Air Crew

Starring:Zhzhyonov, Vasilyev, Filatov, Yakovleva-Aasmyae
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

Would you like fish or meat?.......2007-05-29

Zero Hour! was the basis for the comedy favorite Airplane!, which is the reason why it is considered a cult classic. In fact, many of the lines and scenerios from Airplane! are lifted straight from this movie. Zero Hour! is the story of an ex-fighter pilot Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) who finds himself chasing his discontented wife (Linda Darnell) and child Joey (Raymond Ferrell) onto a commercial airplane. Once on the plane, he discovers that there are worse problems than just his failing marriage. There is a problem with the fish (thankfully, he chose meat) and the passengers are falling ill rather rapidly. It soon becomes a matter of seriousness when both pilots take ill and Ted is the only one with any flying experience.

The problem with this movie is the fact that it is supposed to be serious. There are so many ludicrous things in it that it is impossible to take seriously, but since it was not supposed to be funny, there are many long stretches where an audience can find itself bored. One of the best examples of this is the long "suspenseful" ending. Still, it is worth watching at least once for fans of Airplane!, just don't expect it to become your favorite.

If you liked "Airplane!" you must own this film!.......2007-05-19

I caught some of this movie on Turner Classic Movies one evening, during a day of tributes to movies and their remakes. This film was the inspiration (and the source for many lines) for the 1980 comedy spoof "Airplane!". Just like "Airplane!" "Zero Hour" is about a former war pilot who is forced to take over an airliner when half the passengers get sick from eating bad fish! (Yes, the choice for dinner was 'chicken or fish' just like "Airplane!"). My wife and I were practically in tears, because so many classic lines from "Airplane!" were lifted directly from this film, only the punchlines never came, which somehow made it funnier.

I'll be pre-ordering this one for purchase when it comes out!

Average customer rating:

Challenger
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Manufacturer: Allumination
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002V23CU
Release Date: 2006-11-16

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Starring: Miguel Aceves Mejia , Carroll Baker , Stefania D'Amario , Sonia Furio , and Olga Karlatos
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ASIN: B000IOM1KK
Release Date: 2006-09-15

Average customer rating:

An exciting and surprisingly realistic Soviet disaster movie
It is not just another "disaster" movie.
Russia's first western-style disaster film

Air Crew
Starring: Leonid Filatov , Anatoly A. Vasilyev , Yekaterina S. Vasilyeva , Alexandra Yakovleva , and Irina Akulova
Director: Alexander Mitta
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Autumn Marathon
The Amphibian Man
At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
The Irony of Fate, or "Enjoy Your Bath"

ASIN: B00006674R
Release Date: 2002-06-25

Description

The first Soviet "disaster" film takes place at an airport where a passenger airplane has landed in the throes of an earthquake. With fiery lava erupting, buildings on fire and the ground giving way under everyone's feet, the crew tries to take off to escape the terrible situation. Unfortunately, the runway is damaged and, only due to the skills of the daring crew, does the plane take off, only to find even more problems once they are airborne.

Customer Reviews:

An exciting and surprisingly realistic Soviet disaster movie.......2003-04-10

Much like the American "Airport" and "Airport 1975," "Air Crew" provides a look into the private lives of pilots and their loves who eventually have to deal with a jumbo jet disaster situation. You would think that in a movie from the Brezhnev years they would glamorize, for propaganda purposes, the lifestyles of Aeroflot pilots, but in fact the settings seemed fairly realistic -- all the characters live in fairly small apartments that look exactly like the ones you might have seen in Moscow 25 years ago, and the male leads have that sort of unironed look so distinctive of a society without French laundries. The disaster sequence -- an earthquake followed by a firestorm followed by a volcanic eruption -- is tremendously exciting. Photography, lighting, and performances are quite exceptional throughout. The 144 minutes go by very fast indeed.

It is not just another "disaster" movie........2002-12-15

This movie should not be viewed and advertised as simply another disaster flick. This is a story of several soviet pilots, their lives, families, relationships. The movie is an excellent reflection of a life of soviet middle class in the late 70s. All main characters are developed with brilliancy and depth. Story of pilot's divorce and later relations with estranged son is especially touching. The "disaster" part culminates the movie, showing main characters' behavior in extreme situation. It was surprisingly well made for that time (1979) and place. The crew flies to the rescue of soviet citizens in some remote part of the world after soviet-build refinery plant is hard hit by an earthquake and following fires and floods. Crew manages to bring the plane safely back home, despite mechanical damage and severe weather conditions.

Overall performance of the cast is outstanding. Again, this movie is not as much a "disaster flick", but rather description of the lives of pilots who happened to be in "disaster" situation. The movie was one of the top ten among Soviet theatrical releases of all time. (71,1 million viewers)

Russia's first western-style disaster film.......2002-07-23

Drama/Disaster. Basic plot: The crew of an air liner face death when they try to transport people out of a region hit by an earthquake.

4:3 fullscreen, good image quality (I'd rate it 7/10), very good 5.1 audio quality.

This movie spends a lot of time on character development; in fact, the first hour is pretty much nothing but character interaction. Usually that's a good thing, and in this case it is but only to a certain extent. Some of the development here could have easily been discarded to make for a leaner, less cluttered narrative. The narrative itself has no scale of time - scenes might be minutes apart or months apart, and most of the time you can't tell which. Once we've learned a lot about the characters (pilot, co-pilot, and so on) and their lives, they are all brought together for one particular flight. This is a flight into an area hard hit by an earthquake and still suffering from heavy aftershocks. At this point the movie abruptly goes into disaster mode. Earthquake, volcano (there is a reference to "lava" but it looks more like floodwaters to me), exploding power plants, you get the idea. The effects are similar to the better ones seen in Japanese Godzilla films (i.e. decent but obvious miniature work, some of the shots better than others). There is some tension that builds up thanks to a few unusual and bold decisions made by the characters. Will they make it out of there and back home alive?

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