While this film has one of the most frightening airplane crashes ever caught on film (based on a real crash), the TV movie itself is mainly soap opera, containing so many subplots of the passengers that it becomes very cumbersome at times. Miami is the destination but the Everglades is where it ends up. By looking at the cast list, but there are far too many characters and in only 90 minutes, you have to keep an eye on each one to remember who is who.
What I noticed was the number of familiar soap actors in the cast in small roles, including a few who were on "General Hospital" at the time including Brooke Bundy, Bob Hastings and Susan Brown. You've also got two of the actors who played John Abbott on "The Young and the Restless", Brett Halsey and Jerry Douglas, and many TV stars past, present and future, including Eddie Albert, William Shatner, George Maharis, Sharon Gless, Ron Glass and Ed Nelson.
This film is told in flashback, giving the audience a quick glimpse of the crash in the first 10 minutes, and that is one of the scariest moments I've ever seen in a disaster movie. But from there on, you got all these different soap opera including several unhappy marriages (including an interracial one), an unwed mother and various business men discussing their pending deals when they get to Miami. There's also a cute old lady, resembling Helen Hayes from "Airport!", giving stewardess Adrienne Barbeau an education on the various skills she takes.
Certainly the issue with the crash itself and see who survives is intriguing and will keep you gripped, but with over half the film focusing on these silly cliched stories with nothing new to add to them, it becomes a bit cumbersome at times. The fact that this actually happened makes the film all the more disturbing. While the 1970's were overloaded with disaster movie full on the big screen and the small screen, and there certainly have been better. There's also the scary elements of nature in the middle of the night including snakes, alligators and all sorts of biting insects that makes the rescue mission very intense. And knowing that this location would be the crashing spot of the ValuJet two decades later adds to the intensity of the conclusion.
What I noticed was the number of familiar soap actors in the cast in small roles, including a few who were on "General Hospital" at the time including Brooke Bundy, Bob Hastings and Susan Brown. You've also got two of the actors who played John Abbott on "The Young and the Restless", Brett Halsey and Jerry Douglas, and many TV stars past, present and future, including Eddie Albert, William Shatner, George Maharis, Sharon Gless, Ron Glass and Ed Nelson.
This film is told in flashback, giving the audience a quick glimpse of the crash in the first 10 minutes, and that is one of the scariest moments I've ever seen in a disaster movie. But from there on, you got all these different soap opera including several unhappy marriages (including an interracial one), an unwed mother and various business men discussing their pending deals when they get to Miami. There's also a cute old lady, resembling Helen Hayes from "Airport!", giving stewardess Adrienne Barbeau an education on the various skills she takes.
Certainly the issue with the crash itself and see who survives is intriguing and will keep you gripped, but with over half the film focusing on these silly cliched stories with nothing new to add to them, it becomes a bit cumbersome at times. The fact that this actually happened makes the film all the more disturbing. While the 1970's were overloaded with disaster movie full on the big screen and the small screen, and there certainly have been better. There's also the scary elements of nature in the middle of the night including snakes, alligators and all sorts of biting insects that makes the rescue mission very intense. And knowing that this location would be the crashing spot of the ValuJet two decades later adds to the intensity of the conclusion.
