Meteoro

Meteor and When Time Ran Out marked the end of the decade of the disaster epic. I guess that Hollywood was just running out of ideas and that the formula of getting a bunch of big name players and put them in harm's way was wearing thin.

You can see that just about everybody here is bored, they all say the lines without any real conviction. Except for Martin Landau. As an Air Force General and Cold Warrior of the first order, he's extremely upset that the USA and the USSR have buried their differences to work on a real immediate problem. He resents Russians Brian Keith and Natalie Wood in the war room and Landau overacts outrageously.

A comet hurtling through the asteroid belt hit one of the big asteroids and sent one big chunk of rock and a whole bunch smaller ones as space calling cards speeding to Earth. That big guy if it hits spells the end of life on the planet.

Some criticism has been made that the special effects were a bit cheesy. By today's standards of course they were. So are some of those of the great Cecil B. DeMille. That's progress for you.

I'm not sure but this may have been the first time that Natalie Wood played someone of her own ancestry on film. Too bad she and Sean Connery as the NASA scientist didn't get to do something better before she passed away.

All the stars got a good pay day out of this though Sean Connery said there were some real scary moments with the cast trying to escape through the subway system with all the mud. A few times some people came close to really being buried in it for art's sake.

And this isn't a film to give your life for.

This one was long forgotten because it was made at the end of an era. The disaster movies. It's one of the last.

They always came with a top cast typical for disaster flicks but here we do have some big names at the end of their career like Henry Fonda. Sad to see. Still it wasn't received that well, a bit too long and the shots of the rockets takes ages.

The effects are also outdated for a time when effects were getting better and better. Still, it came back in picture in 2001.

9/11 happened and let this flick have a scene were the twin towers are destroyed by the meteor. Since 9/11 it was cleared that that scene had to be cut out for screening in the USA.

So be lucky if you still have the uncut one.

A bit of cold war of course and naturally Sean Connery has to be the playboy against Natalie Woods.

If you do like a top cast in a disaster movie, there are better ones who did stand the time (Towering Inferno is the best) but for the geeks, pick it up

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

This film essentially begins with a scientist by the name of "Dr. Paul Bradley" (Sean Connery) being notified that there is an emergency of a top-secret nature which requires his presence in Washington D.C. for further clarification. When he gets there he is told that a comet has hit one of the largest meteors in the Asteroid Belt and has sent it hurling toward earth at 30,000 miles per hour. Recognizing the serious implications this would have for the entire world he immediately agrees to lend his expertise and is subsequently teamed with his counterpart in the Soviet Union "Dr. Dubov" (Brian Keith) in an effort to save mankind from possible extinction. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I remember watching this film when it first came out and my opinion of it has somewhat lessened in my opinion upon recent viewing. Obviously, the special effects weren't nearly as good but considering this film was made over 40 years ago that shouldn't be held against it. I can't say the same, however, for the acting, as it wasn't nearly as good as it should have been considering the talent on hand. Natalie Wood (as the Russian interpreter "Tatianna Donskaya") was especially miscast. Likewise, the ending could have used some serious improvement as well. Be that as it may, this wasn't necessarily a bad film, all things considered, and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Meteor (1979) 2 of 5 Dir: Ronald Neame Stars: Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden

Connery built a armed orbiting platform to protect the earth from s celestial attack. But like the government always does they take over the project and trains the nuclear payload smack dab at the old red menace. Connery is once again called back to realign the project when it is determined that a huge meteor that deflected off a comet is making a b-line to Earth. Together with the Russians will we be able to stop it?

'Meteor' is a fun movie with an all-star cast but the special effects are for the most part just plain bad. Even compared to films of the day ('Star Wars' and 'Alien' to name a few) they just can't quite cut it. It was a favorite as a kid but it gets a bit of groan out of me now. I guess so much for nostalgia.

I just watched this again and it still stands as an OK disaster flick. Not as good as the underrated "Cassandra Crossing" perhaps, but much better than "Earthquake" and "Airport 1975", for example. Some of the effects are dated (the comet itself never looks particularly big or threatening), some are just stock footage (the demolition of New York skyscrapers) and others are quite impressive for their time (the tidal wave). The "muddy" finale is quite boring and fails to create any tension, and big-name actors like Henry Fonda and Trevor Howard have essentially cameos. However, one of "Meteor"'s praiseworthy qualities is that it presents the Russians in a quite positive light, and politically it keeps an objective tone throughout. (**)