Into Thin Air: Death on Everest (1997) (TV)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Robert Markowitz

Writer (WGA):

Robert J. Avrech (written by)

Release Date:

9 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Extreme Adventure. Extreme Danger.

Plot:

An adaptation of Jon Krakauer's best selling book, "Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster"...

Plot Keywords:

Mount Everest | Disaster | Based On Fact | Mountaineering | Death

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Peter Horton	...	Scott Fischer
Nathaniel Parker	...	Rob Hall (as Nat Parker)
Richard Jenkins	...	Beck Weathers
Christopher McDonald	...	Jon Krakauer
Tim Dutton	...	Andy Harris
Pamela Gien	...	Sandy Hill Pittman
Peter J. Lucas	...	Anatoli Boukreev
Long Nguyen	...	Ang Dorje
Jeff Perry	...	Doug Hansen
Ned Vaughn	...	Neal Beidelman
Akemi Otani	...	Yasuko Namba
Richard Rees	...	Lopsang Sherpa
Stuart Milligan	...	Dale Kruse
Nicholas Hewetson	...	Tim Madsen
Luke Garrett	...	Mike Groom

Also Known As:

Death on Everest

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA | Czech Republic

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Pitzal, Tirol, Austria

Company:

Columbia TriStar Television

Better than _Everest_

Okay, it is true that this made for TV movie does not do justice to the book. But let's have a little reality check, please. Jon Krakauer's book is one of the finest writings ever on mountaineering, and there is just no way it could have been satisfactorily condensed into a 90 minute film without events being glossed over or left out entirely.

Instead of comparing it to the book, this film should be considered on its own merits and compared to other mountaineering films (fictional and non-fictional). This is a better film from a cinematic standpoint than the IMAX film _Everest_ which was being filmed on the mountain at the same time that the events depicted here took place. _Into Thin Air_ depicts the climbers as folks you can easily sympathize with and draws you into their story, driving home the enormity of the disaster; _Everest_ is a failure at this because it depicts its star climbers (who are not the same ones that this film is about) as basically dislikable people and glosses over the disaster as a minor sideshow (I guess because it happened to another party besides the one that starred in the film). The visuals here are not actual Mt. Everest footage - this was filmed in Austria - but good enough to be convincing to the casual viewer. The fictional films on extreme mountaineering that I've seen (e.g. _K2: The Ultimate High, from 1992) come out even worse by comparison. To sum it up: _Into Thin Air_ is based on real events and portrays a real tragedy in such a way that it draws the viewer in; by the end it will be as if you knew the climbers and can empathize with their deaths. This is also one of the more realistic climbing films I have seen, portraying it as what it is: Exhausting, mind-numbing tedium that can be dangerous given the right mix of weather conditions and poor human judgement. A very rewarding film.