The Irwin Allen Memorial Telethon
In the chaos and overtime since the holidays, I haven't had time to sing the praises of the best Christmas present in the history of ever. My brain-twin, whurlgurl, knowing that the stupidest things imaginable make me giddy, bestowed an entire freaking library of disaster movies upon me. Literally. Plus a survival kit, complete with swiss army knife, duct tape, garlic powder (in case of vampires of course) and spam, among other things. I seriously laughed so hard I cried when I opened it. We immediately vowed to watch and review the lot, albeit from two different states.
Now, when I say a library, I do mean a library. There are, let's see (pops over to count), uh, twenty-one movies, not counting the two I plan to contribute to the mix eventually. Needing a system, we decided to watch in alphabetical order. Which leads us to...
As whurlgurl said in her review post, this movie sorta drags on and on and on. It's also a movie that paints wives as cold harpies, the mistresses as simpering but supportive and the men as macho and smug. But hell, this is a disaster movie! Who cares about the sociological implications?! This was a movie that launched an entire franchise centered around Disaster In The Skies!!
After an hour of setup that should have ended up on the cutting room floor, we know the following: there's a lot of snow on the ground in Chicago, there's a desperate guy with a bomb (oh noes) on the plane which finally takes off around hour three of the movie, and George Kennedy knows "everything there is to know about the 707". The 707. How quaint. The stewardesses (yes, they were still stewardesses in those days) all sport skirts and spend half their time in the cockpit. Also, we know that the editor, who was apparently still feeling the effects of Woodstock, loved those split screens. At one point, he employs the six-way diamond split screen, folks. Around hour seven, things really heat up, as a hole is blown in the side of the plane, and Mistress #1 is knocked unconscious. For reasons that are never entirely clear, having turned the plane around, the pilots deem it essential to land on the one "Lincoln International Airport" runway that is closed because another plane is stuck on it due to the snow. The bulk of the drama is supposed to hinge on whether the stuck plane will be out of the way in time to allow the damaged plane to land. Sadly the movie keeps going for another half hour after the plane is out of the way.
What works? As whurlgurl said, Helen Hayes rules. The ensemble cast, while not as strong as a couple of the subsequent Airplane flicks, is still impressive, and a lot of what makes these kinds of movies worth watching.
Disaster Factor: On a scale of one to ten, this gets a two. There couldn't have been more than a hundred lives at stake for starters. And there was one lousy explosion. Only one person died for crying out loud!
Gratuitous Melodrama: Dean Martin, temporarily sober, clutching the hand of injured Gwen, the pregnant mistress. Pffft. I'm not really supposed to care am I? But poor Maureen Stapleton realizing the "carnage" is her husband's fault is pretty sad.
State of the Cheese: Okay, so this movie came out in 1970. The plane rising through the clouds looks less like a model on wires coming through a layer of dry ice fog than it might. The way the cockpit rocks back and forth on the final approach is pretty hilarious.
The Disaster Movie Tally Thus Far (one movie):
Number of George Kennedy sightings: One
Number of Nun sightings: Two
Next up...Airport '75
Now, when I say a library, I do mean a library. There are, let's see (pops over to count), uh, twenty-one movies, not counting the two I plan to contribute to the mix eventually. Needing a system, we decided to watch in alphabetical order. Which leads us to...
As whurlgurl said in her review post, this movie sorta drags on and on and on. It's also a movie that paints wives as cold harpies, the mistresses as simpering but supportive and the men as macho and smug. But hell, this is a disaster movie! Who cares about the sociological implications?! This was a movie that launched an entire franchise centered around Disaster In The Skies!!
After an hour of setup that should have ended up on the cutting room floor, we know the following: there's a lot of snow on the ground in Chicago, there's a desperate guy with a bomb (oh noes) on the plane which finally takes off around hour three of the movie, and George Kennedy knows "everything there is to know about the 707". The 707. How quaint. The stewardesses (yes, they were still stewardesses in those days) all sport skirts and spend half their time in the cockpit. Also, we know that the editor, who was apparently still feeling the effects of Woodstock, loved those split screens. At one point, he employs the six-way diamond split screen, folks. Around hour seven, things really heat up, as a hole is blown in the side of the plane, and Mistress #1 is knocked unconscious. For reasons that are never entirely clear, having turned the plane around, the pilots deem it essential to land on the one "Lincoln International Airport" runway that is closed because another plane is stuck on it due to the snow. The bulk of the drama is supposed to hinge on whether the stuck plane will be out of the way in time to allow the damaged plane to land. Sadly the movie keeps going for another half hour after the plane is out of the way.
What works? As whurlgurl said, Helen Hayes rules. The ensemble cast, while not as strong as a couple of the subsequent Airplane flicks, is still impressive, and a lot of what makes these kinds of movies worth watching.
Disaster Factor: On a scale of one to ten, this gets a two. There couldn't have been more than a hundred lives at stake for starters. And there was one lousy explosion. Only one person died for crying out loud!
Gratuitous Melodrama: Dean Martin, temporarily sober, clutching the hand of injured Gwen, the pregnant mistress. Pffft. I'm not really supposed to care am I? But poor Maureen Stapleton realizing the "carnage" is her husband's fault is pretty sad.
State of the Cheese: Okay, so this movie came out in 1970. The plane rising through the clouds looks less like a model on wires coming through a layer of dry ice fog than it might. The way the cockpit rocks back and forth on the final approach is pretty hilarious.
The Disaster Movie Tally Thus Far (one movie):
Number of George Kennedy sightings: One
Number of Nun sightings: Two
Next up...Airport '75