The Crash of Flight 401 (1978)
October 29, 1978Release Date
The Crash of Flight 401 (1978)
October 29, 1978Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
William Shatner
Carl Tobias
Adrienne Barbeau
Veronica Daniels
Brooke Bundy
Camille Lawrence
Christopher Connelly
Mike Tagliarino
Lorraine Gary
Emily Mulwray
Ron Glass
Jerry Grant
Sharon Gless
Lesley Fuller
Brett Halsey
Standish
Joyce Jameson
Sophie Cross
George Maharis
Evan Walsh
Ed Nelson
Philip Mulwray
Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Larry Cross
Artie Shaw
Elderly Passenger
Joe Silver
Alvin Jessop
Laraine Stephens
Ginny Duffy
W.K. Stratton
Ray Ordway
Richard Yniguez
Osario
Eddie Albert
Capt. Dunn
Maria Melendez
Cecilia Tagliarino
George Murdock
Claypool
Don 'Red' Barry
Helicopter Pilot
Jerry Douglas
Miami Approach Controller
Susan Mullen
Flight Attendant
Mark Pinter
Stretcher Bearer
Frank Schuller
Watson
Judith Searle
Dr. Claire
C. Lindsay Workman
Dr. Baylor
Leoda Richards
Passenger (uncredited)
Barry Shear
Director
Rob Elder
Book
Malcolm Stuart
Executive Producer
Sarah Elder
Book
Alexander A. Mayer
Art Direction
Donald S. Sanford
Teleplay
Eddy Lawrence Manson
Music
Maureen Gates
Costume Design
Mary Ann Good
Set Decoration
Jacques R. Marquette
Director of Photography
Sam E. Waxman
Editor
Steve Brown
Teleplay
Charles W. Fries
Executive Producer
Edward Montagne
Producer
Frank Novak
Costume Design
Caro Jones
Casting
Arthur Brewer
Special Effects
James Pergola
Additional Photography
Dick Crockett
Stunt Coordinator
John Fresco
Music Supervisor
Thomas Del Ruth
Camera Operator
Walt Davis
Roger Hampton
Bob Hastings
Lurene Tuttle
Maria Elena Cordero
Shirley O'Hara
Bill Hindman
Details.
Wiki.
Crash (also known as The Crash of Flight 401) is a made-for-TV drama film aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on October 29, 1978. It was directed by Barry Shear and based on the true story of the first crash of a wide-body aircraft, that of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar which crashed in the Florida Everglades near Miami on the night of December 29, 1972. The film more or less follows the true events of the crash, although the names of key characters were changed and certain dramatic events were fictionalized. The crash sequence was one of the most authentic (and expensive) for television of the time, using multiple stunts, pyrotechnics and flyaway set pieces.
The film stars William Shatner as maverick National Transportation Safety Board crash investigator Carl Tobias, who is called in to review the jetliner crash under pressure from his superiors to exonerate Lockheed of responsibility. Although the film implies that Lockheed was negligent in the design of the TriStar's flight control systems, it concludes by citing the NTSB's official determination that the crash was due to pilot error: the crew's failure to properly monitor the flight instruments during the last four minutes of flight. The crew was distracted by a blown light bulb in the landing gear position indicator display panel, which caused them not to notice that they had inadvertently disengaged the autopilot and put the TriStar into a slow, imperceptible descent. Eddie Albert portrayed the captain, and Lane Smith, in an early role, portrayed the hospitalized and barely alive surviving flight engineer who alerts Tobias to a computer "mismatch" in the autopilot. The cast also included Adrienne Barbeau and Sharon Gless, whose characters were based on the actual flight attendants tending to the passengers that fateful night. Lorraine Gary, Ed Nelson, and Ron Glass played noteworthy passengers.
It was the second made-for-TV film based on the crash, following The Ghost of Flight 401 which aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in February 1978.
Reviewer James Brown of the Los Angeles Times called it "a well-crafted, professionally polished work that falls into the unfortunate trap of trying to tell too much in too little time -- ending up with some admirable vignettes but no clear, sustaining focus to link them together."