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I decided to watch this movie because William Devane was in the cast. I have enjoyed every movie he has been in. I liked the way, as captain, that he kept control, his determination to survive and a sense of humor throughout the ordeal. I laughed when Rick (Winston Rekert) says to him (Captain Bob-William Devane) that they don't want to cause the oxygen masks to pop out because it might panic the passengers. Captain Bob replies, "MIGHT panic?? I'd be surprised if they're not back there knitting their own parachutes right now!"

Free Fall from the Sky: Flight 174 is the true story of a Boeing 767 near-disaster in Canada when the plane runs out of fuel. It stars William Devane, Scott Hylands, Shelley Hack, Marietta Hartley, and Winston Reckert.

The Canadian government changed the way fuel was measured to kilos, I guess, and some duffess on the ground measured wrong and sent this thing up with not enough fuel to get where it was going. The highlight for me was seeing copilot Scott Hylands with a pencil and paper doing calculations.

Made in 1995, the move has that cheap Canadian feel to it, which movies did back then. For a disaster film, it drags. There was not enough script for 93 minutes.

There was a lot of inner monologuing which I could have done without.

The landing was good, mostly due to the excellent acting of William Devane. Look for lovely Molly Porter at 23 in a small role.

What an adventure. Based on a true story. If you don't like to fly, though, I wouldn't recommend you watching it! I agree with the reviewer below, you feel like you're part of the action. The acting is all good, especially William Devane as the brave pilot. I also enjoyed Shelley Hack as a stewardess, who has the best line: she snarks to a rude passenger, "Sir, shut your stupid mouth!"

This may have been based on historical events, and we know that the makers of this TV docu-drama took liberties to make it more dramatic - I can live with that - but it was just so badly done! I was amazed in the event of an unfolding mid-air crisis how calm everyone seemed, surely someone would have panicked, and what a smooth flight, no passenger discomfort apparent - come on! Not sure about the regulations, nowadays some of the airline security stuff seems OTT nonsense, but why take your shoes off before the emergency landing, common sense tells me this is not a good idea! The shots of this massive airliner coming down on this remote airstrip were unconvincing and fake. In reality it would have been an awesome sight viewed from the ground nearby, in this movie it was out of proportion and looked like the model it probably was. Escape slides appeared at the front and mid emergency doors, yet nobody appeared to exit from the front, even though the drop was much less. The Captain went back into the plane after the landing - why? this was never explained. We know the emergency landing was due to being out of fuel, but even so there must have been some fuel sloshing around at the bottom of the tanks, and the risk of explosion must have been a very real danger, yet the evacuation seemed almost leisurely, and everyone stands around at the foot of the escape slides instead of getting as far away as possible, as I am sure I would have done. There were just too many inconsistencies, errors and faked action in this. I would have preferred to have seen a representation of the drama in real time, and with realistic motion of the plane portrayed. It had the potential to be quite thrilling, but doubtless due to the budget restrictions failed, and made one feel that a plane losing all engines was no big deal really, and you would safely glide down to a bit of a bumpy landing, but no real danger! - the reality of course being somewhat different!

This movie goes by two titles: "Falling From The Sky" or "Freefall" - both adding "Flight 174." I saw it as "Freefall" and thought the title was a tad over-dramatic. Flight 174 was never actually in freefall - but it was out of fuel and many of its systems were crippled and it was reduced basically to gliding. And I'd say that it was a pretty exciting story - made all the more exciting by the fact that it was a true story, and that the three main characters - pilot Bob Pearson, co-pilot Maurice Quintal and airline engineer Rick Dion - were all real people; played by actors of course, but these were their real names. The airline (Canada World) is fictional - it was really an Air Canada flight, and the flight number was 143 instead of 174. But, essentially, this seems to be a very accurate portrayal of what became known as "The Gimli Glider."

The flight left Montreal for Edmonton. It was 1983, the still early days of conversion to the metric system in Canada, and the ground crew in Montreal made a mistake in how much fuel to load on the plane as they tried to do conversions from pounds to kilograms. Partway to Edmonton, fuel alarms started to go off and eventually there was a system wide power failure. The pilots ended up flying blind, first seeking to land in Winnipeg and then, not able to do that, desperately trying to find an old Air Force landing strip at Gimli, Manitoba that could accommodate a 767.

The performances in this were really very good. There were a couple of fairly well known American actors - William Devane as Captain Pearson, and Mariette Hartley as his wife. Much of the cast were lesser known Canadian actors, but pretty much everyone did a decent job with their parts. Although the film did keep bouncing back to the plane's passenger cabin and to Pearson's wife on the ground, for the most part this movie avoided the excessive melodrama that usually accompanies movies like this, and a lot of it was shot in the cockpit, as we watched the planes crew struggle with their situation. I thought that perhaps the passengers remained a little bit too calm, given the situation, and the device of letting us hear what the passengers were thinking struck me a perhaps a little bit hokey. And I wish that there had been some explanation for why Captain Pearson rushed back into the cockpit after everyone else had gone down the emergency slides - meaning that Quintal and Dion had to risk their lives (again) by going back on board to rescue him.

Those points aside, though, this was a very good Canadian TV movie. It's exciting, and it does keep you in suspense pretty much up to the end. (7/10)

I saw a dramatised 1 hour documentary of this accident on the Canadian Air Crash Invetsigations series "Mayday". The dramatised bits and interviews with passengers did a much better job of entertaining than this movie does, with the added bonus of conveying what really happened.

Instead of focusing on facts this film opts to go for 1970s disaster movie approach with casting, acting, set design, music and the invitable padding out with irrelevant sub-plots. The only thing that is missing is here Charton Heston but I guess he was too old by 1995 to pass as an airline Captain! Much of the dialogue between the crew in this movie is invented and they simply don't cut it as professional airmen. There is too much sighing and emotion, and too little professionalism. Most of the time they don't look like they are sitting a real cockpit, but a large wooden room in a studio.

Many of the events are exaggerated for sensational effect, and some events invented. This would be alright but it's poorly done and it just cheapens the movie. As do the invented dramatisations with passengers and crew.

I supposed it's a watchable film in is own right...I mean, I did watch it!

From the grabber opening in a flight simulator, till the electrifying landing, William Devane and his flight crew are trying the impossible. Never before had a jumbo commercial aircraft been landed from a free fall. While the passenger's personal dramas may seem overdone, everything about the impending disaster is tense and realistic. There are even a few moments of sharp humor to interrupt the extreme anxiety. William Devane carries "Freefall : Flight 174" to greatness with a terrific performance as the cool headed captain. If you enjoy realistic disaster films, this is a must see, and I guarantee you will be cheering at the end. - MERK

This movie is a true story of a real airliner accident where a miscalculation causes the plane to run out of fuel during a flight. I found the cockpit scenes to be fascinating, but there were some really stupid mistakes that distracted from the film enough to annoy me. The most ridiculous of these was the behavior of the crew then the plane finally comes to a stop on the ground. Instead of immediately proceeding with the evacuation of the plane, they all just sit there, supposedly thanking their maker for surviving. Then, they open the front and rear exits and proceed to all exit from the rear of the plane. Not one person exits from the front, even though the slide is in place and the drop much less than in the back. Even the cockpit crew feels some need to work their way through the smoke to the back of the plane to exit. Why?

I was also annoyed with the endless boring background stories and thoughts. They actually have voiceovers at one point of what the passengers are thinking. It was very dull and filled a lot of time.

Time was a particular problem in this film. It really could have been a good hour story. The real action takes place in the last 35 miles of the flight, which does not take very long at over 200 knots. Instead, we had one fifteen minute period when they only went five miles. Then, in a matter of seconds, they jumped 10 miles. I think this would have been more powerful had they told the ending of the flight in real time.

The cockpit suspense was really good and I enjoyed it. The endless pouring over manuals and trying different thinks made the story more real. Had they been a bit more realistic about time and dropped the side stories, this could have been a really good TV movie (but not a "real" movie). I give it 5/10.

This is a good movie for made-for-TV. A true story about Canada World Airways' Boeing 767 that runs out of fuel, due to a miscalculation by the ground staff in Montreal. The Captain Bob Pearson (William Devane) and First Officer Maurice Quintal (Scott Hylands) must think of something fast before the plane and its 60 passengers fall from the sky.

The acting is great, as each main character's live stories are depicted in the movie, as his/her own personal issues are worsened by the plane's untimely misfortune. The movie is fast pace, leaving little room for mundane scenes and plot lines that drag. We see a movie where people turn from despair to hope as they struggle to find their will to help each other to survive as their plane comes falling. Again, a great TV movie that is worth your time watching.

Grade A

Also known as FREEFALL: FLIGHT 174.

Based upon the true story of an unsafe situation in the sky that emerges after new government mandates placed upon manufacturers of passenger airliners requiring each newly built airliner to convert from our traditional North American standard of measure to the confusing foreign Metric System.

If a viewer is a big fan of dramatic voice-overs, then FREEFALL: FLIGHT 174 will receive a big THUMB'S UP. If a viewer is not a fan of dramatic voice-overs, then this movie will receive a big THUMB'S DOWN.

The strengths: Fine acting, wonderful one-liners, good story. Weaknesses include general casting, and also many plot developments played out later in the movie.

The main problem with casting is that New York born and bread actors with their harsh New York accents attempt to play Central and Western Canadians. The New York actors should have been restricted to playing passengers because anyone with any accent can be a passenger. Local Canadians and ground crew characters should really have been played by non-New York actors who can project a modest Canadian accent at least.

The other great weakness was in the odd depictions that come towards the end. For example, everyone, even all those who receive a complete second chance, refuse to use the nearest and easiest exit, and for some unknown reason, they each time use the most distant and difficult exit in the jumbo jet. Also, a kid on the ground knowingly attempts to outrun the speeding jet. Sadly, the ending unintentionally switches from drama to comedy. The result is an average Made-For-TV effort.

I've read the other reviews posted so far and I pretty much agree. It is what it is -- and as a "based on a true story" plane crash TV-movie it was entertaining, at least as a late, late night cable TV offering.

And I gotta agree with some of the other comments about a few of the shortcomings -- and maybe add a couple more.

Why did the captain run back into the smoking cockpit?!? I think they either needed to have him explain himself -- OR, have someone else say, "Gee, that was dumb."

They could have done away with the little inner dialogues each passenger had in the moments before the plane attempted to land. That was just goofy.

And what was the deal with the kid on the bike on the runway?!? Chaos reigns as cars zoom to get off the runway and then a guy runs alongside the pavement yelling at the kid to get off the runway -- and the kid inexplicably looks at the guy with a weird expression that's a combination of confusion, fright, and "I ate something sour"... And they cut back and forth between the two about four times without ever conveying why the kid wasn't getting off the runway like the guy was adamantly yelling at him to do...

There are good movies.

There are bad movies that the creators know are bad.

There are bad movies that the creators think are good.

This is the latter.

It might be entertaining if you know nothing about aviation, but if you do know anything about the subject I have a simple message for you:

"For your convenience, a bag has been placed in the seat pocket in front of you, should you experience symptoms of motion picture sickness."

The movie starts out with a situation which gets your heart racing. Then as the details of the actual event unfolds, you can't help but realize the entire event/outcome was a miracle. The movie was so realistic, it actually got me to read the book . . . which was even better!

What a cheesy movie! Typical of the drivel major networks produce as 'entertainment.'

Over-the-top melodrama. Continuous telepathy as actors are thinking rather than speaking.

Of particular note was the idea that all is smooth riding in the passenger cabin while, up front in the cockpit, Devane is continuously vibrating.

The thought that immediately came to mind was: stop putting quarters in the aviation equivalent of the 'Magic Fingers' motel beds and all the shaking will stop.

Honestly, the usual example advanced for bad movies: Plan 9 From Outer Space, was more entertaining.

The 2008 Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series Mayday episode titled "Gimli Glider" is superior in every regard.

I happened along this movie quite by accident. William Devane does an excellent job portraying an airline captain in charge of a doomed flight. The film was exhausting to watch. I felt like I was there in the cockpit helping Mr. Devane myself. I have tried for years to find a copy of this tape. Not until late last year was it available on VHS in the UK. I ordered the tape immediately. When the tape arrived, I was devastated to find out the VHS tapes sold in England and many other European countries are made on a different standard than ours here in the USA. I have the film on VHS in PAL standard but need it in NTSC or SECAM standard, whichever works in the US. I have been unable to get any help on this. I would very much like a copy of this film if anyone has any ideas.

The true story about Air Canada Flight 143, which became known as the "Gimli Glider" after the 1983 incident upon which this 1995 film is based, is more or less buried in cheap 1990s TV movie production values, cheesy sub-plots and a slow, slow descent towards the inevitable conclusion. Still, at the core of it all is an interesting movie, it you're patient enough to wait for it. Or rather to edit it out yourself. William Devane's dependability as Captain Robert Pearson provides a solid base when the film otherwise seems clueless and badly paced. Also with Scott Hylands, Shelley Hack, and Winston Rekert.