Brink of Disaster

In the turbulent landscape of early 1970s America, few films captured the raw anxiety of a nation grappling with profound social upheaval quite like Brink of Disaster!, produced by Jerry Fairbanks Productions in association with the National Education Program at Harding College. Directed by John Florea, this provocative short drama opens with a gripping montage of real student protests—chaotic scenes of marches, clashes, and unrest that set the tone for the cautionary tale to follow, with credits rolling over the visceral imagery.At its core, the film unfolds as a loosely woven narrative inside a besieged college library. A modern-day student named John Smith (played by Gary Crabbe), armed with a baseball bat to defend irreplaceable books, finds himself visited by the ghostly apparition of his distant ancestor—another John Smith from the Revolutionary era of 1776. Joined by a wise history professor (Ed Nelson), the trio engages in a fervent debate, guided by the elder Smith's impassioned defense of the nation's founding principles.The Revolutionary War patriot recounts how he and his compatriots sacrificed everything to forge a free and moral America, only to express horror at what he perceives as its modern unraveling. He decries a "bunch of young hooligans"—radical activists—infiltrating society and eroding the bedrock of moral, religious, and ethical values that once defined the United States. Though visually restrained, confined almost entirely to the library setting amid threats of arson from outside "weirdos," the film packs a punch through its sharp, memorable soundbites and archival footage.Viewers are confronted with pointed critiques of the era's student movements: the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) derided as "Students for a Dirtier Society"; calls from figures like H. "Rap" Brown for armed resistance, illustrated with historical clips; and vivid depictions of riots, burning, and looting attributed to activist fervor. The dialogue delves fearlessly into hot-button issues—marijuana use, shifting sexual mores, the corruption of free speech into what one character calls "freedom of filth," and the proliferation of pornography as "filthy books that no decent people would read."As the tension builds, the film crescendos with the radicals breaching the library doors. The screen freezes on this moment of impending chaos, overlaid with a stark title card: "Will you let this be THE END?"Brink of Disaster! stands today as a vivid time capsule—a bold, unapologetic conservative response to the counterculture and campus radicalism of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Whether viewed as earnest alarmism or heavy-handed propaganda, it reflects a pivotal moment when many Americans feared their country teetered on the edge of irreversible decline. This preservation invites reflection on how far we've come—or how echoes of those debates persist in our own time.