In the closing days of World War II, Canadian fighter pilot Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) makes a decision that causes the deaths of six men in his squadron. Ten years later, he has a hard time holding down a job and his marriage is on the rocks. When his wife leaves him, he chases her into the airport and boards the same plane she's on. In the air, several passengers and both pilots suffer severe food poisoning, leaving Stryker the only one on board with any flight experience, so he must get over his fear of flying and land the plane.
If that sounded at all familiar, it might be because Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker based the script for Airplane! on this movie. And not just the basic plot, probably half of all dialogue in Zero Hour! is either copied word-for-word or only slightly altered for Airplane!. As a big fan of the latter movie, it's quite a bizarre experience to not only watch this and hear so many of the classic joke setups without the punchline, but also realize several things I would've thought were ZAZ jokes were actually from the original.
It's a totally solid, entirely unremarkable 50's disaster movie with a pretty good supporting performance from Sterling Hayden.
It is striking how much of the overwrought comedy of Airplane! is already present in Zero Hour! (exclamation point there, too). I laughed a few times when I saw this a few years ago.
"Ted Stryker? Never heard of him. Thats not exactly true...WE WERE LIKE BROTHERS!". (note: this quote is actually from Airplane 2 but its delivery by Shatner makes me giggle EVERY time).
The fact that the Zuckers chose this route for Airplane is why it stands the test of time as the greatest parody ever made. Need an actual plot. Need to play it straight no matter how crazy the bits are. Having a cohesive plot but also the ability to parody a genre is even better.
'LOOK, UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD... IT'S A PLANE... NO! IT'S... 70's GEORGE KENNEDY??!!' QUADRILOGY! 057.- AIRPORT (1970, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on NETFLIX.
Ever wonder why ALL the 70's disaster movies start and prominently feature melodramatic plot lines and characters in emotional/marital turmoil that need to be sorted out as the titular disaster unfolds? Look no further than "Airport," both the Alex Haley 1968 novel (which I read a few times as a child) and this faithful 1970 movie adaptation, both monster hits in their respective time/media. They set a template that every disaster flick that decade followed slavishly. In the case of OG "Airport" there is one (the fictitious Lincoln Airport) whose functions and personnel are pushed to the limit during a severe snowstorm. The su!cide b0mber subplot doesn't appear until the end of the first act (it wasn't needed to engage me), and the third act balances the airborne danger with the emotional conflicts and duels of testy personalities clashing on how to do the right thing... for the safety of passengers and their crumbling marriages. This is the earliest 'G' rated movie I've seen in which pregnancy termination is openly discussed as a valid lifestyle choice.
Having so many characters and intersecting plot lines pushes "Airport's" running time to 137 min. Bloated, yes, but at least it features the titular location and characters working there that are absent from every other sequel that followed. πIn an all-star cast my favorites were Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin (alpha males constantly pushing each other's buttons), George Kennedy as ace engineer Joe Patroni (the only character to recur in the entire series), Jean Seberg as an airline executive that has an unrequited thing with Lancaster, Helen Hayes as the stowaway granny (complete with 60's sitcom music) and Van Heflin as would-be bomber D.O. Guerrero. The music is dated, the special effects mixed (real airplane footage looks great, but the flying miniatures are lame) and the direction flat, but I'd be lying if I said "Airport" didn't entertain me for most of its running time. Patience with slow, methodical pacing required. 3.5 CATHOLIC PRIESTS BITCH-SLAPPING PANICKY PASSENGERS (out of five).</b
Dean didn’t want to make so producers gave him 10% of the profits after the film reached $50 million. With a US gross of over $100 million, it’s no wonder his character of man who doesn’t need to try became his legacy. I love him.
Martin is such a cad to his loyal wife (only seen at the beginning and ending), yet his love for flight attendant girlfriend Gwen (Jacqueline Bisset) is for real. My God, this is such a soap opera. ππ€«
[Here's where the review of "Airport 1975" would have gone... if I hadn't already used it for 'Linda Blair!' Day. Oops.π€¨ So, to pinch-hit on behalf of "Airport '75," here comes a review for the OTHER Charlton Heston/George Kennedy blockbuster disaster movie released in 1974.]
058.- EARTHQUAKE ('74, SHOUT! FACTORY BLU-RAY)
The epic that introduced 'Sensurround' to our kitschy movie vocabulary, "Earthquake" takes its sweet time (about 51 min.) setting up both 'the big one' and the army of stars/guest actors (Richard Roundtree, Barry Sullivan, Victoria Principal, Donald Moffat with normal eyebrows, etc.) in too many roles to list as regular Los Angeles residents going about their lives. Since Alex Haley was busy writing "Roots" it's Mario Puzo's turn to co-write the melodramatic plight of engineer Charlton Heston dealing with a nagging wife from hell (Ava Gardner), a domineering boss/father-in-law (Lorne Green with a mustache), and a widow with a kid (Geneviève Bujold and Tiger Williams, respectively) that go from friendly to new-family-in-the-making love affair in one morning. Then an orgy of model/miniature destruction and stunt work crashes in, with some special effects (Albert Whitlock's matte paintings) better than others (mirror reflections of glass building shaking), combined with "Star Trek" ship-under-fire acting.
George Kennedy stands out from the pack as an L.A.P.D. cop taking command when things turn sour and people act like cowards, especially looters and panicky demolition experts he has to push around to do the right thing. If you can tolerate stupid Hollywood storytelling tropes (why would a hospital designate emergency clinics in the basements of a badly damaged building? π€¨π«£) "Earthquake" is dumb, 70's disaster fun. 3.40 'WALTER MATUSCHANSKAYASKY' SPILLED DRINKS (out of five).
BONUS: 059.- EARTHQUAKE: TV CUT (1974/76, SHOUT! FACTORY BLU-RAY)
Included with the Blu-ray version of Shout! Factory's 2-disc set of "Earthquake" is an alternate TV cut of the movie that ran over two nights on NBC in 1976. Unlike Shout!'s TV version of the '76 remake of "King Kong" on Blu-ray that used the widescreen transfer of the theatrical cut, "Earthquake's" TV cut is the original 4x3 version with cuts and pans not in the theatrical. The extra 20+ minutes of added material mostly revolve around a newlywed married couple (Debra Lee Scott and her architect hubby) on a plane bound for LAX barely escaping fissures on the runway and then, while flying to Honolulu, debating whether to volunteer to help rebuild Los Angeles. We also get a few more scenes of creepy Jody (Marjoe Gortner) spying on Rosa (Victoria Principal) and, at the halfway mark, a recap of the first half of the movie for the start of night two on NBC. Most of the main plot and disaster sequences are intact, except for TV censorship cuts (Jody's bullies calling him a 'f@g,' glass on the face of a woman on the sidewalk, elevator blood splatter, etc.). A curio for hardcore "Earthquake" fans, but nothing that'd make any disaster fan pick the TV cut over the theatrical. 2.95 CLOSETS FULL OF YELLOW T-SHIRTS (out of five).
060.- AIRPORT '77 (1977, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on Netflix.
Or the one where a technologically advanced, luxurious new private airplane (that still looks like "Airport 1975's" 747 with a rushed paint job) carrying valuable artwork and VIP passengers, is lost in the Bermuda Triangle due to thieves trying to steal the expensive stuff. Jimmy Stewart (rich owner of the plane and its valuables), Jack Lemmon (pilot shouting loudly at everybody) and Christopher Lee (why was he on board? π€) are the biggest names that debase themselves for a studio paycheck. Lee Grant is insufferable as Karen (Christopher Lee's wife), a woman who doesn't give a s*** about anybody but herself. The last 30 minutes of "Airplane '77" are slow and insufferable as we watch (almost in real time) Coast Guard procedures on how to lift a sunken airliner to the surface with inflatable air balloons. It's like "Raise The Titanic," except with average miniature effects mixed with U.S. military people doing Universal a solid. George Kennedy's Patroni, unlike the previous two "Airport" films' deep involvement in the plot, is basically a glorified three-scene cameo. The poster for this movie is so much cooler than anything in it. π 2.40 DARRIN MCGAVINS LIMPING INTO/OUT OF A FLOODED FREEZER (out of five).
061.- THE CONCORDE... AIRPORT '79 (1979, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY)
The "Jaws The Revenge" of the "Airport" franchise, and the only entry in the series that (a) lost money at the box office and (b) Netflix didn't even bother to ask for its streaming rights. Like Patrick with the FTM social media movie festivals, Netflix knows what it's doing. πWe're down to French movie stars (Alain Delon and Sylvia Kristel) and TV-level talent (Robert Wagner, Charo, John Davidson, Jimmy J.J. Walker, etc.) headlining the picture. George Kennedy gets a bump from bit player in '77 to fifth-billed leading man as the American pilot of The Concorde. Patroni's scenes with Delon are goofy due to the latter hiring a pr0st!tute to show the former his genuine friendship gestures. WTF is wrong with French people? πA subplot involving a corrupt military weapons company targeting The Concorde for destruction due to a reporter onboard (Susan Blakely) having incriminating documents results in bad EFX work and some crazy shit (Patroni firing a flare outside the window... while The Concorde's at full speed! π), which only highlights how much like a made-for-TV movie this $14 million production comes across. 2.0 SYBIL DANNINGS PAYING THE BILLS BY KEEPING HER CLOTHES ON (out of five).
I'm glad you finished the Airport series (which should have been called Airplane?) I do like that third one where they are submerged, and the 4th gets pretty silly with all the missiles chasing the Concord, not once, but twice. I think I liked the 2nd the best though.
Based on this recent rewatch, I'd rank them in the order they were made/released from best/most entertaining to worst/least entertaining. I could swap '77 with '79 because the latter is so goofy, but this series got progressively worst and in 1980 ZAZ's "Airplane!" killed it for good. ππ
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 11! 062 & 063.- THE ANT AND THE AARDVARK: PILOT (3/5/1969, DVD) & HASTY BUT TASTY (3/6/1969, DVD). Available to stream on YOUTUBE and INTERNET ARCHIVE.
The last duo of new characters introduced in the OG run of "Pink Panther" cartoons, this one features the titular red ant with laid-back attitude and a blue aardvark with a thick Jewish accent. Since I saw these shorts in Spanish growing up, the first time I heard the actual English voices of Ant and Aardvark mixed with the catchy-as-hell, jazzy music score (particularly the theme song) I was floored how much better the dynamic between the characters (both voiced by John Byner) comes across. This is basically non-stop Road Runner vs. Coyote 'catch me if you can' gags, but the personalities of Ant and Aardvark give their 17 shorts a goofy personality all its own. Both the Pilot (set around a picnic Ant's trying to steal food from) and 'Hasty But Tasty' (Ant has a new bike he uses to try and get around Aardvark's traps) easily earn 4 LIGHT BULB CORDS IN UNKNOWN UNDERGROUND TRAIN TRACKS (out of five).
Like when Hogan fought Andre at Wrestlemania 3 you just couldn’t see how Godzilla was going to overcome the odds but you can never bet against the hero.
Meteor completely feels like the kind of movie that, back in the day, you would find on TV during a weekend afternoon to pass the time. When a collision with a comet sends a giant meteor hurtling toward Earth, it is up to a divided Cold War world to come together and defeat the threat. Starring Sean Connery and a cast of familiar faces, Meteor is not the best example of the 1970s wave of disaster films. I did have fun with it, though, particularly when the disaster sequences begin There are several types of disasters that are depicted. The special effects are charming in a retro way. You get to see the Twin Towers cinematically destroyed twenty-two years before they were in real life.
I have probably only watched the The Poseidon Adventure once, and I think I missed the beginning of it. I remember the ship already being capsized when I found the film on TV.
A pinball machine makes perfect sense to promote a story like Meteor.
I somehow missed this Slater/Freeman actioner back in the day. A money transport guy, a band of thieves, and a local sheriff with his men are chasing after a shitload of money and each other in a small town that's getting obliterated by an epic flood. The movie must have been absolutely miserable to shoot for the actors who spend every minute competely drenched, but I'd say it was worth it for all the wet mayhem we get, with some top-notch underwater suspense and water destruction scenes. I always enjoy seeing Minnie Driver in a movie, so that was also a plus.
Things go wrong on a drilling rig, based on the 2010 real-world event. The action is fine. The explanation of the factors leading to the disaster and the subsequent problem-solving to prevent/fix/escape are a little vague, but hey, it's an action drama, not a documentary (now I kind of want to watch a documentary about it). The thing Deepwater Horizon does best is the vital factor for these kinds of movies: it quickly introduces a big cast of heroes (and a few villains) and gets you to like and care about (or hate) them in the first act so that when things go sideways later on, you're invested in what happens.
John Malkovich is a talented actor with many great performances in his filmography. I assume he really wanted to do a Cajun accent here, but it was very unsuccessful experiment. Then again, he's one of the villains, so for him to do something sort of ridiculous in the movie only works to turn the viewer against him.
Fire: Trapped on the 37th Floor (1991, dir. Robert Day)
TV movie based on a real life 1988 disaster where a fire broke out on the 12th floor of the First Interstate Tower in L.A. (the tallest building in the city at the time). It ended up engulfing multiple floors and there were real concerns that the fire could not be contained which would result in the building collapsing. Lee Majors stars as the Chief leading the heroic effort that ends up utilizing hundreds of firefighters. It's half firefighting procedural and half following two office workers who are trapped on the 37th floor. Unable to ascend or descend due to stairways being impassable, they slowly are dying from smoke inhalation. This was very well done and exciting and seemingly utilized actual footage of the real incident. It was pretty terrifying and intense. Highly recommended.
Following the success of other disaster flicks, this one brings together a bunch of celebrities and places them in harms way. The premise is pretty promising: a terrorist taking part in the bombing of a health organization is exposed to a super contagious deadly virus, his escape places him on a train of innocent people. Regrettably the execution is lame. They dont do much with the virus. Theres little disaster to be had until the final few minutes and its nothing more than a shaky came and poorly shot model train. If youre considering watching, id say wait for the next train.
The Texans at this drive in are watching “Disaster 76” which spoofs, MATINEE-style, all the disaster movies of that era and is just the back drop to a B-movie riff on American Graffiti. It would be worth it alone for the roller rink segment but it’s just a great time capsule for small town Texas in the 70s. I enjoyed this one a lot.
And it’s got an amazing country & western soundtrack.
And great lines:
“If only they’d had the pill when I was young.”
“Reasoning with a woman is like eating soup with a fork.”
“All I ever see is roamin’ hands and cold hearts.”
Drive-In was a random watch on a Roku channel a few years ago. It is a fun hang-out movie, and I was surprised by how creative the disaster parody gets.
I almost went with The Towering Inferno instead but then I saw Brian Saur of the Pure Cinema Podcast liked Drive-In and that sealed it for me. He’s got great taste.
RED ALERT (1977) A nuclear plant goes haywire, threatening a meltdown with people trapped inside. Is it a computer glitch or a saboteur? This is a starring role for character actor William Devane, who plays a no-nonsense government agent investigating the crisis. There’s a ton of other side characters, many of whom have troubled backstories and their own smaller crises going on. And there are so many scenes of a character getting woken up from bed with a phone call about the crisis that it becomes unintentional comedy. Honestly, all I can think of is how this is yet another of the movies that Airplane parodied in 1980. Maybe we should all watch Airplane tonight.
30 days of fan films, day 11: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2025) Rather than recreate a preexisting movie or stage version, writer/director Ben Fitton wanted his version to be as accurate as possible to Gaston Leroux’s original novel. Fitton rented an actual old-timey theater for his location, and then he filmed it in black and white for extra gothy-ness. Beyond that, there’s really nothing new here, and most (all?) of the dialogue is ADR, which is distracting. But familiarity breeds comfort, so I imagine some Phantom-heads might get a kick out of this.
A huge blizzard, a crazed bomber, marital strife, jewelry smuggling, infidelity, unplanned pregnancies, and Helen Hayes as a recidivist stowaway. And, yes, this is my second Van Heflin movie of the month (#HeflinForever). It actually makes me appreciate Airplane! (1980) more because of how closely they replicated scenery and shots from this.
When the priest bitch-slaps the annoying passenger across the aisle (in the middle of prayer! π) I laughed outloud. 'This is where the "I gotta get outta here!" joke in "Airplane!" got started,' l thought. π€
Knowing (2009): Is the Alex Proyas who directed Gods of Egypt the same guy who made The Crow and Dark City? Because, wow.
Critics called Knowing "absurd," "messy," and "overly serious." But once I saw Nicolas Cage dodging a train and screaming at—spoilers!—aliens, well, this movie was for me. It’s not good, but it is glorious.
Knowing is a mixtape of every major disaster imaginable, leading up to an extinction-level solar flare. It features a prophetic time capsule from a 1950s elementary school containing dates, death tolls, and exact coordinates for major tragedies. Naturally, Cage, an MIT professor, gets his hands on it.
The film is a wild, genre-bending ride. It shifts from a sci-fi mystery into a cosmic, angel-infused religious allegory involving Ezekiel’s visions and whispering extraterrestrials who like to steal SUVs. It goes from “professor solves a riddle” to “Interstellar Arks and the Tree of Life” in about 20 minutes. It’s bold, it’s bananas, and it refuses to care what you think.
Critics had a field day with the BS science. They pointed out that solar flares don’t actually turn cities into charcoal and that the film confuses legitimate mathematical modeling with mystical numerology. But if you're watching a movie where Nicolas Cage spends two hours deciphering numbers on a closet door and expecting a lecture from Neil deGrasse Tyson, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
The road to the screen was a mess. Originally pitched by novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson in 2001, the project passed through several hands—including director Richard Kelly—before reaching Proyas. He was drawn to the script not just for the disaster elements, but as a character study on how knowing your own end date would ruin your life.
The tone shifts are violent, culminating in one of the most hilariously nihilistic endings in modern cinema: everyone dies, and the kids are whisked away to an alien afterlife.
Despite the critical drubbing, the film performed reasonably well, earning $80 million on a $50 million budget. Roger Ebert famously gave it four stars, calling it "frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome."
I understand why "normal" people would absolutely hate this. But for those who appreciate a director with insane, unhinged energy, Knowing delivers. It’s a total swing for the fences.
I counted at least two sunsets, so LABOR DAY WEEKEND OF THE ANIMALS might be a more accurate title. Aerosol-spray-related ozone depletion is turning up the Earth’s heat, and boy, are the animals p!ssed! And so is alpha-male ad-man Leslie Neilson, who goes absolutely apesh!t! Director Girlder hit paydirt with 1976’s GRIZZLY, and he ups the animals attack ante here, as a bevy of beasts bite down hard on an assortment of B-list actors. I particularly enjoyed Ruth Roman’s hysterical performance (not to mention the alliteration of her appellation). Fairly well-filmed with excellent animal footage, this was an enjoyable ecological disaster effort, and TBH, I was rooting for the animals all along. DOTA is convincing evidence that global warming is real! Take that, climate deniers!
While it was not what I was expecting, I don’t care because I enjoyed the hell out of this. Less a disaster movie than a goofball melodramatic soap opera leading to a disaster around the last 45 minutes, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t entertained the whole way through.
The movie is full of recognizable faces, but only Helen Hayes and George Kennedy (who is the only cast member to appear in all 4 Airport movies) seem to recognize what movie they’re in. They’re each a delight every moment they’re on screen, particularly Hayes as an elderly con woman. Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin are the dramatic leads, navigating the various ups and downs (ha ha) of the fictional Lincoln Airport and a Trans Global Airlines plane, respectively. Lancaster has been quoted as calling the movie the biggest piece of junk he had ever been involved with, but what can I say? Sometimes you want a Big Mac when there’s a perfectly good steak available and this is a pretty dang satisfying Big Mac.
Kind of wish this had more disaster (or I had chosen a movie with more disaster) but glad I finally caught up with it. Tbf, the opening disaster is pretty disastrous.
What if the Poseidon Adventure was set beneath the Hudson River?
A bunch of survivors from various backgrounds must come together to escape worsening disaster after an explosion in the tunnel leaves them running out of air as water pours in all around them with a disgraced ex EMS Chief coming to the rescue and restoring his reputation in the process.
Not my favorite genre, so I went with some silly/stupid. Never seen this before, and I was intrigured by all the bad reviews on Letterboxd. I think the half-star reviews are just being mean-spirited. I laughed quite a bit. Reminds me a bit of one of my all-time favorites, Top Secret. It's not really good, but it's stupid and not all of the jokes work, but enough of them do. A lot of the jokes are tied to popular culture of it's time that I think if you don't know the references it's going to be nonsensical. Was not expecting Juno to be the most lampooned film by volume.
Have you ever seen Miracle Mile or The Quiet Earth, Zillagord? Those are disaster films that break with the genre's tropes. They also have a strong '80s vibe to set them apart from the films of the classic era of the genre
St. Helens(1981 Dir Ernest Pintoff) Based on the true story of the May 1981 eruption of Mount Saint Helens. Art Carney is Harry Truman. An old man who became a real-life folk hero when he refused to leave his home in the shadow of Mt Saint Helens after the Governor declared the evacuation of the area. David Huffman plays the geologist trying to change Carney's mind and convince everyone that the long-dormant volcano is ready to blow. Junesploitation stalwarts Ron O'Neal and Tim Thomerson show up as a helicopter pilot and the local sheriff, both of whom try to help the geologist convince the locals and the politicians of the upcoming danger.
The Last Island (1990). Directed by a Dutch woman (Marleen Gorris), it starts with people emerging from a crashed plane. Only 5 men and 2 woman survive, and it becomes apparent they might be the only living people on earth anymore. Beautifully set almost entirely on a beach in Tobago, I was hoping for more disaster, but it actually ended up being a very curious examination of sexuality, religion and the human experience. It does get a little nuts though. I stumbled onto this on Tubi and glad I watched it.
This is the film that today's thumbnail comes from.
I did not expect to watch another film today, but when I saw this listed as a recommendation on Prime, I was intrigued. Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow in a disaster movie? Then Roger Corman's name comes up in the credits as a producer. And Robert Forster shows up. I am in.
I admit to having a lot of fun with this even though the script is not good. Rock Hudson is opening up his new winter resort in Colorado when a blizzard strikes. The next day snow comes pouring down the mountain onto the unfortunate people below. The film does not shy away from how grisly a fate being buried in the snow can be. The special effects are pretty decent for this kind of film, too. There is some gratuitous n-u-d-i-t-y thrown in for that added exploitation factor.
This was pretty great.. maybe I'm a train movie guy? The animal sounds worked for me and the ending is just perfect. I don't know if I've seen John Voight better suited for a role, and the prison warden is a good match as a dirtbag nemesis. Good tension, and bonus: nice to see Kenneth McMillan (whose name I had to look up). Solid flick all around!
"Runaway Train" was Trejo's first movie. He was a drug counselor, and one of the producers on the movie called Danny as his sponsor to come stop him from slipping. Trejo came to the set to council the guy, who told him there was an opening for a boxing trainer to teach Eric Roberts how to box on camera. Danny taught Eric how to look like a decent boxing (from Trejo's experience as a prison boxer), and the actors/filmmakers were so impressed they offered him an on-camera small role. The rest is grindhouse/exploitation history. ππ€
A Netflix documentary about the May 2011 tornado that destroyed Joplin, Missouri.
Interviewees recount the lead up, the tornado itself, and the aftermath (I did audibly gasp at a reveal at one point).
Oh, and there's actual footage from the ground as someone left their phone recording in a pocket. Surreal to watch while under an active tornado watch, and your mom calls when the sirens go off my her.
The Host (2006 Kanopy) A US base pours toxic chemicals into the Han River and a terrifying beastie emerges. Bong Joon Ho grinds his usual political axes, but his filmmaking is fun and thoughtful. His focus on a family of Grandpa, father, uncle, aunt and daughter gives us personal stakes that we often miss in other disaster films.
Rollercoaster (1977) Something I had not put together when I first wrote about this film in 2014 (and yet another reason it's so fascinatingly odd) is that the screenplay was by Richard Levinson and William Link, the co-creators and writers behind Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. This might explain why the film is more of a policier and less of a disaster film. Rollercoaster also borrows Columbo's trope of showing us the guilty party in the first ten minutes, making it more of a "howcatch'em" than a "whodunnit." The film is still moderately entertaining for its extended "Harry Buys A Hat" sequence, nostalgic Seventies footage of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, a performance by Sparks, and a misplaced climax that occurs just fifteen minutes into the movie.
Zero Hour! (1957, dir. Hall Bartlett)
ReplyDeleteIn the closing days of World War II, Canadian fighter pilot Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) makes a decision that causes the deaths of six men in his squadron. Ten years later, he has a hard time holding down a job and his marriage is on the rocks. When his wife leaves him, he chases her into the airport and boards the same plane she's on. In the air, several passengers and both pilots suffer severe food poisoning, leaving Stryker the only one on board with any flight experience, so he must get over his fear of flying and land the plane.
If that sounded at all familiar, it might be because Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker based the script for Airplane! on this movie. And not just the basic plot, probably half of all dialogue in Zero Hour! is either copied word-for-word or only slightly altered for Airplane!. As a big fan of the latter movie, it's quite a bizarre experience to not only watch this and hear so many of the classic joke setups without the punchline, but also realize several things I would've thought were ZAZ jokes were actually from the original.
It's a totally solid, entirely unremarkable 50's disaster movie with a pretty good supporting performance from Sterling Hayden.
Oh, Lordy. Hall Bartlett later directed Jonathon Livingston Seagull.
DeleteIt is striking how much of the overwrought comedy of Airplane! is already present in Zero Hour! (exclamation point there, too). I laughed a few times when I saw this a few years ago.
DeleteTed Stryker? Isn't that... (gets to the second paragraph) Ahhh.
Delete-- 'Stryker? Stryker, Stryker, Stryker... STRYKER!'
Delete-- ¯\_(γ)_/¯ π’π€
-- 'Ted Stryker?'
π€£π€π
"Ted Stryker? Never heard of him. Thats not exactly true...WE WERE LIKE BROTHERS!". (note: this quote is actually from Airplane 2 but its delivery by Shatner makes me giggle EVERY time).
DeleteThe fact that the Zuckers chose this route for Airplane is why it stands the test of time as the greatest parody ever made. Need an actual plot. Need to play it straight no matter how crazy the bits are. Having a cohesive plot but also the ability to parody a genre is even better.
^^^ Beaten! π€¨π€π
ReplyDelete'LOOK, UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD... IT'S A PLANE... NO! IT'S... 70's GEORGE KENNEDY??!!' QUADRILOGY!
057.- AIRPORT (1970, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on NETFLIX.
Ever wonder why ALL the 70's disaster movies start and prominently feature melodramatic plot lines and characters in emotional/marital turmoil that need to be sorted out as the titular disaster unfolds? Look no further than "Airport," both the Alex Haley 1968 novel (which I read a few times as a child) and this faithful 1970 movie adaptation, both monster hits in their respective time/media. They set a template that every disaster flick that decade followed slavishly. In the case of OG "Airport" there is one (the fictitious Lincoln Airport) whose functions and personnel are pushed to the limit during a severe snowstorm. The su!cide b0mber subplot doesn't appear until the end of the first act (it wasn't needed to engage me), and the third act balances the airborne danger with the emotional conflicts and duels of testy personalities clashing on how to do the right thing... for the safety of passengers and their crumbling marriages. This is the earliest 'G' rated movie I've seen in which pregnancy termination is openly discussed as a valid lifestyle choice.
Having so many characters and intersecting plot lines pushes "Airport's" running time to 137 min. Bloated, yes, but at least it features the titular location and characters working there that are absent from every other sequel that followed. πIn an all-star cast my favorites were Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin (alpha males constantly pushing each other's buttons), George Kennedy as ace engineer Joe Patroni (the only character to recur in the entire series), Jean Seberg as an airline executive that has an unrequited thing with Lancaster, Helen Hayes as the stowaway granny (complete with 60's sitcom music) and Van Heflin as would-be bomber D.O. Guerrero. The music is dated, the special effects mixed (real airplane footage looks great, but the flying miniatures are lame) and the direction flat, but I'd be lying if I said "Airport" didn't entertain me for most of its running time. Patience with slow, methodical pacing required. 3.5 CATHOLIC PRIESTS BITCH-SLAPPING PANICKY PASSENGERS (out of five).</b
Dean didn’t want to make so producers gave him 10% of the profits after the film reached $50 million. With a US gross of over $100 million, it’s no wonder his character of man who doesn’t need to try became his legacy. I love him.
DeleteMartin is such a cad to his loyal wife (only seen at the beginning and ending), yet his love for flight attendant girlfriend Gwen (Jacqueline Bisset) is for real. My God, this is such a soap opera. ππ€«
Delete[Here's where the review of "Airport 1975" would have gone... if I hadn't already used it for 'Linda Blair!' Day. Oops.π€¨ So, to pinch-hit on behalf of "Airport '75," here comes a review for the OTHER Charlton Heston/George Kennedy blockbuster disaster movie released in 1974.]
ReplyDelete058.- EARTHQUAKE ('74, SHOUT! FACTORY BLU-RAY)
The epic that introduced 'Sensurround' to our kitschy movie vocabulary, "Earthquake" takes its sweet time (about 51 min.) setting up both 'the big one' and the army of stars/guest actors (Richard Roundtree, Barry Sullivan, Victoria Principal, Donald Moffat with normal eyebrows, etc.) in too many roles to list as regular Los Angeles residents going about their lives. Since Alex Haley was busy writing "Roots" it's Mario Puzo's turn to co-write the melodramatic plight of engineer Charlton Heston dealing with a nagging wife from hell (Ava Gardner), a domineering boss/father-in-law (Lorne Green with a mustache), and a widow with a kid (Geneviève Bujold and Tiger Williams, respectively) that go from friendly to new-family-in-the-making love affair in one morning. Then an orgy of model/miniature destruction and stunt work crashes in, with some special effects (Albert Whitlock's matte paintings) better than others (mirror reflections of glass building shaking), combined with "Star Trek" ship-under-fire acting.
George Kennedy stands out from the pack as an L.A.P.D. cop taking command when things turn sour and people act like cowards, especially looters and panicky demolition experts he has to push around to do the right thing. If you can tolerate stupid Hollywood storytelling tropes (why would a hospital designate emergency clinics in the basements of a badly damaged building? π€¨π«£) "Earthquake" is dumb, 70's disaster fun. 3.40 'WALTER MATUSCHANSKAYASKY' SPILLED DRINKS (out of five).
BONUS: 059.- EARTHQUAKE: TV CUT (1974/76, SHOUT! FACTORY BLU-RAY)
DeleteIncluded with the Blu-ray version of Shout! Factory's 2-disc set of "Earthquake" is an alternate TV cut of the movie that ran over two nights on NBC in 1976. Unlike Shout!'s TV version of the '76 remake of "King Kong" on Blu-ray that used the widescreen transfer of the theatrical cut, "Earthquake's" TV cut is the original 4x3 version with cuts and pans not in the theatrical. The extra 20+ minutes of added material mostly revolve around a newlywed married couple (Debra Lee Scott and her architect hubby) on a plane bound for LAX barely escaping fissures on the runway and then, while flying to Honolulu, debating whether to volunteer to help rebuild Los Angeles. We also get a few more scenes of creepy Jody (Marjoe Gortner) spying on Rosa (Victoria Principal) and, at the halfway mark, a recap of the first half of the movie for the start of night two on NBC. Most of the main plot and disaster sequences are intact, except for TV censorship cuts (Jody's bullies calling him a 'f@g,' glass on the face of a woman on the sidewalk, elevator blood splatter, etc.). A curio for hardcore "Earthquake" fans, but nothing that'd make any disaster fan pick the TV cut over the theatrical. 2.95 CLOSETS FULL OF YELLOW T-SHIRTS (out of five).
060.- AIRPORT '77 (1977, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY). Streaming on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteOr the one where a technologically advanced, luxurious new private airplane (that still looks like "Airport 1975's" 747 with a rushed paint job) carrying valuable artwork and VIP passengers, is lost in the Bermuda Triangle due to thieves trying to steal the expensive stuff. Jimmy Stewart (rich owner of the plane and its valuables), Jack Lemmon (pilot shouting loudly at everybody) and Christopher Lee (why was he on board? π€) are the biggest names that debase themselves for a studio paycheck. Lee Grant is insufferable as Karen (Christopher Lee's wife), a woman who doesn't give a s*** about anybody but herself. The last 30 minutes of "Airplane '77" are slow and insufferable as we watch (almost in real time) Coast Guard procedures on how to lift a sunken airliner to the surface with inflatable air balloons. It's like "Raise The Titanic," except with average miniature effects mixed with U.S. military people doing Universal a solid. George Kennedy's Patroni, unlike the previous two "Airport" films' deep involvement in the plot, is basically a glorified three-scene cameo. The poster for this movie is so much cooler than anything in it. π 2.40 DARRIN MCGAVINS LIMPING INTO/OUT OF A FLOODED FREEZER (out of five).
George Kennedy’s journey from family man street level ground crew Patroni to sex worker sleeping with flare gun Patroni needs to be studied.
DeleteBy whom? His many ilegitimate children? π«‘
Delete061.- THE CONCORDE... AIRPORT '79 (1979, KINO LORBER BLU-RAY)
ReplyDeleteThe "Jaws The Revenge" of the "Airport" franchise, and the only entry in the series that (a) lost money at the box office and (b) Netflix didn't even bother to ask for its streaming rights. Like Patrick with the FTM social media movie festivals, Netflix knows what it's doing. πWe're down to French movie stars (Alain Delon and Sylvia Kristel) and TV-level talent (Robert Wagner, Charo, John Davidson, Jimmy J.J. Walker, etc.) headlining the picture. George Kennedy gets a bump from bit player in '77 to fifth-billed leading man as the American pilot of The Concorde. Patroni's scenes with Delon are goofy due to the latter hiring a pr0st!tute to show the former his genuine friendship gestures. WTF is wrong with French people? πA subplot involving a corrupt military weapons company targeting The Concorde for destruction due to a reporter onboard (Susan Blakely) having incriminating documents results in bad EFX work and some crazy shit (Patroni firing a flare outside the window... while The Concorde's at full speed! π), which only highlights how much like a made-for-TV movie this $14 million production comes across. 2.0 SYBIL DANNINGS PAYING THE BILLS BY KEEPING HER CLOTHES ON (out of five).
They don’t call it the cock pit for nothing.
Deleteπ₯πΆπ΅π
DeleteI'm glad you finished the Airport series (which should have been called Airplane?) I do like that third one where they are submerged, and the 4th gets pretty silly with all the missiles chasing the Concord, not once, but twice. I think I liked the 2nd the best though.
DeleteBased on this recent rewatch, I'd rank them in the order they were made/released from best/most entertaining to worst/least entertaining. I could swap '77 with '79 because the latter is so goofy, but this series got progressively worst and in 1980 ZAZ's "Airplane!" killed it for good. ππ
DeleteBONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 11!
ReplyDelete062 & 063.- THE ANT AND THE AARDVARK: PILOT (3/5/1969, DVD) & HASTY BUT TASTY (3/6/1969, DVD). Available to stream on YOUTUBE and INTERNET ARCHIVE.
The last duo of new characters introduced in the OG run of "Pink Panther" cartoons, this one features the titular red ant with laid-back attitude and a blue aardvark with a thick Jewish accent. Since I saw these shorts in Spanish growing up, the first time I heard the actual English voices of Ant and Aardvark mixed with the catchy-as-hell, jazzy music score (particularly the theme song) I was floored how much better the dynamic between the characters (both voiced by John Byner) comes across. This is basically non-stop Road Runner vs. Coyote 'catch me if you can' gags, but the personalities of Ant and Aardvark give their 17 shorts a goofy personality all its own. Both the Pilot (set around a picnic Ant's trying to steal food from) and 'Hasty But Tasty' (Ant has a new bike he uses to try and get around Aardvark's traps) easily earn 4 LIGHT BULB CORDS IN UNKNOWN UNDERGROUND TRAIN TRACKS (out of five).
Godzilla v Mechagodzilla (1974) dir. Jun Fukuda
ReplyDeleteLike when Hogan fought Andre at Wrestlemania 3 you just couldn’t see how Godzilla was going to overcome the odds but you can never bet against the hero.
METEOR (1979, dir. Ronald Neame)
ReplyDeleteMeteor completely feels like the kind of movie that, back in the day, you would find on TV during a weekend afternoon to pass the time. When a collision with a comet sends a giant meteor hurtling toward Earth, it is up to a divided Cold War world to come together and defeat the threat. Starring Sean Connery and a cast of familiar faces, Meteor is not the best example of the 1970s wave of disaster films. I did have fun with it, though, particularly when the disaster sequences begin There are several types of disasters that are depicted. The special effects are charming in a retro way. You get to see the Twin Towers cinematically destroyed twenty-two years before they were in real life.
Ronald Neame also directed the original Poseidon Adventure!
DeleteThey made a pinball machine of it!
DeleteI have probably only watched the The Poseidon Adventure once, and I think I missed the beginning of it. I remember the ship already being capsized when I found the film on TV.
DeleteA pinball machine makes perfect sense to promote a story like Meteor.
Hard Rain (1998)
ReplyDeleteI somehow missed this Slater/Freeman actioner back in the day. A money transport guy, a band of thieves, and a local sheriff with his men are chasing after a shitload of money and each other in a small town that's getting obliterated by an epic flood. The movie must have been absolutely miserable to shoot for the actors who spend every minute competely drenched, but I'd say it was worth it for all the wet mayhem we get, with some top-notch underwater suspense and water destruction scenes. I always enjoy seeing Minnie Driver in a movie, so that was also a plus.
Deepwater Horizon (2016)
ReplyDeleteThings go wrong on a drilling rig, based on the 2010 real-world event. The action is fine. The explanation of the factors leading to the disaster and the subsequent problem-solving to prevent/fix/escape are a little vague, but hey, it's an action drama, not a documentary (now I kind of want to watch a documentary about it). The thing Deepwater Horizon does best is the vital factor for these kinds of movies: it quickly introduces a big cast of heroes (and a few villains) and gets you to like and care about (or hate) them in the first act so that when things go sideways later on, you're invested in what happens.
John Malkovich is a talented actor with many great performances in his filmography. I assume he really wanted to do a Cajun accent here, but it was very unsuccessful experiment. Then again, he's one of the villains, so for him to do something sort of ridiculous in the movie only works to turn the viewer against him.
Fire: Trapped on the 37th Floor (1991, dir. Robert Day)
ReplyDeleteTV movie based on a real life 1988 disaster where a fire broke out on the 12th floor of the First Interstate Tower in L.A. (the tallest building in the city at the time). It ended up engulfing multiple floors and there were real concerns that the fire could not be contained which would result in the building collapsing. Lee Majors stars as the Chief leading the heroic effort that ends up utilizing hundreds of firefighters. It's half firefighting procedural and half following two office workers who are trapped on the 37th floor. Unable to ascend or descend due to stairways being impassable, they slowly are dying from smoke inhalation. This was very well done and exciting and seemingly utilized actual footage of the real incident. It was pretty terrifying and intense. Highly recommended.
The Cassandra Crossing (1974)
ReplyDeleteFollowing the success of other disaster flicks, this one brings together a bunch of celebrities and places them in harms way. The premise is pretty promising: a terrorist taking part in the bombing of a health organization is exposed to a super contagious deadly virus, his escape places him on a train of innocent people. Regrettably the execution is lame. They dont do much with the virus. Theres little disaster to be had until the final few minutes and its nothing more than a shaky came and poorly shot model train. If youre considering watching, id say wait for the next train.
DRIVE-IN (1976) dir. Rod Amateau
ReplyDeleteThe Texans at this drive in are watching “Disaster 76” which spoofs, MATINEE-style, all the disaster movies of that era and is just the back drop to a B-movie riff on American Graffiti. It would be worth it alone for the roller rink segment but it’s just a great time capsule for small town Texas in the 70s. I enjoyed this one a lot.
And it’s got an amazing country & western soundtrack.
And great lines:
“If only they’d had the pill when I was young.”
“Reasoning with a woman is like eating soup with a fork.”
“All I ever see is roamin’ hands and cold hearts.”
“Somebody’s gotta rebuild Rio.”
when researching titles for the day, this popped up, i TOTALLY should have picked this one. maybe on a free space day!
DeleteDrive-In was a random watch on a Roku channel a few years ago. It is a fun hang-out movie, and I was surprised by how creative the disaster parody gets.
DeleteI almost went with The Towering Inferno instead but then I saw
DeleteBrian Saur of the Pure Cinema Podcast liked Drive-In and that sealed it for me. He’s got great taste.
RED ALERT (1977)
ReplyDeleteA nuclear plant goes haywire, threatening a meltdown with people trapped inside. Is it a computer glitch or a saboteur? This is a starring role for character actor William Devane, who plays a no-nonsense government agent investigating the crisis. There’s a ton of other side characters, many of whom have troubled backstories and their own smaller crises going on. And there are so many scenes of a character getting woken up from bed with a phone call about the crisis that it becomes unintentional comedy. Honestly, all I can think of is how this is yet another of the movies that Airplane parodied in 1980. Maybe we should all watch Airplane tonight.
30 days of fan films, day 11: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2025)
Rather than recreate a preexisting movie or stage version, writer/director Ben Fitton wanted his version to be as accurate as possible to Gaston Leroux’s original novel. Fitton rented an actual old-timey theater for his location, and then he filmed it in black and white for extra gothy-ness. Beyond that, there’s really nothing new here, and most (all?) of the dialogue is ADR, which is distracting. But familiarity breeds comfort, so I imagine some Phantom-heads might get a kick out of this.
Airport (1970)
ReplyDeleteA huge blizzard, a crazed bomber, marital strife, jewelry smuggling, infidelity, unplanned pregnancies, and Helen Hayes as a recidivist stowaway. And, yes, this is my second Van Heflin movie of the month (#HeflinForever). It actually makes me appreciate Airplane! (1980) more because of how closely they replicated scenery and shots from this.
When the priest bitch-slaps the annoying passenger across the aisle (in the middle of prayer! π) I laughed outloud. 'This is where the "I gotta get outta here!" joke in "Airplane!" got started,' l thought. π€
DeleteKnowing (2009): Is the Alex Proyas who directed Gods of Egypt the same guy who made The Crow and Dark City? Because, wow.
ReplyDeleteCritics called Knowing "absurd," "messy," and "overly serious." But once I saw Nicolas Cage dodging a train and screaming at—spoilers!—aliens, well, this movie was for me. It’s not good, but it is glorious.
Knowing is a mixtape of every major disaster imaginable, leading up to an extinction-level solar flare. It features a prophetic time capsule from a 1950s elementary school containing dates, death tolls, and exact coordinates for major tragedies. Naturally, Cage, an MIT professor, gets his hands on it.
The film is a wild, genre-bending ride. It shifts from a sci-fi mystery into a cosmic, angel-infused religious allegory involving Ezekiel’s visions and whispering extraterrestrials who like to steal SUVs. It goes from “professor solves a riddle” to “Interstellar Arks and the Tree of Life” in about 20 minutes. It’s bold, it’s bananas, and it refuses to care what you think.
Critics had a field day with the BS science. They pointed out that solar flares don’t actually turn cities into charcoal and that the film confuses legitimate mathematical modeling with mystical numerology. But if you're watching a movie where Nicolas Cage spends two hours deciphering numbers on a closet door and expecting a lecture from Neil deGrasse Tyson, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
The road to the screen was a mess. Originally pitched by novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson in 2001, the project passed through several hands—including director Richard Kelly—before reaching Proyas. He was drawn to the script not just for the disaster elements, but as a character study on how knowing your own end date would ruin your life.
The tone shifts are violent, culminating in one of the most hilariously nihilistic endings in modern cinema: everyone dies, and the kids are whisked away to an alien afterlife.
Despite the critical drubbing, the film performed reasonably well, earning $80 million on a $50 million budget. Roger Ebert famously gave it four stars, calling it "frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome."
I understand why "normal" people would absolutely hate this. But for those who appreciate a director with insane, unhinged energy, Knowing delivers. It’s a total swing for the fences.
Two hundred solar flares out of five.
DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977, William Girdler)
ReplyDeleteI counted at least two sunsets, so LABOR DAY WEEKEND OF THE ANIMALS might be a more accurate title. Aerosol-spray-related ozone depletion is turning up the Earth’s heat, and boy, are the animals p!ssed! And so is alpha-male ad-man Leslie Neilson, who goes absolutely apesh!t! Director Girlder hit paydirt with 1976’s GRIZZLY, and he ups the animals attack ante here, as a bevy of beasts bite down hard on an assortment of B-list actors. I particularly enjoyed Ruth Roman’s hysterical performance (not to mention the alliteration of her appellation). Fairly well-filmed with excellent animal footage, this was an enjoyable ecological disaster effort, and TBH, I was rooting for the animals all along. DOTA is convincing evidence that global warming is real! Take that, climate deniers!
Airport
ReplyDeleteWhile it was not what I was expecting, I don’t care because I enjoyed the hell out of this. Less a disaster movie than a goofball melodramatic soap opera leading to a disaster around the last 45 minutes, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t entertained the whole way through.
The movie is full of recognizable faces, but only Helen Hayes and George Kennedy (who is the only cast member to appear in all 4 Airport movies) seem to recognize what movie they’re in. They’re each a delight every moment they’re on screen, particularly Hayes as an elderly con woman. Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin are the dramatic leads, navigating the various ups and downs (ha ha) of the fictional Lincoln Airport and a Trans Global Airlines plane, respectively. Lancaster has been quoted as calling the movie the biggest piece of junk he had ever been involved with, but what can I say? Sometimes you want a Big Mac when there’s a perfectly good steak available and this is a pretty dang satisfying Big Mac.
Rollercoaster (77)
ReplyDeleteKind of wish this had more disaster (or I had chosen a movie with more disaster) but glad I finally caught up with it. Tbf, the opening disaster is pretty disastrous.
Daylight (1996) Dir. Rob Cohen
ReplyDeleteWhat if the Poseidon Adventure was set beneath the Hudson River?
A bunch of survivors from various backgrounds must come together to escape worsening disaster after an explosion in the tunnel leaves them running out of air as water pours in all around them with a disgraced ex EMS Chief coming to the rescue and restoring his reputation in the process.
Disaster Movie (2008)
ReplyDeleteNot my favorite genre, so I went with some silly/stupid. Never seen this before, and I was intrigured by all the bad reviews on Letterboxd. I think the half-star reviews are just being mean-spirited. I laughed quite a bit. Reminds me a bit of one of my all-time favorites, Top Secret. It's not really good, but it's stupid and not all of the jokes work, but enough of them do. A lot of the jokes are tied to popular culture of it's time that I think if you don't know the references it's going to be nonsensical. Was not expecting Juno to be the most lampooned film by volume.
Disaster movies aren't my bag, either, so like you, I twisted the theme to have an enjoyable watch.
DeleteHave you ever seen Miracle Mile or The Quiet Earth, Zillagord? Those are disaster films that break with the genre's tropes. They also have a strong '80s vibe to set them apart from the films of the classic era of the genre
DeleteSt. Helens(1981 Dir Ernest Pintoff)
ReplyDeleteBased on the true story of the May 1981 eruption of Mount Saint Helens. Art Carney is Harry Truman. An old man who became a real-life folk hero when he refused to leave his home in the shadow of Mt Saint Helens after the Governor declared the evacuation of the area. David Huffman plays the geologist trying to change Carney's mind and convince everyone that the long-dormant volcano is ready to blow. Junesploitation stalwarts Ron O'Neal and Tim Thomerson show up as a helicopter pilot and the local sheriff, both of whom try to help the geologist convince the locals and the politicians of the upcoming danger.
There are a lot of TV movies in the disaster realm. I looked at one for today but felt like staying in the "classic" era of the genre.
DeleteThe Last Island (1990). Directed by a Dutch woman (Marleen Gorris), it starts with people emerging from a crashed plane. Only 5 men and 2 woman survive, and it becomes apparent they might be the only living people on earth anymore. Beautifully set almost entirely on a beach in Tobago, I was hoping for more disaster, but it actually ended up being a very curious examination of sexuality, religion and the human experience. It does get a little nuts though. I stumbled onto this on Tubi and glad I watched it.
ReplyDeleteAVALANCHE (1978, dir. Corey Allen)
ReplyDeleteThis is the film that today's thumbnail comes from.
I did not expect to watch another film today, but when I saw this listed as a recommendation on Prime, I was intrigued. Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow in a disaster movie? Then Roger Corman's name comes up in the credits as a producer. And Robert Forster shows up. I am in.
I admit to having a lot of fun with this even though the script is not good. Rock Hudson is opening up his new winter resort in Colorado when a blizzard strikes. The next day snow comes pouring down the mountain onto the unfortunate people below. The film does not shy away from how grisly a fate being buried in the snow can be. The special effects are pretty decent for this kind of film, too. There is some gratuitous n-u-d-i-t-y thrown in for that added exploitation factor.
Runaway Train (1985, dir. Andrei Konchalovsky)
ReplyDeleteThis was pretty great.. maybe I'm a train movie guy? The animal sounds worked for me and the ending is just perfect. I don't know if I've seen John Voight better suited for a role, and the prison warden is a good match as a dirtbag nemesis. Good tension, and bonus: nice to see Kenneth McMillan (whose name I had to look up). Solid flick all around!
Forgot to mention catching a glimpse of a young Danny Trejo!
Delete"Runaway Train" was Trejo's first movie. He was a drug counselor, and one of the producers on the movie called Danny as his sponsor to come stop him from slipping. Trejo came to the set to council the guy, who told him there was an opening for a boxing trainer to teach Eric Roberts how to box on camera. Danny taught Eric how to look like a decent boxing (from Trejo's experience as a prison boxer), and the actors/filmmakers were so impressed they offered him an on-camera small role. The rest is grindhouse/exploitation history. ππ€
DeleteI don’t seek out train movies but I finally watched Frankenheimer’s THE TRAIN last summer and it was incredible.
DeleteThe Twister: Caught in the Storm (2025)
ReplyDeleteA Netflix documentary about the May 2011 tornado that destroyed Joplin, Missouri.
Interviewees recount the lead up, the tornado itself, and the aftermath (I did audibly gasp at a reveal at one point).
Oh, and there's actual footage from the ground as someone left their phone recording in a pocket. Surreal to watch while under an active tornado watch, and your mom calls when the sirens go off my her.
The Host (2006 Kanopy)
ReplyDeleteA US base pours toxic chemicals into the Han River and a terrifying beastie emerges. Bong Joon Ho grinds his usual political axes, but his filmmaking is fun and thoughtful. His focus on a family of Grandpa, father, uncle, aunt and daughter gives us personal stakes that we often miss in other disaster films.
Rollercoaster (1977)
ReplyDeleteSomething I had not put together when I first wrote about this film in 2014 (and yet another reason it's so fascinatingly odd) is that the screenplay was by Richard Levinson and William Link, the co-creators and writers behind Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. This might explain why the film is more of a policier and less of a disaster film. Rollercoaster also borrows Columbo's trope of showing us the guilty party in the first ten minutes, making it more of a "howcatch'em" than a "whodunnit." The film is still moderately entertaining for its extended "Harry Buys A Hat" sequence, nostalgic Seventies footage of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, a performance by Sparks, and a misplaced climax that occurs just fifteen minutes into the movie.
The last movie to utilize Universal's 'Sensurround' technology developed for "Earthquake." π§
DeleteMoonfall (2022, dir. Roland Emmerich)
ReplyDeleteIt fits the theme of the day.