User Reviews

Another plane disaster movie that makes us realize what we can lose, when we lose the ones we love most. I haven't seen this flick in a donkey's age. What I remember though, that there was little insight in why this plane crashed, where around it, one end, was a set up of characters, crew and passengers, the other the aftermath, where the not many survivors, underwent hypothermia in the freezing depths of the Potomac. Given that said, the capable actor's characters and their lifestyles, before this 'down in the pages of history' disaster took place were so much fun to watch, addictively entertaining when first viewing this flick on t.v. Funny as this sounds, even without the disaster element, the movie would of probably still be worth it. I watched it a few times, and Arquette, a expectant mother to be with cute. But sadly she wasn't one of the survivors. The aftermath played off well and realistic over a great duration, one habitually generous man trapped in the Potomac, giving his life for a another. One scene that haunts me, as I always remember was three stewardess's crossing the street, bringing the bad news to Arquette's husband and father to be. Masur again, a movie stealer here, works as an electrician, where at a nuthouse, we hear one nutter spouting a list of fellow students in a chronological order. This movie also too makes you appreciate warmth. Masur togged up, pedals an exercise bike to lose weight, while saying to his dog "You think I'm nuts. You're probably right". Another scene that stays with me was a girl who lost her Spanish husband and baby. She ended up chanting something in Spanish. But overall Flight 90 is just an average plane disaster movie that relies too much on it's setting around story, where really the core it's story wasn't properly addressed. This is what derails it.

There's no mistaking this for anything other than the 1984 made-for-television docudrama that it is. The opening scenes begin with the major characters waking up in their several beds and establishing their characteristics at once.

The first beautiful non-actress who, like all the others, sports a Farrah Fawcett do, is a month or two pregnant and her husband pulls her to the bed and presses his ear against her still trim belly, all smiles, listening for the heartbeat. "I wish we could have it right away," he murmurs. "Mm-mm. I want to feel every kick." If that isn't revolting, what is?

How about this? Beautiful non-actress Number Two actually HAS a baby and she's cuddling it in her arms, while her mother's eyes pop with delight and she exclaims, "I still can't believe it! My own little Priscilla with her own BABY!" The husband, Carlos, appears, darkly handsome, wearing a leisure suit and a happy grin. He kisses Grandma. He kisses his wife. He kisses his baby. And he never once loses that GRIN while doing it!

References to pregnancy and babies keep showing up throughout the film, like symptoms of smoldering myeloma. After the crash (unseen, no CGIs) Priscilla surfaces among the ice floes screaming, "My BABY, give me my BABY!" But the writers aren't done squeezing juice out of it yet.

-- Okay. I'm back. Even thinking of these scenes required a brief trip to the portable bar. You know. There is "happiness" and then there is a "blandness" that tries for a complete clouding of the sensorium. It reaches for the stars. There's more dialog, some evidently intended to be funny. Aboard the doomed, icy airplane, a man says, "I finally got me a window seat and now I can't see out of it." Everyone in hearing distance laughs.

Anyway, in another pre-crash scene, the handsome young boyfriend brings home breakfast for his beautiful young non-actress partner -- "Jelly donuts? Prune Danish?" She's wearing a neon blue one-piece swimsuit, getting ready for their destination, Florida, and replies with a happy smile, "One more of those and I won't be able to get into this." That would be okay, though, because I imagine she'd look pretty good without it.

This particular couple adds a darker dimension to the movie though. They're not married. He wants to get married but she's not ready yet because her star is rising. (This is known as the career-love conflict.) And all of this generates the suspicion that this couple has been having sexual congress -- OUTSIDE THE BOUNDS OF HOLY MATRIMONY! What else do they do -- smoke WEED? Vote DEMOCRATIC? Is there no end to their perfidy?

The parade of introductions continues. Richard Mazur, like all the others, lives in a neat middle-class home in Virginia, has a wife and a cute little shaggy dog with whom he holds conversations. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with chatting with your dog. I once found myself apologizing to live clams as I dropped them one by one in boiling water. But this dog seems to understand Mazur. If he says, "Don't look at me like that," the dog looks away. I never expected absolution from those clams. That reminds me of an old joke. What does a clam say to the postman? Correct -- nothing.

I remember seeing clips of this horrible accident on the evening news, in particular, one fellow leaping into the ice-choked Potomac and rescuing a stewardess who was in the process of drowning. (That's an operational definition of altruism.) This movie is one hour and thirty minutes long. It takes twenty-three minutes and forty-six seconds to accurately predict who that heroic man is going to be.

The dialog continues in this vein. While shivering among the ice floes, the knot of survivors begins saying the Lord's Prayer but not the version I learned as a kid. "Trespasses" has been changed to "debts," presumably because few know what "trespass" means as a noun, while everyone knows what "debt" means. Meanwhile, back at the Listerian-clean ranch house, Grandma has learned of the disaster, hurries to the TV and, watching the attempts at rescue, shrieks at the screen: "Swim, Priscilla, SWIM!" This time around, the silliness has turned amusing. It's the equivalent of the handful of castaways, waving and shouting at the distant and indifferent search plane: "We're over HERE!"

But why go on? This is a meretricious piece of exploitative trash. The genuine suffering and deaths have been instrumentalized as money-making machines. The performances take place in a straight jacket and the direction is clumsy beyond belief. If you're looking for a good disaster, you've found it.

I saw this movie on TV a few years ago and it kept my interest from the first scene to the last. The story was well done and at the start of the movie it showed the morning of the day the plane crash happened and how ordinary the day started out for the flight attendants and other plane personnel. The weather was so snowy and icy that day, the flight should never have left the ground. I remember the guy who was a passenger on the plane who ended up in the water and helped so many people to get to safety while ignoring his own needs. So heroic and noble. Barry Corbin played that part well. Also, great credit should be given to the real person who was a bystander on the side of the river and dove into the water encouraging people to try to swim to the banks of the river. This part was was played by Richard Mansur who was very good in his part. There were so many heroes that day that we don't even know about who helped as many people out of the water as they could. Firefighters, police, and other passengers on the plane. This accident would never have happened if the snowstorm warning had been heeded. It was well known in advance that the snowstorm was going to be severe. The movie was well done and very worthwhile to see, if its ever released on DVD or even if you see it on the TV. Since I saw the movie on the TV a few years ago, I never saw it on again.I can't figure out why this movie was never released on DVD when so many other movies not nearly as good have been released a few times. At the very least the movie should have been released on video years ago. If it was, I never saw it or I would have bought it right away. The acting and story are well done, and it keeps your interest from start to finish.I wish some movie studio would pick this movie up and release it on DVD as soon as possible. I am sure it would sell well. My opinion anyway.