AMAZING MOVIE WITH REAL CRASH VIDEO This movie was made for TV and again, it proves that Hollywood could learn a lesson from the small movie makers. This movie blew me away! Okay, so it's not an award winning cast but if you forget "John Boy" is in charge and Charlton Heston's presence is a bit large for a TV movie, this story is one you won't forget. And no matter how many times I see the actual crash footage inserted into this movie, I'm still amazed.
And here we are again. Where is the DVD format? There isn't one because this is yet another great movie the execs thought no one would like. If a "bootleg" copy comes along, I'll buy it. I'm tired of waiting for brainless executives to get their heads out of their a-- and put the better movies on DVD!
Required viewing This was a required viewing for a class i took at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical College. Very accurate emergency response recreation. If you are into these "Airport" type movies, you'll be on the edge of your seat with this one. I highly recommend it.
unforgetable i saw this film a long time ago on british television. for years i could not think of the name, but what i could remember was charlton heston starred, along with many other fine actors, and that i had to have the movie. for the last ten or so years i have searched movie books, video shops etc, to see if i could recognise the title, to no avail. then i went onto an actors website, punched in charlton hestons name, and hay presto, there it was. the plot was so unforgetable and i am so pleased i found it, although i have not managed to retrieve a copy of the movie yet. this movie shows that human beings can pull together in times of disaster, and how well firefighters, and medics can do their jobs. how lucky we are
The Miracle In Sioux City The 1992 TV film A THOUSAND HEROES (which first aired as CRASH LANDING: THE RESCUE OF FLIGHT 232) recounts the events of July 19, 1989, when United Airlines Flight 232, enroute from Denver to Chicago, suffered a catastrophic engine explosion in mid-flight, which totally disabled its ability to stay airborne. Captain Al Haynes was forced to bring United 232 in for a very hard landing at Sioux City Airport in Iowa. The plane blew up and came apart on impact. But in one of the most miraculous outcomes ever, of the 289 passengers and crew onboard, more than 180 managed to survive the horrific ordeal.
With the exceptions of some slight dramatizations, A THOUSAND HEROES remains true to the essence of the story. Both veteran director Lamont Johnson and screenwriter Harve Bennett (STAR TREK III) are aided by a solid enough cast. Charlton Heston is quite good as the heroic Al Haynes (even if his being cast here seems a bit predictable). James Coburn scores as the tough-as-nails Sioux City airport emergency official who manages to get his team on the tarmac in time; and Richard Thomas, though he doesn't completely escape his "John Boy" image from "The Waltons", also does good work as the green rookie of Coburn's team.
A story as true as this with a miracle finish would seem tailor-made for the movies, and A THOUSAND HEROES works in that fashion. But we also see how Haynes and his crew managed to handle their in-flight emergency like the professionals they were, and how the Sioux City ground crew prepared for the kind of emergency that no airport, however big or small, would ever want to have on their hands. It is a movie well worth seeing for the cast and, most importantly, for this miraculous true story of survival.
A good job of portraying the real event I was a long-time resident of Sioux City when this happened, and the events are etched on my memory. This is largely a true recounting of the crash of United 232, with a few variations for dramatic effect. In my opinion, Al Haynes with Bill Records and Dennis Nielsen were far more heroic than the actors could convey. There was about an hour of lead time before the actual crash, which gave outlying rescue units from as far as 50 miles away time to arrive and be ready. Eastern newspeople asked, "Does Sioux City have an airport large enough to land this plane? Do they have any hospital facilities?" Big city prejudice! Of course, we did. The airport, in a rural area south of the city, was left over from an air base with long runways built during WWII. Our hospitals were the best between Omaha and Minneapolis. What better place to have a crash than where it happened! Doctors and nurses were ready; helicopters were positioned; traffic was halted. The movie could have highlighted the most dramatic moment in a more meaningful way--the boy held in the arms of his rescuer. A statue in a memorial park preserves this moment. Perhaps a lesser-known actor than Heston would have been better in the role of Captain Al Haynes, if only to emphasize the heroism of the man rather than draw attention to Heston the celebrity. One can only say that the movie was a good job, but could never approach the level of heroism of everyone who was there that day.
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