The Manhattan Project

Paul Stephens is a bright high school student with a talent for science and a plan that goes far beyond a school project. When he learns that the laboratory where his mother's new friend, John Mathewson, works is not the medical facility it appears to be but a site producing plutonium for the military, Paul breaks in and takes a small sample of the material. He intends to build his own nuclear device and present it at a national science fair in New York, a scheme that puts him in the path of the authorities.

Marshall Brickman directed the film, his second feature after Lovesick in 1983, and wrote the screenplay with Thomas Baum. Christopher Collet plays Paul, with John Lithgow as Mathewson, Cynthia Nixon as Paul's girlfriend Jenny, Jill Eikenberry as his mother, and John Mahoney and Richard Jenkins in supporting roles. Released in June 1986, the film had a budget of 18 million dollars and returned about 4 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.1 from roughly 7,500 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.2 from a much smaller pool of voters; a critics' score of 5.5 from 18 reviews places it slightly below the audience figures.