Recently made a trip to the famous Manhattan Project city, and home of the A&M managed Los Alamos National Lab.

I found out that filming has recently finished on the movie "Oppenheimer", based on the book "American Prometheus" focusing on Oppie's work on the Bomb.

All the museums and hotels are expecting a flood of visitors when the movie is released late this summer. They say the movie people all brought their families out to visit recently, hoping to avoid the rush.

Don't know if the movie will soar or flop, who knows, with Matt Damon as General Groves?

In any case, it is a wonderful place to visit, not far from Santa Fe, lots of scenery and history, and the spectacular Valles Caldera nearby.

Also, if you can't come this summer, plan to come in early October. The Trinity Site open house is the first weekend in April and October, and the Manhattan Project National Park hosts tours to otherwise off-limits sites for the two days before Trinity.

Appreciate the input

If anyone plans to travel to that area, let me know, I can advise about a lot of it.

One thing that has changed is the security level around LANL. If you are traveling from Los Alamos to the Valles Caldera, the quickest route is 501 past the lab. It is controlled by LANL guard gates on both the LA and VC ends.

Two or three years ago, the guard gate at the VC end was unmanned after 5pm and the gate at the LA end was kind of lax, only requiring a US driver's license to pass

This time, the VC gate was manned at 7pm on Sunday night. And on Tuesday afternoon, the LA end wanted to know where I was going (to pick up wife at LANL). They also asked if I had firearms in the vehicle, which they have never asked either before. Fortunately I wasn't armed, knowing I would be going onto LANL property.

It's a weird thing, because it's a public highway, but LANL considers it their property

My advice, if you are armed, and a bad liar, or security makes you nervous, take the long way to VC vis White Rock and Highway 4. You can also visit Bandelier that direction

I can't picture Damon as Groves.

Looking back I wouldn't have pictured Paul Newman as Groves either, but he did a good job with what he had to work with in Fat Man & Little Boy.

Damon is easily one of the best actors working these days, and I can see him pulling it off.

EMY92 said:

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I can't picture Damon as Groves.

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If Tom Hanks can be Colonel Parker, then Matt Damon can be Gen. Groves...


IIRC, there were a lot of people who freaked out when Michael Keaton (Night Shift, Beetlejuice, Mr. Mom) was cast as Batman. But he pulled it off ...


If Ed Harris were younger, I think he would make a terrific Gen. Groves. Same for Jeff Bridges ...

I'm willing to give Damon the benefit of the doubt, given some of his previous roles ...

I hope the movie's as good as the trailer … I wish they had made Matt Damon look a little older …

Jabin said:

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Some of the physicists at Los Alamos had even handled the plutonium with their bare hands.

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Back in the aughts I was visiting the Texas panhandle and noticed a display at Amarillo International Airport that had been set up by Pantex (the local facility where the government fabricates warheads for the nation's nuclear arsenal). I recall thinking at the time that part of the purpose of the display was perhaps to demystify Plutonium and the possible hazards thereof. (It's really not so dangerous! Trust us!) One factoid in the display that sticks in my memory was a statement that a person could ingest a microgram of Plutonium and it would pass through their digestive system without any ill effect.

That's probably true, but what it didn't mention is that if you get a microgram of Plutonium into your lungs, you stand a 100% chance of developing a fatal case of lung cancer.

Anyway, I always think of that display as the "Our Friend, Plutonium!" exhibit ...

Quote:

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with Matt Damon as General Groves?

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Hollywood once cast Alec Baldwin as James Doolittle. I still saw the movie, but grinned at that clown portraying one of my childhood heroes.

Finally saw the trailer. Looks like Damon might pull off Groves. The guy playing Oppie gets the look down pretty good. From what little they show, I think they got wartime Los Alamos pretty well. And looks like they absolutely nailed the Trinity Site, the tower, and the Gadget. If they didn't film that at Jornada del Muerto, they found a place that looks a lot like it

Speaking of "the Gadget", the highest technical achievement of the age really was held together with duct tape. You can see a replica in the National Nuclear Museum in ABQ, great museum

Those are really good visits. Glad i got them in a few years back.

https://www.cracked.com/article_37945_the-funniest-reactions-to-einstein-appearing-in-oppenheimer.html

An Ag friend and I were in Artisia,New Mexico at the time of the test. Too far away to hear the blast.

Later, On Kwajilen saw where the A bombs wer temporarily stored.