SOS Concorde

It's tempting to call "Concorde Affaire '79" (a.k.a. "Concorde Affair") a rip-off since its title is so close to the hilariously awful "The Concorde: Airport '79," but beyond that the only similarities the movies share is the crashing of their titular plane. They're not even in the same genre, with the Italian-made "Concorde Affaire '79 " more of an action thriller than a disaster movie.

The action kicks off right away when an airline CEO (a bored Joseph Cotten) orders the sabotage a rival's Concorde test flight, causing it to crash in the Caribbean Sea, killing everyone on board. News coverage is routine, but then New York-based freelance journalist Moses Brody (James Franciscus) gets a scoop from his ex-wife—who just happens to run a restaurant in the Antilles—and though she's irritatingly vague he heads to the islands anyway. By the time he arrives his ex is dead and there are thugs trying to kill him. The plot thickens from there, with Brody discovering that there was one survivor of that Concorde crash: Jean (Mimsy Farmer), a flight attendant (because who else was going to get the pilots' coffee?) now being held captive by gangsters who are using her to blackmail Cotten—who pays them as part of "the cost of doing business." Can Brody rescue Jean and escape the gangsters in time to thwart Cotten's sabotage of another Concorde flight out of the U.K.?

Though hardly a great movie, "Concorde Affaire '79" is far better than it has any right to be (and 10 times better than "The Concorde: Airport '79," as other reviewers have noted). It certainly has way more plot than expected though the storytelling is a bit rickety at times. Case in point is Brody acting surprised to discover the exact location of the Concorde wreckage as if this were some big secret. And apparently it is, as it's revealed the gangsters are actually Cotten's henchmen, sent to destroy all traces of the wreckage. Guess the FAA didn't waste too much time investigating plane crashes in the late '70s. Just as rickety is the way director Ruggero ("Cannibal Holocaust") Deodato relies on stock footage for all scenes showing the Concorde in flight. Even worse are the unconvincing miniatures used to represent the plane at the bottom of the sea. Otherwise, Deodato does a competent job in the director's chair, seldom letting the movie's pace drop below a cruising altitude. Incidentally, though helmed by a man known for including liberal amounts of gore, sex and nudity in his other movies, "Concorde Affaire '79" is strictly PG-13, with no sex, little gore and even less skin (Franciscus wearing a Speedo is as close as you'll get to nudity, though at times Farmer's billowing white blouse barely covers her breasts).

Franciscus brings the swagger and rugged charisma a role such as Brody requires (think of him as a half-priced Steve McQueen, or a younger, cheaper Charlton Heston), his performance really elevating the movie's entertainment value. Cotten and Edmund Purdom do little more than wait for their paychecks. Van Johnson, another Hollywood legend, at least invests a little effort in his small part as the pilot of that second doomed Concorde flight. Farmer is under-utilized in a damsel-in-distress role, though she does get to freak out a couple times ("I… CAN'T REMEMBER!"). It also appears Farmer wasn't available for all her scenes as an obvious stand-in is used for Jean's first scenes aboard the test flight. Also look for '70s porn stars Michael Gaunt, Jake Teague and Robert Kerman (a.k.a. R. Bolla) as London air traffic controllers, speaking with dubbed English accents.

Sometimes the things you can find on Amazon Prime Video surprise you. Buried in the C level drive in movies and made for television dramas of the 1970s I found this gem. It impressed me enough to write a review. Considering I've rated thousands of movies on here and this is maybe my 3rd review, it made a lasting impression.

If you're a fan of any of Roger Moore's work as James Bond, invest some time into watching this movie. The locations, underwater footage, fight scenes and chases are just as spectacular as anything to come out of Pinewood Studios. What impressed me most is that this movie achieved the same result with a budget that is likely the smallest fraction of the cash the British threw at 007 movies of the era. The plot is honestly slightly more plausible than anything James Bond faced at the time.

Now it's also no masterpiece. It's never been restored so video quality is subpar, it's also rather poorly dubbed when compared to a Hollywood movie. Compared to 1960s Spaghetti Westerns, however it ain't bad at all.

Arch villain Joseph Cotten was apparently either being kicked out of his nursing home or was running out of incontinence pads, but either way must have needed a paycheck VERY badly. In every scene he looks like he was just dragged outta bed to sit behind a desk and mumble nonsensically. Although I'm rather certain this applies to all of Joseph Cotten's work after 1965.

I can't really fault Van Johnson's portrayal of the Concorde pilot either, he knew he was there for nothing but a cameo and seems to have had fun with the part. James Franciscus did well with his starring role as well. It's almost a shame they were unable to turn his high intrigue investigative reporter character into a franchise. It's almost as believable as a high intrigue archeologist and that seemed to pay off for Indiana Jones. Perhaps Franciscus's early death played a part in the character being forgotten.

I think another factor that hurts this film is the similar title to the literally horrible film Airport 1979. Now I'm certain the Italian film makers did this on purpose without actually seeing the film. They were hoping the popularity of the previous 3 Airport movies would help their box office returns. However with how poorly Airport 1979 was made and performed, I think it's only hurt the film.

I don't consider it a spoiler to say: This is NOT an airplane disaster movie. It's a low budget James Bond movie that did a great job with little money. Perhaps you could call it a "Spaghetti Spy" movie. If you got a kick out of Roger Moore as 007, then count on having a smile on your face when you finish this film.

It was foolish of me to think that the Italian film industry wouldn't have a go at the old disaster genre, and here it its: the Italian version of Airport. Kind of.

Evil businessmen are wishing to destroy the Concorde by sabotaging it and causing it to be decommissioned. Using evil henchmen Venantino Venantini and Ottavia Dell'Aqua, they bring one aircraft down in the Antilles. It's a shame that air hostess Mimsy Farmer survived though, because she could blow the whole conspiracy wide open. It's kind of a mixed blessing that the henchmen get a hold of her, because although they already know about the conspiracy, they always start blackmailing the evil businessmen. Where's the loyalty these days in avational espionage?

Journalist James Franciscus gets involved when his wife phones him from the Antilles and annoyingly doesn't tell him anything over the phone, which is rather selfish because by the time he flies there from New York she's dead and he's not got a clue what she's on about. Luckily he's got a guardian angel looking out for him, because Venantino and Ottavia reckon they'd be better off minus a nosy journalist.

There's a lot of scuba diving looking for sunken Concordes and amazingly Mimsy nearly escapes the ship she's being held on just as James was passing by. By the time this all happens you'll be wondering when the disaster element is going to arrive - it does eventually, involving another plane piloted by Van Johnson. The same device that took down the first concorde is on board this one, but only Mimsy Farmer and her amnesia can save everyone on board...

When not murdering animals for a laugh, Ruggero Deodato can actually produce a good film, or at least an mildly entertaining one like this. There's a whole load of shenanigans going down between James trying to convince the authorities of the conspiracy and people trying to kill him, but those looking for Deodato gore will be let down, save for the bit where a diver is shot in the face and about ten gallons of blood pours out. Van Johnson does well as the stressed out pilot and you can't beat a bit of Joseph Cotton being evil, so that's not so bad either.

What's good for a laugh are some of the effects - the emergency cars at the end of the film are clearly toys, and so are several shots of the concorde itself. I'm no expert in disaster films but as a quick time waster it was okay. Dakar from Zombie Flesh Eaters gets his head run over by a boat.

The inexhaustible world of Italian exploitation cinema never ceases to amaze me! Here I was expecting a cheap and trashy knockoff of the world-famous "Airport" disaster movie series, and that's partially what I got, but also so much more! As directed by the great and mighty Ruggero (here credited as Roger) Deodato - one year prior to perplexing the world with his masterpiece "Cannibal Holocaust" - "Concorde Affaire '79" is a compelling conspiracy thriller, an exhilarating tropical adventure flick, and a nail-biting disaster flick all in one!

When a prestigious Concorde airplane crashes in the Ocean near the French Antilles during a test flight, nobody initially suspect sabotage, but stewardess Jean Beneyton miraculously survived the crash and the fisherman that rescued her from the water are viciously murdered. This causes for a local businesswoman to alert her ex-husband in New York, newspaper reporter Moses Brody. When he arrives on the island, his ex-wife is dead, and he gradually uncovers that a criminal organization are making everything that links back to the crashed Concorde disappear, including the wreck of the super-plane itself. Obviously, the authorities don't believe him, and Brody needs to save the missing stewardess and help prevent another sabotaged Concorde, this time with more than 100 people on board, from crashing.

What a tremendously fun film! The plot is convoluted and far-fetched but sucks you in from the very first until the last minute. Deodato could also rely on a reasonably big budget, which didn't just pay the salaries of a long list of impressive names in the cast, but also ensured there is room for impressive stunt work and astonishing underwater cinematography. There's a long - but fantastic - sequence in which protagonist Brody (James Franciscus) and his helper dive to the bottom of the ocean to explore the wreckage of the Concorde, and it contains some of the most professional underwater filming I have ever seen. Moreover, it's also an action-packed scene, with a hand-amputation, a cameo from a shark, and ending in a virulent diving chase.

The second half of the film feels more familiar, because it features chaos and panic aboard a Concorde in peril, but even these sequences are still intercut with action sequences of Moses Brody and Jean Beneyton escaping from their assailants. Never a dull moment in "Concorde Affaire '79", that's a guarantee. I reckon Deodato ran out of steam and budget just before the finale, because the ambulances and Concorde that are used during the emergency landing are obviously toys/miniatures. Oh, well... The cast is stupendous, with James Franciscus and Mimsy Farmer in one of their best roles, but also fantastic names in the supportive cast, like Venantino Venantini, Van Johnson, Edward Purdom, and the always-reliable Joseph Cotton as evil aerial tycoon. And, last but not least, Stelvio Cipriani delivers a phenomenal score as always.

Concorde Affaire '79 (1979)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining non-sense from director Ruggero Deodato is an Italian rip-off of the American film THE CONCORDE....AIRPORT '79 but this here is actually much, much better. The wild plot deals with a crazy businessman (Joseph Cotten) who plans to take down every Concorde plane that he can so that it keeps him in business. The first plane goes down but a woman (Mimsy Farmer) survives the crash and then gets held captive so that no one finds out. Thankfully a reporter (James Franciscus) finds out about the plot and tries to get to the bottom of it. CONCORDE AFFAIRE '79 is one crazy little film that pretty much has everything you could possibly think of in regards to just downright silliness. The plot is all over the place but it's so wild and crazy that you really can't call it anything other than original. I went into this movie expecting something really bad but I must admit that I was surprised by how entertaining it was. It's certainly not going to make you forget CITIZEN KANE but it's still a fun little movie. There are some really crazy scenes and sequences here and one of the strangest has to be when the reporter is at the bottom of the ocean checking out the wrecked plane and he must battle people on the surface who are trying to kill him. This sequence runs a very long time but it keeps you drawn up in its action and the underwater photography is actually excellent. We've also got some other crazy scenes, mostly dealing with the surviving woman who is constantly coming under attack. This includes a couple scenes where she tries to break free and there's a real crazy sequence towards the end inside a bank. Director Deodato pretty much throws everything in the picture and for the most part it's fun no matter how dumb it is. This includes the really campy music score, some poor dubbing and a hilarious performance from the lead. I found Franciscus to be extremely entertaining in the lead and he certainly kept you interested in what was going on. This is especially true because he was playing the part like Charlton Heston and the (I believe) dubbed job makes him sound like Heston. Farmer doesn't offer a "good" performance but the over-the-top nature of her breakdown towards the end is priceless. Both Van Johnson and Cotten are obviously just picking up paychecks but it was fun seeing them. Fans of serious cinema will want to skip this but those just looking for a good time should get some entertainment value.