“Miracle Mile” takes place in a city in the middle of chaos, since Angelen flees from the threat of a nuclear strike. The film premiered in 1988, but has resurfaced in recent years, attracting crowds with exhausted entries in American Cinematheque and the Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Film.
Written and directed by Steve de Jarnatt and made for $ 3 million, the film was restored and relaunched by the Boutique Kino Lorber movie distributor in 2024. In her comment for the Blu-ray, the author Janet Fitch (“White Oleander”) said “Miracle Mile” represents “the type of apocalypse that people imagine.”
Los Angeles knows how to resist a crisis, or two or three. Angelen is taking advantage of that resistance, struggling to build a city for everyone.
And although it did not cause a great impression when it opened, De Jarnatt said that the film has won what he called “state of worship.”
Much of the appeal of the “Milagro Milla” appeal can be attributed to the obvious affection of the film by the section of Wilshire Boulevard, bordered by La Brea and Fairfax avenues. The outstanding locations include the May Co. and Orbach department stores (now the Academy Museum Museum and the Petersen Automotive Museum, respectively), the nearby Park La Brea Towers and the Johnnie's cafeteria, which is closed and used mainly for film and television productions.
The film, which takes place in the course of 24 hours, begins as a cheerful romance. Anthony Edwards plays Harry Washello, a trombonelant fighter who falls in love with the waitress of the Julie Waters cafeteria (Mare Winningham) after they are cute in the tar wells of the break. The couple makes an appointment to meet after their night shift is over.
But their plans fall apart. Harry involuntarily intercepts a call in a telephone cabin, and the person calling tells him that nuclear missiles will hit Los Angeles in an hour. As the city develops, Harry and Julie try to save their overturned romance.
The end is sad and happy. “Being with the one you love at the end, even if it is a new love that you met in the tar wells of the break, which is like a time portal and a museum dedicated to extinction, it is such a good way as any other to leave,” says De Jarnatt.
(And it was a particularly happy ending for Edwards and Winningham, who joined while filming the project. At that time, they were both married to other people and stayed friends while working together in other projects, including “ER”, in which Edwards played the main role as Dr. Mark Greene. The two finally became a couple and married in 2021.)
