KING OF THE SWITCH ENDINGS A highway patrolman stops a few cars for an emergency. "This is Not a Test" refers to that emergency. It isn't a test. It's a real nuclear attack. A motley group of seemingly ordinary people deal with the fact that they are in what they consider "Ground Zero", smack dab between some obvious targets. Except there's a wild card in the mix. One of the people in this story is a homicidal maniac. And that's where the switch ending comes in. Things are not what they seem. A very low budget film, with the biggest name being Ron Starr, whose only other big film was Peckinpah's confirmed masterpiece "Ride the High Country". This film delivers, though, in the end, although there is a suicide during the movie that seems a bit contrived, but other than that, this is a very good screenplay, and it's good drama and good theater. Although there isn't a lot of action, there is a lot of animation and the appearance of action that keeps the viewer glued to the story.

I suppose the writing was on the wall for this with the opening titles. No mention at all of the acting "talent" but at least four of Frederic Gadette who appears to have done all but make the coffee. The plot sees a single police officer "Colter" (Seamon Glass) being charged with operating a roadblock on a remote highway. That's my first problem. He is stop both directions at the same spot - there is no accident, he is not inspecting the vehicles and when asked why by the surprisingly high number of travellers, he could hardly be less informative. Anyway, it soon transpires that the USA is under a nuclear attack and the film now attempts to deal with just how folks would deal; in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, with that information. The budget went on the coffee, if there was one. It is shockingly badly lit; the dialogue is barely audible and the characterisations - especially toward the end of this overlong 80 minute endeavour - fall flat every time. The acting is pedestrian, and what could have provided an interesting insight into human behaviour when facing imminent annihilation, just turned into a pretty badly presented affair with little to redeem it. It's not a bad idea, but the execution is really very poor.