Meteor (1979)

The U.S. must join forces with the U.S.S.R. in order to destroy a gigantic asteroid heading straight for Earth.

Director:

Ronald Neame

Writers:

Stanley Mann (screenplay), Edmund H. North (screenplay)

Stars:

Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Connery	...	Paul Bradley
Natalie Wood	...	Tatiana Donskaya
Karl Malden	...	Harry Sherwood
Brian Keith	...	Dr. Dubov
Martin Landau	...	General Adlon
Trevor Howard	...	Sir Michael Hughes
Richard Dysart	...	Secretary of Defense
Henry Fonda	...	The President
Joseph Campanella	...	General Easton
Bo Brundin	...	Rolf Manheim
Katherine De Hetre	...	Jan Watkins
James G. Richardson	...	Alan Marshall
Roger Robinson	...	Bill Hunter
Michael Zaslow	...	Sam Mason
John McKinney	...	Peter Watson

Storyline

After a collision with a comet, a nearly five mile (eight kilometer) wide piece of the asteroid "Orpheus" is heading toward Earth. If it hits, it will cause an incredible catastrophe which will probably extinguish mankind. To stop the meteor, N.A.S.A. wants to use the illegal nuclear weapon satellite "Hercules", but soon discovers that it doesn't have enough firepower. Their only chance to save the world is to join forces with the U.S.S.R., which has also launched such an illegal satellite. But will both governments agree?

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Plot Keywords:

asteroid | meteor | nuclear weapon | astronaut | politics | 

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Taglines:

There's No Place On Earth To Hide!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA Hong Kong

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

19 October 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meteor

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,250,000, 21 October 1979

Gross USA:

$8,400,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,400,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP), Meteor Joint Venture, Palladium Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Natalie Wood could speak fluent Russian in real-life. Her parents were Russian immigrants and her birth name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. Brian Keith was also fluent in Russian. However, he was not of Russian descent.

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Goofs

At 1:31, Narrator gives speed of comet as 108,000 MPH. At about 6:01, 'Sherwood' says that the observatory called (7 days ago), and the comet was: "a couple of hundred thousand miles" from the belt. By the time Sherwood says this, the comet is almost 18 MILLION miles past the belt.

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Quotes

Dr. Paul Bradley: You'd like it here, you know. We've got everything. Power cuts, strikes, unemployment, race riots, and a terrific crime rate.

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Crazy Credits

Info panel and Voice Over about a real defence project Icarus, similar to the one in the film.

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Alternate Versions

In early television broadcasts, the "Fuck the Dodgers!" line was overdubbed by coughing or the entire toast was simply cut.

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Connections

Featured in AIP: Fast and Furious (1985)

User Reviews

The world is ending...Would you like a sandwich?

It all started off so nicely... "Airport", "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno" bringing amazing casts to the screen, making loads of money at the box office and getting nominated for and winning Oscars. ("Airport" and "The Towering Inferno" were even nominated for Best Picture!) Then it all started to shift and what was once high-powered, if escapist, entertainment soon slid into campy, tacky box office poison which eventually caved in on itself. "Meteor" was one of the last disaster films to come out of the 1970's cycle and demonstrates much of what was bad about it. This one went beyond the usual domestic disasters and focused on a threat from outer space (no doubt to cash in on the sudden success of several science fiction films just prior to this) and becomes a sort of hybrid sci-fi/disaster "epic". The film kicks off with title credits which manage to rip off both "Star Wars" and "Superman", then settles into the familiar territory of setting up the characters and the impending doom. Connery plays a scientist whose satellite defense system (meant to ward off meteors) was taken from him and used as potential weapon against the USSR. When a massive meteor closes in on earth, his old boss Malden calls him in to help figure out what to do. Eventually, it's learned that, even if they can realign the defense system, it won't be enough to stop the title rock, so they'll have to work with the Soviets. This being filmed during the Cold War, much is made about the mutual distrust between the USA and the USSR, though the film tries to depict the possibilities of international teamwork, despite their differences. Keith plays a visiting Soviet scientist who brings along interpreter Wood. There's also a battery of military and scientific types rounding out the cast as they watch and wait for the mammoth chunk of debris to near Earth. However, even the might of the satellite missles can't prevent the smaller bits of meteor that surround the big one from plummeting down and knocking out various cities and geographic areas. Connery looks embarrassed at times and should be, though he does invest his character with some welcome sarcasm and spunk. Malden does a great job, under the circumstances, of creating a character and he and Connery create some decent chemistry together. Keith is at once enjoyably hammy and credible, admirably speaking all of his lines in Russian, but with a glint in his eye. Wood has little to do but interpret Keith's lines into English and try to convince the audience that she's a young widow, fresh out of college. She comes off as rather silly at times, politely accepting a scarf from a colleague and nibbling on salad with Connery while the earth is about to be demolished. Landau overacts outrageously as a dethroned Major. Howard barely appears and does virtually every scene from a TV monitor! Fonda (a particular victim of the '70's disaster cycle, appearing here and in "The Swarm" and "City on Fire"!) appears blandly, but admirably as the President. (Amazingly, Fonda, Connery and Landau were able to rebound from this turkey and win Oscars AFTER this film!) Many other familiar TV and movie faces pop in including Besch in a cameo as Connery's estranged wife and "Guiding Light's" Zaslow as a chief technician. A riotously lame romance comes in the form of De Hetre and Richardson, two secretly pining technicians. The special effects run the gamut from awful (as in the superimposed shots of the meteor) to phony (the obvious models of the defense system) to hilarious (all of the tacky effects from the smaller crashes including an avalanche, a tidal wave and a firestorm) to jaw-dropping (as the cast is covered in brown slime while trying to escape a muddy river which is closing in on the command center!) Pointless characters are introduced just before death in an effort to make the drama more meaningful. The film throws in everything but the kitchen sink to please the audience and still flopped. Aside from some deadly dull shots of the meteor and the missles, the film can be enjoyed today as a campfest with a star cast, some amusingly bad dialogue and a buffet of smilingly shoddy disaster effects.