Very well executed

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Made-for-TV apocalyptic film following a family that while vacationing in the California mountains their friend that is with them suddenly gets ill, dies, and turns to powder. The remainder of the film follows their struggle to get back home to Malibu where Jay W. MacIntosh, in the role of the mother/wife, has returned. Along the way father Peter Graves queries son Michael James-Wixted, a physics student, to try to determine what has exterminated most of the population and why they haven't been affected. Nothing too out-of the-ordinary happens in this. Kathleen Quinlan in the role of the daughter does some occasional narration which doesn't add much. One interesting aspect is that dogs have become particularly menacing. There is an obvious Biblical theme to this movie that never gets explored and might have made this a bit more interesting. Despite being cliché it's pretty well done for a made-for-TV.

Peter Graves and his kids seem to be the last people on earth.No zombies! Great! If a movie like this were made today we would get zombies running all over the place, but thankfully we are free of all that! In fact, there is very limited violence here.This TV movie is not in the same class as the feature film, The Omega Man (1971), but the suspense and mystery of the whole thing will hold you from beginning to end.Also, this is not as depressing as many other films with this plot line. Nice to see Peter Graves in the lead role but some might struggle with his being so serious after seeing him in the comedy: Airplane (1980).

Palentologist Steve Anders is with his son and daughter in a cave in California when they feel earth tremors . Fearing an earthquake they run to the surface find their guide ill and the radios unable to work . Their worries escalate as they speculate a catastrophe may have hit planet Earth I saw this many years ago and despite being an American TVM made on a very limited budget it did stick in my mind and judging from the comments on this page it did make a big impression on everyone who saw it . Okay granted it doesn't push back the boundaries of the post apocalyptic genre but does what it does very well and it's nice for a change tro watch this type of story in 2013 without zombies making an appearance along the line somewhere Veteran TVM director John Llewellen Moxey manages to build up an air of suspense and mystery and it's a TVM that has ambitions to be cinematic and the scene where the Anders wander through a deserted town does have an eerie atmosphere little seen in American post apocalyptic fiction of this type . Moxey also makes impressive use of ironic sound effects as the Anders travel through a deserted city and past an empty school If there's a major problem to WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE ? it's the unsatisfying ending . You can the TV network having one eye on a continuing series and worried that if this TVM is self contained then that won't happen therefore we get an ending that doesn't work as being either open ended or conclusive which is a bit of a shame and ends on an unsatisfactorily flat note

Another TV movie that has stayed with me ever since I first saw it, aged about 12, resurfaced recently, prompting this review.Peter Graves, complete with gray hair – I bet he was born with it that color - plays Steve Anders who, as the movie starts, is on vacation with his family in some unspecified California mountains. His daughter (a young Kathleen Quinlan) and son stay with him, along with Clancy (Noble Willingham), a friend, digging for fossils in a cave, while his wife leaves them to return to LA. Not long after, the sun brightens dramatically for a few seconds, which phenomenon is followed by an earthquake.In short order, Clancy, who was the only one of the four on the surface when the sun flared up and told the others about it, falls ill. The family thinks it is radiation poisoning and he dies as they try to get him back to civilization. When they themselves get there, they find towns that are empty, apart from clothes full of a strange powder, mad dogs, and a very few survivors who tell of a disease that wiped out most of humanity within hours.There isn't actually much more to it than that, but I found the story oddly absorbing and the whole treatment pleasingly creepy.Peter Graves turns in a solid performance and the two kids aren't too nauseating, though a little shrill at times. It was also fun to see Noble Willingham, whom I otherwise only know from "The Royale", a better-than-average episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", in something else.Camera work and effects are fine considering when the film was made, the music is adequate, and it doesn't go on too long. All in all, then, well worth seeing.Rating: 7/10.