On the Beach - Plot summary
The story is set in a then-future 1964, in the months following World War III. The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all human life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly but inexorably carrying the fallout to the southern hemisphere. The only part of the planet still habitable is the far south of the globe, specifically Australia.
From Australia, survivors detect a mysterious and incomprehensible wireless telegraphy signal originating from the United States (San Diego). With hope that some life has remained in the contaminated regions, one of the last American nuclear submarines, USS Sawfish (Scorpion in the novel), placed by its captain under Royal Australian Navy command, is ordered to sail north from its port of refuge in Melbourne (Australia's southernmost major mainland city and headquarters of the Australian Navy) to try to contact whoever is sending the signal. The American captain, Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck), leads the operation, leaving behind a woman of recent acquaintance, the alcoholic Moira Davidson (Ava Gardner), to whom he has become attached, despite his feelings of guilt regarding the certain deaths of his wife and children in Connecticut. Towers refuses to admit that his family are dead and continues to behave as though they are still alive.
The Australian government makes arrangements to provide its citizens with free suicide pills and injections, so that they will be able to avoid prolonged suffering from radiation sickness once it arrives. One of the film's poignant dilemmas is that of Australian naval officer Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins), who has a baby daughter and a naive and childish wife, Mary (Donna Anderson, referred to once as "Charlie" early in the film), who is in denial about the impending disaster. Because he has been assigned to travel north with the Americans to search for signs of life, a trip expected to take several weeks, Peter must try to explain to Mary how to euthanize their baby and kill herself with the lethal pills should he be unable to return in time. Mary, however, reacts badly, almost violently, at the prospect of killing her daughter and herself.
By one theory postulated by an Australian scientist, the radiation near the Arctic Ocean could be less than that at mid northern hemisphere latitudes, and if so this would indicate the possible survival of southern hemisphere populations. One of the goals of the expedition is to determine the Arctic radiation level.
After sailing to Point Barrow in the Arctic Ocean, the expedition members determine that radiation levels are intensifying. On the way back, they stop at San Francisco. The views through the periscope indicate what they have seen elsewhere; there are no signs of life, and minimal or no damage to buildings. One crewman, who is from San Francisco, jumps ship to spend his last hours in his hometown. After first attempting to convince the crewman to return, Towers then accepts his decision. The crewman is last seen in a motorboat, fishing and awaiting his death by radiation poisoning as the Sawfish submerges, never to return.
Sawfish then travels to an abandoned oil refinery in San Diego (in the book, it is a naval base located near Seattle), where they discover, although the city's residents have long since perished from radiation poisoning, the hydroelectric power is still on-line. The ship's communications officer is sent ashore in a radiation suit to investigate. The mysterious signal is the result of a Coca Cola bottle being nudged by a window shade teetering in the breeze and occasionally hitting a telegraph key. Bitterly disappointed, the submariners return to Australia to live out the time that remains before nuclear fallout arrives and kills everyone.
The characters make their best efforts to enjoy what time and pleasures remain to them before dying from radiation poisoning. Scientist Julian Osborne (John Osborne in the novel) (Fred Astaire) and others organize a dangerous motor race that results in the apparent violent deaths of several participants. Moira remarks on the apparent senselessness of the race, but when she asks Osborne why he is taking part, he responds, "because I want to".
Prior to the submarine voyage to America, Towers had remarked to Moira about his enjoyment of the silence and relaxation of his pastime of fishing. During his absence, Moira uses her friendship with government officials to 'move up' the fishing season so Dwight will get one more chance to fish. With Towers now apparently accepting the death of his wife and children, they embark on a weekend trip. Unfortunately, the fishing stream is anything but silent and relaxing, as raucous visitors turn the outing into a fiasco. Retreating to the resort for the night, Dwight and Moira share a romantic interlude inside the dark hotel room, as outside, a gathering storm howls, however a soloist gives a rendition of the theme song "Waltzing Matilda".
Returning to Melbourne, Towers is informed one of his crew members has developed radiation sickness. The deadly radiation has arrived. Some citizens seek spiritual guidance from religious leaders from the Salvation Army. They hang a banner from the public library exhorting that "There Is Still Time . . . Brother". The attending physician, irritated at these difficult circumstances, indicates that men are not machines and the radiation is here and someone has to come down with radiation sickness, even he has some of the early symptoms.
Osborne, proud and satisfied after winning the Australian Grand Prix, seals himself and the car, engine running, inside a garage to set up his presumed suicide by exhaust poisoning. Others line up outside hospitals to receive their suicide pills. Later, Mary Holmes (Donna Anderson) becomes emotionally unbalanced and must be placed under sedation. However, she regains lucidity and she and Peter share a tender moment together before Mary decides that she has been "foolish and impractical" and asks her husband to "take care" of her and their daughter. "I'd like that cup of tea now," she tells him.
Dwight wants to stay with Moira, but his remaining crew wants to head for home and die in the United States. In the end, Captain Towers chooses not to remain with Moira, but rather to lead his homesick crew in a final attempt to make it back to the States. Moira watches from the shore as the Sawfish submerges beneath the waves. The final scenes of the movie show the deserted, abandoned streets of Melbourne. The last shot, punctuated by emphatic music, is of the "There Is Still Time . . . Brother" banner.