The ’80s Apocalyptic Thriller Will Tear Your Heart Into Pieces, Stream Right Now Without Netflix

Miracle Mile was written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt. It follows Harry (Anthony Edwards), who meets his dream girl (Mare Winningham), but his new romance is interrupted by the onset of World War III. This is made worse by the news that nuclear missiles are set to hit Los Angeles in less than an hour.

Miracle Mile received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and it’s definitely an interesting take on apocalypse movies. A whirlwind romance happening while the world is falling apart isn’t an unheard-of concept, but Miracle Mile does it very well. Of course, if you’re looking for a happy tale, the subject matter alone makes this film one you might want to avoid.

Apparently, Miracle Mile was one of the hottest topics in Hollywood in the decade leading up to its release. The American Film magazine named it one of the best-unmade screenplays in 1983, and eventually, production was on track. Steve De Jarnatt also wanted to direct the project he wrote, but the studios were wary of letting a first-time director take on such a high-profile project.

This led Miracle Mile to enter development hell, and then De Jarnatt eventually decided to option the project himself and bought the script for a cool $25,000. After making rewrites, he was offered $400,000 from the studios to buy the script back, which he turned down. De Jarnatt then started to shop it around to other studios, but not many were biting on the idea of a romantic nuclear war movie with a sad ending.

Perhaps one of the most interesting tidbits about Miracle Mile’s jaunt through development hell is that the script almost became the screenplay for Twilight Zone: The Movie, though that project ended up going in a different direction as well. Nicolas Cage and Kurt Russell were also both attached to the project at one point until Anthony Edwards was eventually cast. Eventually, De Jarnatt got $3.7 million to make the film from John Daly of Hemdale Films.

Miracle Mile ended up being one of the few projects that escaped development hell that ended up being good. Along with the engaging and heartbreaking story, the film also features a great soundtrack from the legendary electronic group Tangerine Dream. While the film wasn’t a great financial success, it’s safe to say that it was worth the effort it took to make it.

If you want to check out Miracle Mile yourself, you can stream it now for free. It’s available on both the Tubi and PlutoTV platforms. If you want to watch it without ads, you can rent it on Apple TV.