his granddaughter, June (Aubrey Martin)
Cheryl Hudson (Mary Morlas) and Joe Baragi (Michael Greene) speeding home from a big win at the casino, and a little drunk
Al Weston (Alan Austin), truck driver for Discount World, and a hitchhiker, Clint Delany (Ron Starr)
Sam Barnes (Norman Winston) and his wife Karen (Carole Kent), a devoted couple on the inside, but perhaps long-suffering on the inside
Peter (Don Spruance), a young man on a scooter who joins the crowd late

Once the yellow alert escalates to red, speculation changes to how the detonation of a hydrogen bomb will affect them. Theories range from, “People survived Hiroshima; we’ll survive this” to “Don’t you understand, we’re all going to die?” It’s not a spoiler to say the impending attack is real. However, like some other Cold War movies, it’s not about the attack. It’s about the people and their reactions.

Another non-spoiler is that the people react poorly and do despicable things to themselves and to each other. Colter has the bright idea of emptying the Discount World truck so they can take shelter. As ineffective as that will likely be, it’s at least something they can do. Imagine, though, ten or so people (and a dog, Timmy) confined to the inside of a bare semi-trailer where everyone’s personal idiosyncrasies and flaws are exposed.

I also failed to mention that our hitchhiker friend, Clint, is a serial killer wanted by the law. He immediately makes a run for it, but hangs around nearby, providing periodic breaks from the big threat by becoming a smaller threat. By the end, I can’t say I cared what happened to any of them, except for sweet Timmy. He’s got a big part in the trailer drama, though, and I’m not going to spoil that other than to say, what happens is pretty shocking.

It’s a cast of mostly unknowns in a movie written by three men with very few other credits and directed by one of those three. That is to say, the production values, including the acting and dialogue, are not very good. Still, This is Not a Test makes an impact. It paints a bleak picture of humanity in a potentially devastating disaster and it never once flinches from depicting the ugliness and horror of it.