User Reviews

The Lost Missile was one of those movies I used to see on Saturday afternoon TV as a kid - it used to scare the heck out of me!

SPOILER - For some reason, a missile that flies at 4000 miles an hour appears from outer space over the (then) Soviet Union - they fire an interceptor missile at it, which knocks it into the atmosphere. The missile leaves a million degree heat trail which vaporizes everything in its path. The movie is primarily concerned with knocking it down.

The acting is somewhat melodramatic at points The story, typical for its time, has (for us nowadays) cheesy special effects - the missile looks like a drawing which to someone has added a flashing light bulb for a tail. The movie uses a lot of stock Defense footage - we see F-89 Scorpions, which carried a large number of unguided missiles in two wing tip pods, firing at the rocket, as well as F-86's, F-100's, F-94, B-52, B-36 - you name it! For anyone who is interested in vintage jet fighters and bombers, this is priceless!

One interesting note - if you're so inclined, look up Project Pluto sometime. This was a USAF project to develop a nuclear powered cruise missile that would fly at Mach 3 at treetop level - slightly over 2100 mph. There were those who thought that the radiation from the engine would poison vast areas of real estate. VERY similar to the movie, which came out a year later.

***Spoilers*** With the report of an unknown missile strafing the earth at 4,200 MPH it becomes vital for the nations on earth to stop it before it destroys all life on the planet! But How!

Top US nuclear scientist atomic physicists and aeronautical engineer Dr. David Loring, Robert Loggia, has to postpone his wedding plans with his fiancée and fellow scientist Joan Woods, Ellen Parker, at the prestigious Heavenbrook Atomic Labs outside New York City in order to stop the runaway missile from setting the world on fire! This has the disappointed future bride drop David like a hot potato not realizing, which as a nuclear scientist Joan should have, that the preventing of the earth from being destroyed is far greater then her wedding plans. In fact if these's no earth there sure as hell won't be a wedding!

As the renegade missile sweeps across Canada jets planes, from both the US and Canada, are scrambled to either force or shoot it down. With it's fantastic speed of 4,200 MPH the missile generates heat of over one million degrees which knocks out and burns to a crisps any plane that comes within five miles of it! When Dr. Loring finally comes up with a fool-proof plan to knock the unknown missile out of the sky his fellow scientist at the Havenbrook Labs Dr. Joe Freed, Philip Pine, suddenly has seconds thought about downing the damn thing! Having found out, were never shown how, that the missile is being operated by aliens from space Dr. Freed wants to have it and its alien crew saved for future studies, in the knowledge that the aliens can provide the human race, in scientific advancements!

As if things aren't going bad enough for Dr. Loring in his attempt to stop the lost missile, with a baby nuke that he devised, from obliterating the earth he together with Joan are carjacked by these 1950's greasers, or leather jacketed teenagers, on their way to the nearest USAF missile site. The unaware teens not knowing what their dealing with by being exposed to the plutonium, from he baby nuke, in Dr. Lorings' jeep soon end up being fatality radiated by it!

***SPOILERS*** With time and the films' meager budget quickly running out Dr. Loring makes it to the missile launch site with the baby nuke and knowing, by being exposed to it, that his life is kaput willfully sacrifices himself by putting the radiation emitting baby nuke into the missile's, known as Jobe, nose-comb. It's then that Jobe does its job, by knocking out the runaway missile, in saving the earth until another day or another movie like "The Lost Missile" comes around.

Skillfully spliced and integrated stock footage makes "The Lost Missile" hit its mark in keeping its audience glued to the screen without the special effects, of the 1950's, that the film so obviously lacks. There's also the film debut in the movie of African/American actor Hari Rhodes, who's extensive film credits include Samuels Fullers' "Shock Corridor" and the made for TV movie mega mini-series "Roots", as-according to the movie credits-the Black Man at the piano.

The story idea behind THE LOST MISSILE isn't bad at all, but unfortunately the story does get a bit dull towards the middle and the overuse of stock footage as well as poor special effects sink this film to the sub-par level.

The film begins with a missile heading towards the Earth. In a panic because it's about to strike the Earth, the Soviets manage to deflect the object. This isn't necessarily good, however, as this seemingly unmanned craft has a vapor trail that destroys everything in its path AND the ship is now in a low orbit over the planet. In other words, with each pass it makes, a swath of death follows--one that could potentially kill us all!! So, it's up to the good scientists of the US (led by a very young and hardly recognizable Robert Loggia) to formulate and plan to save us--and especially save New York that is in its immediate flight path! Unfortunately, they aren't able to save Ottawa (I've never been there, so I can't say whether or not this is a big loss) but thanks to good old American know-how, they are able to eventually destroy this harbinger of destruction!!

So, as you can see, the story idea isn't bad and rather original. But, so many old clips of fighter planes and guys manning radar scopes gets a bit old and it seemed like padding. Overall, a decent but hardly inspired film that extreme fans of the genre may like--all others, see it at your own risk.

I remember seeing this a few times as a kid during those Saturday afternoon monster movie shows. I have to say that THIS one always stuck with me. Not that it's that good or well made - it's NOT - but the premise. Blazing death coming at you at 4K mph? How could you run? How could you shelter? Basically you couldn't. THAT is the brilliance of this film - it creeps you out.

Part of what sets this gem apart is that unlike most "happy happy joy joy" American films of the time, this one shows people who don't stand a chance actually dying. Kids, women, people in shelters - there's no last minute helo rescue or a sudden rainstorm that saves families cowering in alleyways... they're doomed and they stay doomed.

Well worth a watch - and compared to a LOT of films of that era, this one is actually interesting and different.

Keep an eye out: when the nervous scientist's pregnant wife is taking shelter in her bldg's basement, there's an angry bald guy complaining... every person in the room with me watching had the same reaction: "hey, that's the bald guy from the basement in Night of the Living Dead!"

One thing - you would NOT want to be standing near Robert Loggia when a lot of heat builds up. Not going to say his acting is wooden, but if you look REALLY hard, in the background is a bunch of Amish guys chasing him so they can build a barn out of him. The man's a deciduous forest worth of wood.

Of course this film would've been PRIME for Mystery Science Theater 3000... but then, every film ever made would be better getting riffed by Mike and the Bots. Perhaps Rifftrax can take care of this glaring omission!

1958's "The Lost Missile" remains a rarely seen United Artists release whose existence must have been conceived around its reams of military stock footage, also done for other cheapies like "Invasion USA," "Phantom from Space," "The Deadly Mantis," and "The Giant Claw." Screenwriter Jerome Bixby ("It! The Terror from Beyond Space," "Curse of the Faceless Man") shared authorship with John McPartland and thought little of the finished product, not helped by the sudden death on the first day of shooting of director William Berke (one previous genre effort, 1952's "The Jungle"), his son taking over to finish on time. A missile of unknown origin is redirected by a misfiring rocket into an orbit only five miles above the earth, traveling at a rate of 4000 miles per hour and generating scorching heat of a million degrees. No planes are able to get close enough to destroy it before disintegrating, and everything it passes over is burnt to a cinder, its course set to travel from the Arctic through Canada and then New York City, giving the residents barely an hour to evacuate. The human drama is severely undercut by the heavy reliance on stock shots, roughly one third of its scant 70 minutes, yet the novel race against time premise is enough to maintain interest (if barely). Top billing goes to Robert Loggia, going on to a lauded career lasting seven decades, his dedicated scientist able to find a solution placing a hydrogen warhead into a specially designed rocket quick enough to reach its target in the nick of time. Another recognizable face belongs to Thomas E. Jackson, veteran police detective of countless Bs such as "Mystery of the White Room" and "The Face of Marble" (he also has brief roles in two other latter entries, Roger Corman's "It Conquered the World" and "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman"). Hari Rhodes ("Conquest of the Planet of the Apes") has a silent bit as a piano player, and the dark haired little girl in the underground bunker is Gina Gillespie, later to play the young Blanche Hudson in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (and in a memorable THRILLER hosted by Boris Karloff, "Mr. George").

This had all the makings of a very good film -- good actors (Robert Loggia, Ellen Parker), a good plot (mysterious missile from space threatens to burn up the planet) and lots of stock footage (if the Air Force had film of jets firing rockets, it was used). Unfortunately, it is ruined by too much melodrama and an impossible time-line.

The movie concerns a missile from space that is attacked by the Soviets and inadvertently diverted into a low atmospheric orbit. At under five miles and at a speed in excess of 4,000 miles, it emits an exhaust of a million degrees, burning up everything on the ground, including glaciers, Distant Early Warning (DEW) line bases and Eskimos.

Every attempt at destroying the missile fails.

The first flaws in this film appear early on. While we don't expect much from low-budget films, some things can't be forgotten -- like a little research. For instance, both the Soviets and the US fire anti-ballistic missiles that home in on the missile with unerring accuracy. However, the first successful ABM tests weren't done until March of 1961 by the Russians.

There is too much melodrama. Dr. Loring (Loggia) and his assistant Joan Woods (Ellen Parker) play their romance with about as much wood as a log cabin. Parker's character cries and boo-hoos at Loggia's sacrifice like she was at a screen test. Loggia is about as heroic as a bored businessman. A scientist (Phillip Pine) hams it up so much he makes William Shatner look like a thespian. A bus driver continually spits out end-of-the-world crap in scene after scene. The only good actor is the film narrator, played by veteran character actor Lawrence Dobkins ("Naked City").

All of this could be overlooked if it wasn't for the time-line. After the missile's info is sent to DC, the Pentagon brings in a group of scientists. A general (Larry Kerr) announces that the missile will hit New York City in 63 minutes. After this, there are discussions by scientists and there is a deadly lull as word is sought from ambassadors to see if the missile is an attack from the Russians and if a response is necessary.

The film shows the military being fully scrambled. Civil Defense people leave work and go to their stations. Eight million people scramble to fallout shelters while school buses pick up millions of kids (and we get to see the whitest New York City I've ever seen, though watching 50's sci-fi films made it seems like this was the standard). The press is kept in the dark for tens of minutes. Then, incredibly, a man at the Pentagon announces that the missile will hit Ottawa, Canada in 51 minutes! All of the aforementioned action happened in 12 minutes! Then, to add fuel to the fire, Loggia somehow thinks of a way to stop the alien missile. He slowly produces a caseload of plutonium, loads it in a jeep and takes it from DC to a distant missile base to put it atop a missile. Along the way, he is knocked off the road by a wild driver, breaks down and then is carjacked. He finally gets the plutonium back and drives to the base to arm the missile. Again, all this in the same 63-minute time frame.

The movie also irks the viewer by making it seem as if Ottawa might be saved, only to show men, women and children get roasted. The missile is then said to have five minutes to reach New York. Loggia is still driving to the base (4 more miles to go). He gets to the base and arms the missile, a two-minute countdown is then announced. All within five minutes. The boroughs of New York should have been at least scorched.

By the way, the missile is destroyed if you haven't guessed. The ABM warhead destroys it with a massive plutonium-based nuclear blast. Five seconds later, the blast dissipates and all is clear. Yeah, they caused a nuclear blast equivalent to 100 Hiroshimas on the outskirts of New York City and nothing happens.

The film had all the elements necessary to be a good B film, but wasted them. Loggia played his character so lamely you didn't care that he sacrificed himself in the end. You didn't care about the other characters, not even the smarmy scientist played by Pine. The tension that should have moved the film along just wasn't physically possible in the time-line allowed (it still wouldn't be today, not even with Jack Bauer).

This film is very difficult to find. As far as I know, it hasn't been re-issued on any medium and for good reason. I don't know if the film meant to be or if it was standard practice, but there's a scene where the government sends all of the best scientists, military men and businessmen into deep shelters, saying they're too valuable to lose. There isn't a single woman or minority in the bunch. Hari Rhodes is the only black man in the film and he gets a brief bit playing a piano. It was worse than "27 Days" where an alien gives five Earthlings the chance to either save or destroy the planet and he doesn't include any blacks or Hispanics.

I saw this on a special Sci-fi night on Turner Classic Movies and I don't expect it to show up again. If you do find a copy of this somewhere, you might want to put it up on Amazon.com.

THE LOST MISSILE feels a bit like a Hollywood disaster movie along the lines of DEEP IMPACT albeit with a tiny budget and a dated '50s style. A youthful Robert Loggia is the scientist hero who must intervene when America is threatened by the titular out-of-control object. Cheesy effects abound here, along with a lot of talk and the usual scenarios in which people try to survive impending doom and peril. It's a little sluggish to be all that entertaining, but it's not bad.

What movie did you guys watch? Quick rule of thumb, if the movie starts out with a deadly serious-voiced narrator and he continues to appear throughout the flick in order to tell the audience what's going on because there's no way in hell that they'd be able to follow it without him....you're not watching a classic, unless what you're talking about is a classic piece of crap! Another clue that a movie is a big waste of time and money is if it requires tons of stock footage just to drag the time out so it can qualify as a feature length presentation. The only padding trick this pile of dreck lacks is a visit to a nightclub where an attractive lady eats up another 5 minutes belting out a peppy show tune. Dreadfully under-budgeted and saddled with lackluster direction, the movie features brief clips of some poorly conceived and executed "special" effects sandwiched between long, drawn-out episodes of "drama" that would have been laughably bad on a daytime soap opera. The acting comes in two flavors: deadpan and overblown. Maybe the reason that all the sci-fi geeks like this flick is because it features an appearance of that beloved science fiction stereotype; the scientist that wants the deaths to continue in the vain hope that they can communicate with the alien menace!! What fun! Near as I can figure the moral of this movie is that all the selfish women out there should stop bitching that their scientist husbands and boyfriends are too busy working 7 days a week building lots of nukes to be by their side for the birth of their child or marry them! C'mon ladies! The ending is unintentionally hilarious as our scientist hero drives a rod of deadly plutonium through the panicked streets of New York City in order to deliver it in time to their new super duper Job rocket, the only rocket able to get close enough to the alien missle to blow it up. One would get the impression that the transportation of dangerous radioactive material through am major metropolitan area is routine. Believe me, it's not. It has never been allowed, ever. Now, mind you, they have already established that helicopters are transporting all the eggheads out of NYC in order to protect their brilliant skulls, but nobody thinks to fly the plutonium to its destination. Ludicrous. So, wouldn't you know that while our hero speeds along the highway with his deadly cargo he runs smack dab into that other beloved stereotype of 50's movies; the gang of hot rod delinquents, complete with greased back hair and switch blade knives. The gang steals the jeep and the box containing the deadly rod. When the hero catches up with the jeep the box is open and the gang has vanished. Exposing himself to lethal doses of radiation our hero drives to his destination and manages to arm the Job just before he gives up the ghost. I was wishing that everybody involved with this bore-fest could have been stuffed into the jeep with him! Avoid this one unless you need a cure for insomnia.

This cheaply made science fiction disaster film is so low budget that it goes from poverty row reputation to blue light special. Mostly indoor scenery with cheaply filmed shots of possible animated rockets represent an alien attack. Obvious stock footage looks like a bad newsreel or school made documentary. Few efforts to make this a human drama where a scientist's fiancé breaks up with him because she thinks that he values science more than her, while a pregnant wife of an army officer struggles to get in touch with her husband. But in spite of how badly made this is, there is something moderately endearing about it, made with such innocence that you can't totally hate it.

How many future film makers must have seen this as kids and been inspired to make better versions of the same story could be interview questions because elements of plot do developments of this are used in every disaster film that I've seen over the past 20 years. Some scenes are pretty shocking, literally as one panic stricken character finds while trying to escape down a New York City subway track. Acting is mostly amateurish and the pacing at times is painfully lethargic. This doesn't seem like a theatrical film, but obviously got some big screen release even though it probably looked ten times poorer than it does on television. Narration makes me call this Plan Six from Outer Space.

An orbiting missile leaves a path of destruction. We have only so much time before New York City is wiped out. On our side we've got Drs. David Loring and Joe Freed (Robert Loggia and Phillip Pine), Joan Wood (Ellen Parker), General Barr (Larry Kerr), and Ella Freed (Marilee Earle).

But there's another problem: we're on the verge of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Probably because they think the missile is ours. Anyway, their attack missile diverts the alien missile into the ominous five mile orbit, leading back to the first problem. To deal with it "the big brass from the Pentagon is here now" say our scientist boys and girl.

The Soviets determine that the missile wasn't ours offer all, so we're spared nuclear winter. I've already have enough of the narrator, he's introduced their guys, out guys, even the buildings. It's our turn for an attack, this time an air-to-air strike. Time out for an update from the actual cast: at the 'lab' the engaged couple David and Joan are arguing about "marrying a hydrogen warhead". Back to stock footage action, RCAF F-86s and Meteors sortie to intercept the missile.

Then we get introduced to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, while Dave ponders the warhead v. wife dilemma "It's the job, it gets all of us," offers Joe. Well, Joe's wife is about to give birth--so pick out a name and get on with stock footage or something. Phone calls between Ella and Joe, and Joe and the JCS. She's actually upset when he has to sign off to get back to his job, which concerns, possibly, the future of planet Earth.

Never have I wanted so much to be in a meeting of bureaucrats. But I don't get why they're talking about war. If the Soviets are smart enough to figure out the mystery missile isn't ours; don't we also know it isn't theirs either? "I said no comment!" Says the Secretary of Defense. So, by now, all of the nuclear powers have denied knowledge of the UFO. Why are we deciding what to do when the missile's already been attacked twice (three times counting the Soviet attack)? Somebody authorized those strikes. Preparation as though for war. We're :30 minutes in, and almost nothing has happened since the first attack. Aha! Dave has an idea that a 'baby warhead' can get through the UFO's heat shield and destroy it. Meanwhile, the RCAF jets are incinerated.

Things on the ground supposedly blow up in the UFO's path, but there doesn't seem to be any noticeable interaction between the UFO and earth. More cool stock footage: F-80s and 86s take off from a base, Crusaders from a carrier. "This is situation red!" People are supposed to fill pots and pans with water. If they're going to evacuate, why bother? Now the governor says that there's no danger of war--the UFO is the loose-cannon. If it's not enough to have the narrator interfere, we also hear local authorities tell us everything else from speakers.

I'm just going to accept the fact that this movie inaugurated a new genre: the fictional documentary. The subway shelter scenes are actually not bad; the birth of Ella's baby is going on. There's some tension as Joe has succumbed to that delusion common in this sort of movie--it's not just a missile, it's a spacecraft...so, 'we can learn so much from the aliens' kind of thing. Dave is steadier, more rational, only "a nation of homicidal maniacs" could've sent the ship. We attack again.

No dice, but more cool planes. That, apparently, was Phase I. "Phase II negative" as well. What's the point of the guy in the sports car speeding around? Another explosion on the ground that bears no relation to anything above, but we're supposed to buy that the UFO/spacecraft caused it. Also the Canadians in the countryside seem to be completely oblivious to the danger. Meanwhile, Dave and Joan are heading to the missile base with the baby weapon; completely absurdly, they get hijacked by some leather-jacketed hoods.

Somewhat conveniently, the hoods quickly die from 'plutonium radiation.' Well, Dave must've known that little side-effect from the time the baby bomb deal was constructed. And with that in mind, wouldn't the military have provided some safer and quicker transport arrangements? Are we really supposed to buy that the immediate fate of New York City, and ultimately, of the entire world, is subject to the whims of a couple of James Dean wannabes? All of this stuff could only make sense if David we're some off-the-grid beatnik savant/scientist, who, at the last minute, because nothing else worked, was allowed to participate. As it is, David is running around most of the latter part of the movie as though he is a sort of beatnik nutcase.

The baby missile deal works so well that there's a (stock footage naturally) gigantic nuclear blast. From just five miles up, the blast could conceivably destroy New York City anyway, and possibly kill everyone with radiation. Well, no stock footage of that. So we just end with (stock footage) of everyday N.Y.C. street scenes. Not even need of Ella's baby or the David/Joan wedding plans.

Man, this was a bad movie. I'm only disparaging the domestic subplots because the characters are so two-dimensional that they're very hard to identify or empathize with. When romances, families, and ordinary, peaceful life is presented in an authentic way it can help the plot. After all, that's why we fight (UFOs or what have you): to keep our way of life intact. But in The Lost Missile the domestic subplots actually conflict with the UFO plot.

David, Joan, Joe, and Ella never come across as individuals with personalities worth rooting for. They seem to resist blending into the main plot; this would only makes sense if they were outsiders, as I hinted in my beatnik/scientist alternative role for David. I criticize some sci-fi movies of this era for focusing too much on a small group of locals, and neglecting a broader perspective that would help plot believability. But in this movie there really isn't a focus.

The stock footage, ironically, is by far the best stuff in the movie. I would've liked The Lost Missile a lot more if it were nothing but stock footage (and, fine, a narrator to tie things together). That sounds crazy, and it is. That's because this movie was so disjointed: in tone, pacing, and acting, that it never really seems to take off, so to speak.

Only recommended for Cold-War era military aircraft enthusiasts. Otherwise, The Lost Missile blew up on the launch pad.. 3/10.