While I'm the first to acknowledge that perhaps the "old man in the cave" has a significant flaw (how could "he" remain operational without the benefit of a power source?), but sometimes it is about the point not necessarily the result of said point. Although, I do think the final results are stunningly presented and certainly "The Old Man in the Cave" always leaves that sinking feeling and gulp in the throat because it does make the statement that we can't stop from destroying ourselves.
For ten years, Goldsmith (John Anderson, looking appropriately weakly and wearied) has received instructions from what he calls the old man in the cave regarding what the citizens in his ghost town can eat, grow, and how to survive under the conditions left to them by "the dropping of the bomb". Then drives in on his jeep Major French (a fierce, cocky, and authoritative Coburn; his brash commandeering of command away from Goldsmith through the force of his men and their guns seemed to be a proper foreshadowing of how destructive he'll become in quick order) and some soldier boys, ready to usurp control from Goldsmith and give orders to the tiny accompaniment of survivors in his midst. While Goldsmith tries and fails to convince his people not to listen to French, they are so ready to rip into the available contaminated canned foods and bottled liquor there seems to be no hope for their survival. While I think many will know the way this episode ends, the revelation of the old man in the cave and the way French is able to motivate "his" destruction I figure will maintain a certain potency (if the shot of bodies strewn about a desert town isn't enough), symbolic of mankind's inability to survive under the harshest conditions, embracing the easing of hunger and avarice when all evidence says that doing so encourages certain death. John Marley has a supporting part as one of Goldsmith's miserable township who factors heavily in leading the revolt against the old man in the cave, furthermore condemning himself in the process. Anderson's final scene--as he must overlook French's handiwork, acknowledging that if it wasn't him it probably would have been somebody else, left to ponder if perhaps mankind's total annihilation due to their own weaknesses and inability to escape a grim fate was inevitable--is really haunting.
For ten years, Goldsmith (John Anderson, looking appropriately weakly and wearied) has received instructions from what he calls the old man in the cave regarding what the citizens in his ghost town can eat, grow, and how to survive under the conditions left to them by "the dropping of the bomb". Then drives in on his jeep Major French (a fierce, cocky, and authoritative Coburn; his brash commandeering of command away from Goldsmith through the force of his men and their guns seemed to be a proper foreshadowing of how destructive he'll become in quick order) and some soldier boys, ready to usurp control from Goldsmith and give orders to the tiny accompaniment of survivors in his midst. While Goldsmith tries and fails to convince his people not to listen to French, they are so ready to rip into the available contaminated canned foods and bottled liquor there seems to be no hope for their survival. While I think many will know the way this episode ends, the revelation of the old man in the cave and the way French is able to motivate "his" destruction I figure will maintain a certain potency (if the shot of bodies strewn about a desert town isn't enough), symbolic of mankind's inability to survive under the harshest conditions, embracing the easing of hunger and avarice when all evidence says that doing so encourages certain death. John Marley has a supporting part as one of Goldsmith's miserable township who factors heavily in leading the revolt against the old man in the cave, furthermore condemning himself in the process. Anderson's final scene--as he must overlook French's handiwork, acknowledging that if it wasn't him it probably would have been somebody else, left to ponder if perhaps mankind's total annihilation due to their own weaknesses and inability to escape a grim fate was inevitable--is really haunting.