Special Bulletin (1983)

Another movie just like this was aired on Halloween Night in 1993 called "Without Warning".

Jeez… look how WHITE America uses to be!

Nuclear terrorism is child’s play, compared to what happened to the old USA!

We used to have a damn civilization!!

The president, he chose... poorly.

"As if the coverage of the event were more important than the event itself..." pretty accurate

It’s essentially Lloyd Dobbins and Linda Ellerbee.

I had completely forgotten about this movie. Saw it on tv when I was 17…where did the time go?

This and Threads should routinely be put back into mainstream circulation since there remains war in our world, although to many they would seem outdated. The slow burn of both films is partly what makes them terrifying for me plus during this phase of the Cold War as a child I felt like through movies and YA books about nuclear apocalypse that it was unavoidable and the impression that left on me was devastating. I appreciate how during this Jessica Savitch era of no nonsense but humane style of delivering the news we see Susan the anchor being emotional yet professional. This was well done but would have been too distressing for me to see in 1983.

Shown during the run up to the Reagan v Mondale election.

Wow developing the 8mm was done pretty fast!

The footage shown was from RBS, the Republic Broadcasting System.

So much hair spray

Well done. Scared the hell out of me.

I remember watching the original broadcast of this movie. It was incredibly frightening.

back when we had real news anchors. not the blithering idiots on local and network newscasts

I remember watching this, 40 years ago, and the phrase 'nuclear footprint'

The very great actor ,Emmy nominee Ed Flanders, playing the the news anchor. I remember him from the very wonderful hospital show, St. Elsewhere , back in the 80s.

The guy from Wheeling has a NYC accent.

Wouldnt a nuclear bomb have wiped out everyone in the city, hard to believe there would be survivors in that intense blast and heat.

Can someone sum up this video in a single sentence. Can't be arsed watching it, but it looks kinda kooky. Cheers.

That Super 8 sure got developed quickly, and then degraded quickly. :)

bullshit

Oh look! Executive Producer, Don Ohlmeyer - he's the fella who fired Norm Macdonald for making OJ jokes on SNL, isn't he? In other news....

The 'reporter'/hostage from the dock is a terrible actor - surely he alone ruined any realism from the off. "He's got an oozy, man! I think he's got an oozy."🤣🤣🤣

Charleston gets nuked....why cant it be LA or Oaakland?

This is like the OG analogue horror

Oh my God.

Nice Michael Madsen cameo at minute 59.

Can't believe I hadn't seen this until now. This is outstandingly realistic and the actors are phenomenal, particularly the two anchors.

A completely different film to Threads or The Day After, but the outcome is just as depressing in its inevitability. However, the thing I found the most heartbreaking was the very, very end, where unrelated news stories are being reported -- no matter how tragic the event, the world eventually just moves on.

Preferred "The Day After".

Saw this when it aired. I remember the warnings that it was a simulation at each commercial break so as not to alarm the public. It's still scary 40 years later.

It'd be nice if captions were enabled :/

The sheer, riveting speed of which Mr. Leonard Mattleman’s Super 8 film was developed, and shown live on the air less than an hour later with years of dust and premature aging leads me to believe he’s a red herring and all of this was rehearsed and filmed ahead of time as a false flag operation. RBS with all of their Emmy Award winning news, and scintillating news magazine; “RBS Minutes” airing every Sunday for the last 58 years has been tarnished. Now this has me questioning how fast they got their hands on the Zapruder film, which also just happened to land in their hands less than an hour later. Coincidence much? 🤔🤨

I was living in St Louis when this came on TV and I remember falling for it and my family members were snickering in the background because they knew it was a prank but I didn't.

This is fantastic. Well done.

That tug boat would be in a million little pieces in 20 minutes if their was any chance they were armed with an atomic bomb. They should have hid the bomb with others who could detonate it in Charleston and had proof with them - either in documentation or an example bomb detonated a bit out to sea.

Amazing piece of television I'd never seen before today - thank you for uploading it and securing such a priceless bit of drama.

what is this crap?

This really illustrates the change in the attitudes of media since then -- in this story, the terrorists have to threaten to kill hostages in order to get themselves put on tv. Today, all the news outlets would be fighting each other to be the ones to provide that coverage.

This broadcast scared me to death…along with the movie “The Day After”.

That's crazy that the female broadcaster moved on so quickly from Charleston. Watched the detonation live and three days later reporting on other stories. As for the other female reporter....yeah she's dead

LOL as if anyone would still be in Charleston after the terrorists mentioned a bomb LOL

Fake News.

Great to see Michael Madsen on the screen for about two seconds! "Dat guy is a walkin' psycho ward, dat's about da best way I could put it! He's a nut!" 🤣👍

Wow, I remember watching this, I was in High School, frightened the crap out of me, a little too realistic for the Cold war 80's.

I remember when this all happened. Dark day in American history.

Only 2000 dead, less than 9/11. In reality they would have dragged the bomb out itno the bay, problem solved.