A Wing and a Prayer

It seems strange knowing A WING AND A PRAYER was made as comparatively as recent as 1998 because I could have sworn this might have originally have been called AIRPORT 71 , 73 , 76, or 81 . Anyone else think it was written when disaster movies were all the rage in the cinematic world ? Anyone else think there might be a good reason it's been lying on a shelf for twenty five years ?

Having said that it might have actually have been written before the invention of the airplane , how else can you explain the writers getting away with a sequence of " he woke up and it was all a bad dream " very early in the film ? I guess being a TVM they can get away with this sort of red herring

Oh yes it's a TVM so we have to endure a lot of lovey dovey stuff between the two protagonists thereby holding up the story , but it's not much of a story as we're treated to all the trademark cardboard cutouts on a plane journey to boredom . There's the arrogant philistine , the ballsy stewardess , the cute kid but thankfully the singing nun and the alcoholic priest missed their flight and anything that can go wrong will , as long as it's not going to cut into the budget because this is a TVM remember

This was an interesting movie, but laughable if you're trying to learn more about how air traffic controllers actually operate. They work in the dark (not in a well-lit room as in the movie) for one. Up until recently, they did have sub-standard equipment dating back to the Dark Ages. Lots of smaller, towered airports still have old equipment to this day...scary. One funny thing that I noted in the movie was during some of the outdoor scenes in the "rain"...you could see a reflection of the crew aiming water hoses up in the air to create the effect of rain. The ending was a complete joke. I like Claudia Christian a lot, but even she doesn't make this movie very watchable...avoid it except when in desperate need of entertainment.

I'm not normally one to be petty about these things but since this film is so rubbish I thought I'd point out that, at one point the pilot of the longhorn flight (the guy) is shown with no steering wheel in his hands: he is just holding his clenched fists in position (look to bottom left of the screen). This is made even more funny because he is overacting the way the turbulence is affecting his arms. Once I'd seen the shot of no wheel between his hands, I couldn't help but burst out laughing every time he tried to be serious about their situation. I can't remember where abouts it is though since I saw it on TV and didn't (wouldn't in hindsight) record it. The directing almost as bad as the acting. Just thought I'd mention it for those who like to laugh about how terrible some films are. 1/10, unless you rate it for its comic value.

It is intelligent, engaging, well-acted, and mostly believable. At the end, I wanted more. The cast is good. On the whole, this was a great movie - great enough for me to go through the IMDb's registration process just so as to give this movie a just review. On a scale of 10, I will give 9 points to the TV version that I saw on USA movies (TV usually edits out any foul language and slackness).

The technical, procedural, and behavioral aspects of what really happens within an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) is NOT what is depicted in this movie... Not even close!

First, the movie shows the controllers in a cramped low ceiling room with standard overhead lighting. In a real ARTCC, the ceiling is more than 20 feet high and the lighting is provided only at the M1 consoles (low lighting conditions).

There are multiple and separate backup systems within the ARTCCs, including radar systems and radio systems. As of the making of this movie, the ARTCCs had already been upgraded to a newly developed Voice Switch and Control System (VSCS) by Harris Corp., which has 4 levels of radio communication redundancy.

There are no overhead water pipes that could leak and cause lower floors to develop subsequent equipment failures or a mass outage as depicted in this movie. That's Hollywood for you!

This movie would have you believe that the ARTCCs are inadequate and have no backup systems if there is a failure... Absolutely ridicules!