Concorde Affaire '79 (1979)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Ruggero Deodato

Writers:

Alberto Fioretti (story)
Renzo Genta (adaptation)

Release Date:

23 March 1979 (Italy)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

A reporter tries to stop the crash of an aircraft after uncovering an airline's plot to save their business by sabotaging Concorde flights and have them decommissioned.

Plot Keywords:

Airplane | Blackmail | Hostage | Conspiracy | Disaster

Cast

James Franciscus	...	Moses Brody
Mimsy Farmer	...	Jean Beneyton
Venantino Venantini	...	Forsythe
Fiamma Maglione	...	Nicole Brody (as Mag Fleming)
Edmund Purdom	...	Danker
Francisco Charles	...	George (as 'Francisco' Charles)
Francesco Carnelutti	...	Co-Pilot - 2nd Concorde
Ottaviano Dell'Acqua	...	John - Forsythe Henchman
Aldo Barberito	...	Priest - 2nd Concorde
Roberto Santi	...	Navigator - Second Concorde
Maria D'Incoronato	...	Woman Passenger - 2nd Concorde
Renzo Marignano	...	Martinez - Milland's Advisor
Renato Cortesi
Giovanni Battista Felici
Maria D'Alessandro

Also Known As:

Affare Concorde (Italy)
Concorde Inferno '79 (Philippines: English title)
S.O.S. Concorde (UK) (video title)
The Concorde Affair (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Dania Film

a fun action/drama flick with amusing cast and special effects

I finally managed to track down copy of this CONCORDE: AIRPORT 79 cash-in directed by the the violence-obsessed Ruggero Deodato. I'm surprised this flick doesn't come up in discussion more often since it does have a pretty fantastic cast and crew and a pretty good storyline too.

Joseph Cotten and Edmund Purdom are big New York executives who are informed that the Concorde has failed numerous safety checks, yet they have them fly anyway. Right away of course, a Concorde crashes into the Carribbean Sea leaving a stewardess (Mimsy Farmer) as the only survivor. Of course she is first picked up by some members of an international mob (including Richard Raymond and Venantino Venantini). They demand a million dollars ransom for the girl to the hotshot executives, who respond by unleashing their hit men on everyone who knows about the crash in a vain attempt to cover it up. Enter James Franciscus as the heroic journalist who steps in and rescues the stewardess from the mobsters and barely gets her to the authorities in time to learn a second Concorde (piloted by Van Johnson!) is experiencing similar trouble and may also crash if she doesn't remember what caused her flight trouble. Turns out the mobsters were behind the whole thing and that they're all in a little over their heads.

This oddity certainly doesn't pack the best special effects I've seen (the Concorde footage is all either stock footage or cheesy little model airplanes), CONCORDE AFFAIR 79 still manages to be a lot of fun. There's murder, mobsters, & mayhem, and an underwater scubadiver fight or two. The cast is top notch, with even Robert Kerman dropping by as an air traffic controller who has to talk Mimsy Farmer to her senses at the end. Genre veterans may also recognise that same black guy from ZOMBIE and DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. as one of the fishermen who rescues farmer and is promptly killed off. The photography, in this case by both Federico Zanni and Gianlorenzo Battaglia is pretty good, but fails to make the Godzilla movie-ish miniatures seem realistic. Stelvio Cipriani's musical score is about exactly usual for his work, yet adding a couple interesting new variations.

All in all, I think this flick was alright. It's totally rare and impossible to find in a decent quality print, but in my opinion it's well worth the effort tracking down.