Des héros par milliers

This is just a TV film with no cinematography, no character development, thronged with technical details about which most audiences would understand nothing, and in poor TV quality as well, and yet it is an amazing film well worth spending some time following for an hour and a half and every second of it, so many people being involved, and every detail being true to meticulous accuracy. It happened for real, it was an impossible situation, the entire hydraulic system being put of order by an accidental explosion in the tail, and still the pilots did their best to manage the plane with 300 passengers manually and get it down with an unavoidable crash for a result, leaving 110 dead but 186 survivors, which actually was a miracle, managed by the skill of the pilots, the captain being Charlton Heston here, and he is perfect for the role. The most impressing thing about the film is its documentary value as a detailed reconstruction of a tremendous air plane emergency and accident, actually involving a thousand heroes in the very extensive rescue operations. The incident has become a legend, and the film succeeds brilliantly well in immortalizing the epic occurrence. If you often go travelling by flight, this film is recommended for a warning and important information of the consequences of a possible accident.

First having aired on TV in 1992, CRASH LANDING is a highly well-made dramatization of the saga of United Airlines Flight 232 which, while enroute from Denver to Chicago on July 19, 1989, suffered a catastrophic explosion in its tail engine which severed all the plane's hydraulic lines. This meant that the crew, led by Captain Al Haynes, had almost no control over the aircraft, and that they would have to come in for an extremely difficult landing at Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa. With no way to stop, the plane broke up on impact, scattering debris across the runway and into nearby cornfields. But miraculously, of the 296 people onboard, including Haynes and his crew, 184 managed to survive the horrific ordeal.

Utilizing some of the actual TV footage of UAL 232 coming in for landing and breaking apart upon touchdown, CRASH LANDING details how Haynes and his crew managed to keep the plane in the air long enough to attempt the landing in Sioux City, and how the Sioux City ground crew was prepared for the ultimate emergency. Charlton Heston does his usual professional job in his portrayal of Al Haynes, and James Coburn is equally commanding as Jim Hathaway, the chief emergency coordinator at Sioux City. Richard Thomas, though he does not necessarily escape his "John boy" image from "The Waltons", also scores as the green rookie on Coburn's ground crew.

Although it is a TV movie, the story and cast are all ably directed by veteran Lamont Johnson, with a good script by Harve Bennett (STAR TREK III). CRASH LANDING (later retitled A THOUSAND HEROES) is one of the best true-life airline disaster survival stories ever put on TV, and is well worth seeing.

Although I scored this film as a "6" because it suffered some from lack of character development and pedestrian acting, it is a powerful viewing experience. A skilled United Airlines crew and unprecedented community organization saved many. In fact, the emergency workers in the Sioux City area achieved, on a smaller scale, what those in New York did in 2001. Charlton Heston was ideal in the role of Captain Al Haynes.

I worked in the city government at Sioux City and then at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center years before these events. I participated in some of the very early planning that paid off in 1998. What I saw in the film rings true.

I am an airline employee. After seeing this movie, I studied the things that happened and how they controlled the aircraft. To turn this aircraft only to the right in a "fugoid" and to arrive exactly on course to land on runway 22 was absolutely brilliant!! Especially doing the math in his head to figure out the headings. Capt. Al Haynes was truly a great and incredibly intelligent pilot. If it wasn't for his great flying, a lot more people would have been killed. I applaud him, Denny Finch, and his whole crew on a very well job done. I hope they all will enjoy retirement and remember that a lot of people are alive today because of them.

I saw this on satellite earlier and was really impressed with everything,the mixture of stars involved,acting quality, gritty realism etc and it gave me a real insight into what the emergency services actually do in the event of something like this occurring.- Excellent. Charlon Heston was particularly well cast in the role of the captain of the ill fated flight 232,as was James Coburn as the fire chief with years of experience who acted in a very professional manner although at times slightly brusque but his character was indeed definitely a man to get the job done properly,so to speak. In my opinion the film was not only gripping,as near to reality as anyone could possibly portray but it also showed the real emotion behind what must have been a terrible frightening incident for everyone involved.-Great film.