Panique dans le téléphérique

I haven't seen this movie in years but it was kind of eerie when New York City's Roosevelt Island Tram car got stuck for over 11 hours in April of 2006. It reminded me of this movie and all I can remember is that Ruth McDevitt is in it and she's wearing a hat and it flies off her head and she utters "Dam" and covers her mouth after she says it. That was probably one of the few curse words allowed on 1974 TV which it why it stuck in my head. Overall, I don't remember much of the movie but Bobby Sherman was one of the people stuck in the tram and he was supposedly one of the draws of this TV-movie. ABC ran the trailer for this movie over and over again and like all of their movies of the week, had that "I have to watch it" feeling. Too bad a lot of these rare gems are not seen anymore and with the advent of cable and satellite TV, you would think somebody would create a home for these movies. A sort of "70's retro-movie channel." A DVD release would be great, but who would remember it?

I first saw this movie way back in the eighties, and because there are few cable car disaster movies I remember it quite well. I actually taped it in the late 90's when it was on TV for old times sake, and I still have it somewhere! All the action takes place on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway (they even have their own website - check it out!). some of the effects are typical '70's', but its an OK film all in all. Some of the exterior shots are so obviously done in a studio (climbing up the gooseneck of the cable car etc) but then again some of the shots of the car near the end in its 'out of control' mode are very clever and sure get the adrenaline pumping - excellent. A remake could be easily done on this theme, as a lot of people would be genuinely scared if trapped and hanging in the mid-air. I know I would!

Aerial tramway in the California mountains gets stuck 8,000ft above rocky terrain with seven tourists and a tram-guide in attendance. Seems a recently-fired technician sabotaged the wiring, and now the two (count-'em-two) men running the operation from base are desperate for a rescue plan. A helicopter shows up but does more harm than good (I blame the pilot), but a ground mechanic thinks he can talk an engineer on-board via telephone into getting the tram in motion. Throw out the misleading title and you have a cast that keeps things somewhat interesting, even if the writing is terribly clichéd: Bobby Sherman is the college-age guide, Joseph Campanella is the engineer in love with marriage-reluctant Stefanie Powers, Severn Darden is a pickpocket, Ross Martin is cheating on wife Nancy Malone, John Astin plays an acrophobic who's brave when he acts without thinking, and Ruth McDevitt is wily old lady on a break from her nursing home. Aside from one glaring mistake in the back-projection, the visual effects aren't too shabby, and the lack of hysterical melodrama is a relief. *1/2 from ****