Usually, I can't watch airplane disaster movies without chuckling while thinking of the 1980 spoof "Airplane!" where every little thing led to a joke of some kind. But after watching this and the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway", I doubt I could ever laugh again because the airplane disasters in those films were very serious with the crash sequences quite shocking in every detail. The presence of Lloyd Bridges as the captain automatically adds I'll see you laugh because of his presence as the air traffic controller in "Airplane!" A horrificc thunder and lightning storm causes the plane to have to go down, right after they have to plan an emergency landing because of a sick child aboard.
"I suggest we do something about it", the obnoxious businessman (Ralph Meeker) with an important oil contract to sign suggest, to which if I were Bridges, I'd say "Then start swimming." Entertainer Bobby Van too has a gig he has to get to. These two fools don't realize after what they've been through how dire the situation is, and their selfish demands don't mean a hill of beans when it comes to the nearly hundred other passengers frightened and desperate to survive. With his crew missing, Bridges enlists a marine sergeant (Billy Dee Williams) to help him, and he'll need it with the few passengers to go out of their way to cause trouble.
In addition to the actors mentioned above, the all-star cast also features Anne Francis, Andrew Prine, Linden Chiles and Elaine Joyce are featured among the dozens of actors, and certainly there isn't enough time for complete character development but what are is next for intriguing drama, about a necessity in life, survival. It's also about the ability to get along in a difficult time, and of course, when you've got more than just a few people, that's difficult. Meeker, a superb actor of stage and screen, plays an absolutely deplorable character, one the audience does not root for to be one of the survivors. Superb drama in every way, this is one of the best of the early TV movies, and a different take in airline disaster films. There are no cliches which means that there are no unintentional laughs, and that makes this all the better.
"I suggest we do something about it", the obnoxious businessman (Ralph Meeker) with an important oil contract to sign suggest, to which if I were Bridges, I'd say "Then start swimming." Entertainer Bobby Van too has a gig he has to get to. These two fools don't realize after what they've been through how dire the situation is, and their selfish demands don't mean a hill of beans when it comes to the nearly hundred other passengers frightened and desperate to survive. With his crew missing, Bridges enlists a marine sergeant (Billy Dee Williams) to help him, and he'll need it with the few passengers to go out of their way to cause trouble.
In addition to the actors mentioned above, the all-star cast also features Anne Francis, Andrew Prine, Linden Chiles and Elaine Joyce are featured among the dozens of actors, and certainly there isn't enough time for complete character development but what are is next for intriguing drama, about a necessity in life, survival. It's also about the ability to get along in a difficult time, and of course, when you've got more than just a few people, that's difficult. Meeker, a superb actor of stage and screen, plays an absolutely deplorable character, one the audience does not root for to be one of the survivors. Superb drama in every way, this is one of the best of the early TV movies, and a different take in airline disaster films. There are no cliches which means that there are no unintentional laughs, and that makes this all the better.