Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232 (TV 1992)

Authentic drama of United Airlines flight 232 from Denver to Chicago. The DC-10 crashed during an emergency landing at Sioux City Gateway Airport on July 19, 1989. 184 people survived, ... See full summary »

Director:

Lamont Johnson

Writer:

Harve Bennett

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Richard Thomas, James Coburn

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlton Heston	...	Captain Al Haynes
Richard Thomas	...	Gary Brown
James Coburn	...	Jim Hathaway
Leon Russom	...	Bob Hamilton
John M. Jackson	...	Lt. Colonel Dennis Nielsen
Tom O'Brien	...	Chris Porter
Philip Baker Hall	...	Sam Gochenour
Tom Everett	...	Mack Zubinski
Carmen Argenziano	...	First Officer Bill Records
Bruce McGill	...	Flight Engineer Dudley Dvorak
Arthur Rosenberg	...	Dennis Fitch
Bill Geisslinger	...	Chuck Sundberg
Steven M. Porter	...	Gary Anderson
Stephanie Dunnam
Mariangela Pino

Storyline

Authentic drama of United Airlines flight 232 from Denver to Chicago. The DC-10 crashed during an emergency landing at Sioux City Gateway Airport on July 19, 1989. 184 people survived, partly thanks to the ground rescue workers who had 40 minutes to prepare for the event.

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Plot Keywords:

rescue | airplane accident | iowa | based on true story | number in title

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Taglines:

In 1988, Sioux City Iowa organized a revolutionary "Disaster Preparedness Program." On July 19th, 1989, they needed every trick in the book.

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 February 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Thousand Heroes

Filming Locations:

Nebraska, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bob Banner Associates, Helios Productions, The Gary L. Pudney Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the aftermath of the crash, Gary Brown is seen placing a banjo back into a case. One of the survivors of United 232 was prominent bluegrass player Pete "Dr. Banjo" Wernick.

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Goofs

The plane at the end is taking off at a completely different airport (and at a completely different time), as witnessed by the trees alongside the runway. There are no trees along either of the KSUX runways.

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Quotes

Heidi: Better pick up. It's Marg at the Comm Center!
Gary Brown: Yeah, Marg?
Marg: I... I just got a call from Sioux Tower. Get on the loop.
Gary Brown: I'm on.
Chris Porter: Understand Sioux City is option one after Des Moines. Is pilot aware Sioux Gateway's longest runway is 9,000 feet?
Minneapolis Center: Sioux City, at this time pilot is just, uh, looking for a home.
Chris Porter: Roger, standing by.
[pause]
Gary Brown: My God. Rich! Rich! Get the comm trailer out to Gateway, I think we got something going on. Heidi? This one's real!

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Connections

References Emergency! (1972)

User Reviews

Outstanding - better than Fearless / more accurate

I give this a 9 out of 10 for accuracy in portraying the events / crash of UA232. Having personally met and spoken with survivor Jerry Schemmel, as well as reading his book and other accounts, this film was fantastic to say the least. As far as rating it as a 'movie' goes, of course it was only a 'made for TV' movie, and as such lacking much of the big-production Hollywood quality - still, this was finely done, emotionally compelling, and effective at bringing home both the tragedy and the Victory of the day.

Read the book(s), (Chosen to Live- ISBN: 0965208656), enjoy the movie. For additional viewing, check out 'Fearless' starring Jeff Bridges. This movie was taken loosely from the event, although in no way non-fictional.