Barticus88 Reviews

Terror in the Sky (1971 TV Movie)

Not original, Not the inspiration for Airplane!

[3/10 · 10 July 2005]

When I first saw Airplane! (1980), it reminded me of Terror in the Sky (1971). However, the primary inspiration for Airplane was actually Zero Hour! (1957). Arthur Hailey wrote both Zero Hour and Terror, as well as Airport (1970).

This movie was typical Movie of the Week fare: The budget was low, the story was old, the plot has holes. MOTW was something different from episodic television, and that made it popular for a few years, but very few of them are worth seeing again.

Many MOTW shows were remakes of black and white movies. Hailey may have intended the novel on which this film is based as a rewrite of Zero Hour!, as opposed to an entirely original work. However, this movie was never billed as a remake.

Ordinary People (1980)

Long and slow, but a great story

[14 October 2004]

There's a great story behind this movie, a story of familial despair that reminds me of Bergman's Autumn Sonata, but it's long and slow. This movie could use some editing. The story would be gripping if the movie weren't tedious. Some things are said more times than necessary. Some things are said that could be left implied. Too much foreshadowing becomes telegraphing and this movie telegraphs. Elizabeth McGovern should have one less scene. A good editor could cut 15 to 20 minutes from this film and make it great. I saw this movie first run; I've never seen it on TV. This is one movie where a butchered TV version might be better.

Oddly, I found Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore the weakest actors in this film. Moore's son had just died, and she may have had too much to use, leading to her two dimensional character. Sutherland may have been miscast; he seemed to be searching for how to play the character, so his performance comes off uneven. Hutton, McGovern, and Hirsch gave surprisingly good performances.

Histeria! (1998–2000)

Cross between cartoon and history class

[18 April 2004]

Hysteria is a cross between a cartoon show and a history class: Like a cartoon it doesn't inform, and like a history class it doesn't amuse. Okay, that wasn't true all the time, but it was true too often. Sometimes it goes a long time between gags because it's trying to teach, but it's dull and loses the audience. It has too many factual errors (and gags that a child can misinterpret as fact) to be considered educational. It screws up facts that can easily be done right, like a map of the USA as of 1861 which shows the Pacific coast, but doesn't show California and Oregon as states. It's a great concept, but hard to do right, and they didn't put the detail work into doing it right.