Concorde Affaire '79

Concorde Affaire '79 (1979)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining non-sense from director Ruggero Deodato is an Italian rip-off of the American film THE CONCORDE....AIRPORT '79 but this here is actually much, much better. The wild plot deals with a crazy businessman (Joseph Cotten) who plans to take down every Concorde plane that he can so that it keeps him in business. The first plane goes down but a woman (Mimsy Farmer) survives the crash and then gets held captive so that no one finds out. Thankfully a reporter (James Franciscus) finds out about the plot and tries to get to the bottom of it. CONCORDE AFFAIRE '79 is one crazy little film that pretty much has everything you could possibly think of in regards to just downright silliness. The plot is all over the place but it's so wild and crazy that you really can't call it anything other than original. I went into this movie expecting something really bad but I must admit that I was surprised by how entertaining it was. It's certainly not going to make you forget CITIZEN KANE but it's still a fun little movie. There are some really crazy scenes and sequences here and one of the strangest has to be when the reporter is at the bottom of the ocean checking out the wrecked plane and he must battle people on the surface who are trying to kill him. This sequence runs a very long time but it keeps you drawn up in its action and the underwater photography is actually excellent. We've also got some other crazy scenes, mostly dealing with the surviving woman who is constantly coming under attack. This includes a couple scenes where she tries to break free and there's a real crazy sequence towards the end inside a bank. Director Deodato pretty much throws everything in the picture and for the most part it's fun no matter how dumb it is. This includes the really campy music score, some poor dubbing and a hilarious performance from the lead. I found Franciscus to be extremely entertaining in the lead and he certainly kept you interested in what was going on. This is especially true because he was playing the part like Charlton Heston and the (I believe) dubbed job makes him sound like Heston. Farmer doesn't offer a "good" performance but the over-the-top nature of her breakdown towards the end is priceless. Both Van Johnson and Cotten are obviously just picking up paychecks but it was fun seeing them. Fans of serious cinema will want to skip this but those just looking for a good time should get some entertainment value.