Condominium

After his wife suffers from a stroke that leaves her hospitalized "Gus Garver" (Steve Forrest) gets a welcome visit from a young man he befriended many years earlier named "Sam Harrison" (Dan Haggerty) who shares his interest in engineering. As it so happens, upon looking at the high-rise condominium that Gus shares with his neighbors Sam discovers that the entire building has been made with substandard materials which could result in a total disaster if a strong hurricane were to hit. Unfortunately, when he shares his findings with the tenants he discovers that many of them are either skeptical or reluctant to do anything about it. Even worse, the people who built the condominium are intent upon keeping their shoddy business practices a secret-and they will stop at nothing to do just that. Meanwhile, a strong hurricane is gathering strength in the Atlantic Ocean and headed for that very spot. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, even though I liked this mini-series, there were some rather obvious flaws which cannot be ignored. First, I didn't especially care for the number of times a specific ending scene kept popping up throughout the course of the film. I suppose it was intended to keep the viewer in suspense but in my view it had the opposite effect. Additionally, I thought that some of the sub-plots were a bit too shallow and transparent as well. Even so, I liked the presence of Barbara Eden (as "Barbara Messenger"), Linda Cristal ("Carlotta Churchbridge") and Pamela Hensley ("Drusilla Byrne") as they definitely added to the scenery. Be that as it may, while this certainly wasn't a mini-series with any real depth or great acting, it might interest some viewers and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

All star cast. Multiple layers of characters. You have your millionaires living along side people struggling to get by. You had hurricanes, crooks, relationship issues, stubborn, hard headed tenants, compassionate people. Very good story line. Great for the time period.

Barbara Eden and Steve Forrest star in this TV-movie about the citizens living in a "Condominium," whose inevitable fate as rubble is both tragic and perversely fascinating, just like a car wreck. An array of 1970s and 1980s stars have roles here, such as Ana-Alicia, Richard Anderson and Dan Haggerty and many others, and character actor Ralph Bellamy is seen to good advantage. But this rides mostly on the anticipation of the action. The two-dimensional characters and silly dialogue give this a campy feel in the beginning, but, as you feel the calm before the storm, you are swept up in another world with these people and their real important problems. Yeah! Some people just don't listen when told to leave, as the condominium won't withstand the oncoming storm, due to age and a bad foundation. But all in all, I think by the end you'll feel entertained by the whole spectacle and its unashamed simplicity! 8/10!

Originally shown on ABC'S Operation Primetime in 1980, this rare gem has not been aired again since 1984 on WLVI TV 56 out of Cambridge Boston. Sad that the tv networks air the same old garbage month after month, but do not show the movie classics of the late seventies and early eighties. This movie had an all star cast with Barbara Eden and Dan Haggerty in front. This movie was very entertaining and amusing with adult themes yet clean language, no wonder no network wants to show it! True it is soap opera styled, no different than all other disaster films. Some critics called it cheap and tacky, but fans of the great assortment of stars would truly like to see this one again. The storm sequences alone and the enormous storm surge wave make this both exciting and interesting. I'd personally pay big bucks to have this one on video!!!

Very good movie - would love to have a copy of it. I wish it would be shown again on TV. Barbara Eden and Dan Haggerty did good jobs of acting in this movie and it was a great addition to the natural disaster theme movie genre.