The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Charles Jarrott

Writers:

Ernest K. Gann (story)
Steven W. Carabatsos (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family

Tagline:

Lost. 2,000 miles at sea in a 40 year old bomber.

Plot:

When a plane carrying various animals makes a forced landing on a desert island, the only chance to escape is to convert the plane into a boat.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Aviation | Punctuation In Title | San Francisco California | Airplane Accident

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Elliott Gould	...	Noah Dugan
Geneviève Bujold	...	Bernadette Lafleur (as Genevieve Bujold)
Rick Schroder	...	Bobby (as Ricky Schroder)
Vincent Gardenia	...	Stoney
Tammy Lauren	...	Julie
John Fujioka	...	Cleveland
Yuki Shimoda	...	Hiro
John P. Ryan	...	Coslough
Dana Elcar	...	Benchley
Ruth Manning	...	Charlotte Braithwaite
Arthur Adams	...	Leipzig Manager
Austin Willis	...	Slabotsky
Peter Renaday	...	Irate Pilot (as Pete Renaday)
Bob Whiting	...	Chaplain

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (RCA Photophone Sound Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:K-8 | USA:G | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Kaua`i, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

This feature was the last special effects project for Eustace Lycett.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Murder, She Wrote: The Last Flight of the Dixie Damsel (#5.7)" (1988)

Soundtrack:

Half of Me

A Feel-Good Movie that Really Works!

this is the best feel-good movie of all time. nothing too bad happens but it's not boring. nothing too surprising happens but it's not predictable. nothing too funny happens but it's not stupid. it's corny but perfectly so. Elliott Gould is good. he is a better actor when it comes to serious/comedies, like Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" and/or "California Split", but he's having fun here and so does the audience. the woman in the movie is cute. she is a missionary and Gould flies her to an island but they go the wrong way and end up on the wrong island, this one seemingly deserted. tagging along, as it were, are two kids played by Ricky Shroder (now Rick) and Tammy Lauren, who would grow up to be very gorgeous. also there is a bull and a duck, as the kids pets, and two Japanese men on the island who've been there for 35 years and don't know that the war is over. they are gungho with the rising flag, but then they turn good when the missionary lady goes and meets them. and then they put the rising star flag on the plane that crashed that they all transform into a boat. here i had my only problem. the Japanese, during the war, sided with the Nazis. wouldn't Elliott Gould or the missionary lady have a problem with having that flag as the main mast on the ship? and wouldn't the two men, upon learning that America nuked three of their cities to win the war, get sort of angry? but oh well, it doesn't matter. there is a shark in the movie too and it's very scary, even though it's only stock footage, and the ending is almost sad but then gets happy and you will smile during the end credits. oh and another funny thing is that the credits in the beginning happen twenty minutes into the movie after a couple of thugs, who are after Gould for owing them money, are chasing the airplane that is taking off. and the two thugs are played by Dana Elcar of "Baretta" fame, and John Ryan ("Runaway Train"), usually a heavy in movies. here he's bumbling. Vincent Gardenia makes an important cameo. he played the chief inspector in "Death Wish" who was always sneezing.