You can't be in the movie blog biz without knowing that Zero Hour is the film that Airplane used to send up the airplane in danger genre.
All the lines and situations from Airplane are in this film. The thing that jumps out watching Zero Hour is how serious everyone takes this film which includes the actors, the writer Arthur Hailey and the director Hal Bartlett. Even the comedy relief is serious.
The director Hal Bartlett was never much of a filmmaker. Besides Zero Hour, he is responsible for the film version of that atrocity of pop metaphysical spirituality Johnathan Livingston Seagull
The actors are kind of depressing to watch, Linda Darnell and Dana Andrews were on the downside of their careers but they go through the motions like true professionals.
Most entertainingly is Sterling Hayden a guy who never really found his place in Hollywood. Talk about Mr. Intense, he shouts and yells his way through his entire performance. Hayden is really the whole show.
Zero Hour was made on what is called a modest budget, the airplane set looks really phony, the cockpit in particular looks like it could fit about 50 people. The film has a lot of model airplane scenes of planes crashing into each other which are fun to watch.
81 minutes.
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