What makes it different from others?

recommended

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Fans of the Italian film scene will no doubt be aware that despite all of the imaginative highs, a fair amount of cheap knock-offs of popular movies have been made in the land of pizza and pasta over the years. SOS CONCORDE is one of these movies, a yawningly routine variation on the '70s disaster movie staple which was released in the same year and with a similar title to a genuine American disaster film in an attempt to fool viewers into thinking the films were one and the same. Although not an entirely worthless film, this is doubly disappointing when considering the wonderful staple cast and crew behind the movie, all of whom had been involved in (and were later involved in) much better, more wonderful things. Not only did top giallo screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi work on the script, but infamous horror director Ruggero Deodato (here called "Roger Deodata"), best known for his highly controversial film CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, helmed the movie. Sadly the direction is weak at best, with little being made of the various suspenseful situations or action.The stalwart cast sees James Franciscus headlining as the dashing heroic lead, a vain reporter seeking out a conspiracy behind a missing Concorde and finding himself pursued by various shifty henchmen, all invariably smartly dressed, slightly sweaty, unshaven, and with sinister glasses. Although there is plenty of scope for action, only towards the end of the movie does the film deliver with an exciting shoot-out in a bank and a couple of cool stunts and car chases. Also, for the film's finale, we are offered a genuine disaster situation, with a Concorde loaded with passengers racing towards destruction unless our hero can save it. Somewhat contrivedly, the key lies in an amnesia victim's memory, a former stewardess who must try to remember the reason the first plane crashed. A once-youthful Mimsy Farmer plays the too-often hysterical stewardess but seems miscast in the part.Of course, ripping off an AIRPORT-style disaster movie wasn't enough, so in come scenes similar to those in JAWS and THE DEEP, two films which fuelled the late '70s underwater adventure genre. Lots of slow scuba-diving is involved, along with a killer shark and a wonderfully gruesome death for a diver, who is shot through the head from behind with a high-powered rifle, resulting in a huge wash of blood pouring from his shattered goggles. Sadly this is the film's only gory moment, again something of a surprise considering the director's filmography, although there is another cheesy moment in which an unlucky fisherman (played by a cameoing Dakkar from ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) is mowed down by a speedboat. Other casting dependables include an ancient Joseph Cotton as one of the shady executives behind the Concorde, and his partner, the ever-hammy Edmund Purdom; Van Johnson as the unlikely pilot-in-peril; even Robert Kerman popping up for the finale as an air traffic controller who helps to guide the plane to safety. Yet despite the cast and scope for mucho excitement, the pacing is sluggish throughout, the scripting often uninteresting, and the special effects cheap, minimal and cheesy. Therefore only die-hard Euro buffs need to bother seeking this one out.

Incredibly bad, but I loved it. Particularly the quasi disco song played through the action scenes and the closing credits. And the passengers having panic attacks while the plane seemingly is crashing, Which is the most accurate part of any of these type movies. There was only a skeleton crew of big stars from Hollywood Golden Years. No Gloria Swanson here. But we do have Joseph Cotton and Van Johnson and Edmund Purdum. The big difference with this movie and the other movies of this type like all of the Airport movies is that this plane actually crashes in the beginning. Which sets off the events for the rest of the movie The plot was a little bit like the the Airport 75, also a Concord. Some corporate bigwigs know the plane is faulty but doesn't care and are after anybody who survives the accident or anybody who knows her. Opposed to a reporter having the goods on her boyfriend and he wants to target her by crashing a whole plane. Which was the plot of Airport 75. The reason for the plane crashing was sort of like one of my favorite plane disaster movie which is actually a good movie, Fate is the Hunter with Glenn Ford. Ford puts on a great performance. Like this movie the only survivor is a stewardess and she serves coffee right before the disaster. I think Fate is the Hunter is so underrated a lot of people never saw the connection between this movie and that. James Fraciscus and ex-patriot Mimsy Farmer are the two leads. He is the reporter who has the story about the faulty plane. The movie spends most of its time chasing those two around. Also there is some catchy quasi disco music they use for some chase scenes and the ending credits. I have to say I was entertained and that is what a movie is suppose to do. But it still goes on my so bad it's good list. Just think 25 years from now we will have Space Shuttle 2027 staring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Beyonce as the singing nun and Sharon Stone as the 80 year old grandmother escorting her grand daughter to get a new heart.

Concorde Affaire '79 (1979) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Entertaining non-sense from director Ruggero Deodato is an Italian rip-off of the American film THE CONCORDE....AIRPORT '79 but this here is actually much, much better. The wild plot deals with a crazy businessman (Joseph Cotten) who plans to take down every Concorde plane that he can so that it keeps him in business. The first plane goes down but a woman (Mimsy Farmer) survives the crash and then gets held captive so that no one finds out. Thankfully a reporter (James Franciscus) finds out about the plot and tries to get to the bottom of it. CONCORDE AFFAIRE '79 is one crazy little film that pretty much has everything you could possibly think of in regards to just downright silliness. The plot is all over the place but it's so wild and crazy that you really can't call it anything other than original. I went into this movie expecting something really bad but I must admit that I was surprised by how entertaining it was. It's certainly not going to make you forget CITIZEN KANE but it's still a fun little movie. There are some really crazy scenes and sequences here and one of the strangest has to be when the reporter is at the bottom of the ocean checking out the wrecked plane and he must battle people on the surface who are trying to kill him. This sequence runs a very long time but it keeps you drawn up in its action and the underwater photography is actually excellent. We've also got some other crazy scenes, mostly dealing with the surviving woman who is constantly coming under attack. This includes a couple scenes where she tries to break free and there's a real crazy sequence towards the end inside a bank. Director Deodato pretty much throws everything in the picture and for the most part it's fun no matter how dumb it is. This includes the really campy music score, some poor dubbing and a hilarious performance from the lead. I found Franciscus to be extremely entertaining in the lead and he certainly kept you interested in what was going on. This is especially true because he was playing the part like Charlton Heston and the (I believe) dubbed job makes him sound like Heston. Farmer doesn't offer a "good" performance but the over-the-top nature of her breakdown towards the end is priceless. Both Van Johnson and Cotten are obviously just picking up paychecks but it was fun seeing them. Fans of serious cinema will want to skip this but those just looking for a good time should get some entertainment value.

(There are some spoilers) Cheaply made, especially in the special effects department, disaster film about a number of big and powerful businessmen trying to wreck the Concord Jet-plane industry. They plan to sabotage a number of the supersonic jets killing hundreds or passengers in the process. Released some five months before the far more expensive and much more popular "The Concord Airport " '79" the movie. "Concord Affaire '79" as well as "The Concord Airport '79" also boasts, well not publicly, of having in it the same porno & skin-flick super-stud Richard Bolla, in the movies credits.Losing control and crashing in the Caribbean Sea off the Great Antilles Concord flight 820 goes under the waves with only one survivor being the stewardess Jean Beneyton, Mimsy Farmer. It turns out that the plane was sabotaged and the people behind it are a number of passenger plane manufactures headed by a Mr. Milland, Joesph Cotton. Theses plane manufactures feel that the supersonic jet would put them out of business.Getting a call from his estranged wife Nichol,Flamma Maglione, from her restaurant in the Antilles US reporter Moses Brody, James Franciscus, is told that there's a big story behind the crashed jet that has nothing to do with mechanical failure. Getting to the islands Moses finds out that Nicole had been murdered. Moses also finds out that two fishermen working for her, catching lobsters and shrimps, restaurant were also killed in a tragic accident. they were really run down by a speedboat belonging to local mobster Forsythe, Venantino Ventantini. Forsythe also ended up kidnapping stewardess Jean Beneyton who the fishermen tried to rescue.Moses finds that the surviving stewardess Jean Beneyton is being held hostage by the Forsythe Mob in their yacht and together with his and his wife's, the late Nicole Brody, friend on the island. George, Francisco Charles, goes scuba diving off the Antillie coast to rescue Jean and also find out what's left of the wreckage of the Concord only to have George lose his life in a shark attack. Rescuing the kidnapped stewardess Jean Moses tries to get the island police and US embassy staff to help him stop an impending explosion on another Concord jet, taking off from Caracas Venzuela headed for London. It seems that everyone in authority that he gets in contact with is so lazy or on vacation that Moses has to do all the work himself in order to prevent another Concord supersonic jet from crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.With Jeans help in knowing what was the cause of the explosion, on the plane she was on , it comes out how the sabotage of the aircraft is being planned. The saboteurs plant a crudely made acid bomb, in the food stored in kitchen area of the plane, and have it detonate when the Concord is at 50,000 feet. Lots of action on land with a very good car chase scene that's more of an advertisement for going on a trip to the Antilles, even though the movie was shot in a number of island's off the coast of Italy.Tension and suspense high in the air over 50,000 feet with Concord pilot Captain Scott, Van Johnson, piloting the damaged and burning aircraft to a safe landing as well as the striking island photography make the movie watchable. Even though the story is a bit ridicules with only Forsythe and his boys getting the wost of it. Nothing ever happening to Milland and his cohorts who were responsible for the deaths of over one hundred people.In the end it turned out that the Concord wasn't that great of a deal and all that it was cooked up to be, by it's supporters. By late 2003 it went out of business for good because most people unless they were millionaires, which wasn't enough to pay even for the planes upkeep, couldn't afford to pay the Concords exorbitant plane fare.