13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
World Class Hokum, April 3, 2004
This review is from: The Crash Of Flight 401 [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I had seen this when it came out as a made for TV movie many years ago, and rewatching it recently made me realize what a horrible production it really is. I am an airline pilot, and have flown the L-1011 (and dearly love it), so it is natural that I would be able to nitpick technical material in the film. I am not going to do so, as most people wouldn't care about the technical details of airline operations, anyway. My only caveat is that nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, about the film from an aviation perspective is even remotely correct.
I can deal with the technical inaccuracies if the remainder of the story is well crafted, and attempts to be true to the historical events, but I recommend that you heed well the disclaimer at the beginning of the film that certain aspects of the film have been fictionalized. I will certainly say that they have. It basically becomes a soap opera in a swamp. A very large portion of the film is told in flashback and concerns who is pregnant, who is having an affair with whom, the flight attendant, oops, I'm sorry, stewardess who is afraid to fly, etc. Even if these situations existed onboard Eastern 401 it hardly impacts the story of the crash, which is ostensibly the subject of the film.
All that leads up to the films biggest over the top departure from reality: William Shatner. Shatner plays an NTSB investigator (who is actually seen performing mostly FAA duties, but I digress) who has to solve the case. Unfortunately he doesn't have Spock along to help out with the case, though he ends up being the hero in the end, and gets to chew a lot of scenery in the process. Eddie Albert also stars as the plane's Captain, though for some reason they changed his character name to "Dunn" from the real Captain's name (Bob Loft). I have always liked Eddie Albert, but apparently his only direction in this film was to be a cranky old codger. Also notable is 'Barney Miller' regular Ron Glass as a buyer for a department store who basically wanders around the swamp in a happy delirium after the accident. Of course shock can make episodes like this happen, but I was less than convinced by the performance here.
I gave the film two stars, which is fairly generous, but I have such a soft spot for the L-1011 that I can't bear to give it only one. The crash is an interesting story, and in real life has become the definitive teaching example in Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) classes. Ultimately, the accident occurred due to everybody in the cockpit being absorbed with a minor light bulb malfunction, and leaving the airplane to its own devices with nobody flying the plane. It is worth seeing just to see some great shots of L-1011's flying around. A better film on the same crash which is a bit more realistic (up through the crash anyway) is "The Ghost of Flight 401" starring Ernest Borgnine. If you get the opportunity, try that one, it covers the crash and the paranormal aspect that was detailed in the John Fuller book, if you are interested in that angle.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Crash Of Flight 401, April 14, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Crash Of Flight 401 [VHS] (VHS Tape)
For those of us who loved the book, this movie is very much worth watching. However, there is no mention of the ghosts which is disappointing. It is sometimes scary, because you get to re-live the crash and see & feel what the crew went through.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
crash of flight 401, April 28, 2009
This review is from: The Crash Of Flight 401 [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I remember watching is movie when it first came to TV. Infact, I was 6 years old when this actually happened. Even though Crash of Flight 401 was a tragety, it is a great movie to watch.
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