Meteor (film)



Meteor is a 1979 Hong Kong–American science fiction disaster film in which scientists detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and struggle with international, Cold War politics in their efforts to prevent disaster. The film stars Sean Connery and Natalie Wood.

It was directed by Ronald Neame from a screenplay by Edmund H. North and Stanley Mann, which was inspired by a 1967 MIT report Project Icarus. The movie co-stars Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Joseph Campanella, Richard Dysart and Henry Fonda.

Plot
After the fictional asteroid Orpheus is hit by a comet, a five-mile chunk of Orpheus is sent on a collision course towards Earth, which will cause an extinction-level event. While the United States government engages in political maneuvering, smaller asteroid fragments precede the main body, wreaking havoc on the planet. The United States has a secret orbiting nuclear missile platform satellite named Hercules, which was designed by Dr. Paul Bradley (Sean Connery). It was intended to defend Earth against a massive space rock, but instead was demoted to become an orbiting super weapon now aimed at Russia. However, its fourteen nuclear missiles are not enough to stop the meteor.

The United States discovers that the Soviet Union also has a weapons satellite. The President (Henry Fonda) goes on national television and reveals the existence of Hercules, explaining it was created to meet the threat that Orpheus represents. He also offers the Soviets a chance to save face by announcing they, too, had the same program and their own satellite weapon. Bradley requests a Soviet scientist named Dr. Alexei Dubov (Brian Keith) to help him plan a counter-effort against Orpheus.

Bradley and Harry Sherwood (Karl Malden) of NASA meet at the control center for Hercules, located beneath 195 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. Major General Adlon (Martin Landau) is the commander of the facility. Dubov and his interpreter Tatiana Donskaya (Natalie Wood), arrive and Bradley gets to work on breaking the ice between them. Since Dubov cannot admit the existence of the Soviet device, he agrees to Bradley's proposal that they work on the "theoretical" application of how a "theoretical" Soviet space platform's weapons would be coordinated with the American ones.

Meanwhile, more meteor fragments strike Earth and the Soviets finally admit that they are willing to join in the effort. It appears that the satellite has a lot in common with Hercules, with sixteen nuclear missiles to be used against a large space rock, but is now an orbiting super weapon aimed at the United States. The satellite is christened Peter the Great, and both satellites are turned towards the asteroid. Unfortunately, smaller fragments continue to strike the planet, causing great damage, including a deadly avalanche in the Swiss Alps and a tsunami which devastates Hong Kong. On Sunday morning, Peter the Great's missiles are launched first because of its relative position to the asteroid. Hercules's missiles are fired 40 minutes later.

Just after Hercules's missiles are launched, New York City is struck by a large fragment, destroying most of the city. Several workers inside the control center are killed when the facility is destroyed, and the survivors slowly work their way out of the control center by going through the New York subway system, which has become a trap due to water from the East River flooding the tunnels. Meanwhile, the two packs of missiles link up into three successively larger waves. The Hercules crew reaches a crowded subway station and waits while others try to dig them out.

Eventually, the missiles reach the meteor. The first wave of missiles strikes the rock, causing a small explosion, the second wave follows with a larger blast, and the third wave creates an enormous explosion. When the dust clears, the asteroid appears obliterated. In New York City, the radios broadcast the good news: Orpheus is no longer a danger to Earth. Just then, the subway station occupants are rescued.

Later, at an airport, Dubov, Tatiana, Bradley and others exchange goodbyes before Dubov and Tatiana depart on a plane for the Soviet Union.

Cast

 * Sean Connery as Dr. Paul Bradley
 * Natalie Wood as Tatiana Donskaya
 * Karl Malden as Harry Sherwood
 * Brian Keith as Dr. Alexei Dubov
 * Martin Landau as General Adlon
 * Trevor Howard as Sir Michael Hughes
 * Richard Dysart as Secretary of Defense
 * Henry Fonda as The President
 * Joseph Campanella as General Easton
 * Bo Brundin as Rolf Manheim
 * Katherine De Hetre as Jan Watkins
 * James G. Richardson as LACFD Paramedic Craig Brice
 * Roger Robinson as Bill Hunter
 * Michael Zaslow as Sam Mason
 * Bibi Besch as Helen Bradley
 * Sybil Danning as Girl Skier

Production
The film was an American International Pictures co-production with the Shaw Brothers (HK) studio. $2.7 million of the budget came from AIP. Footage from the film Avalanche was re-used in this production.

Reception
Meteor was received poorly by critics. In her New York Times review, Janet Maslin wrote that "the suspense is sludgy and the character development nil". It holds a rating of only 5% positive from the online film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound (William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, Michael J. Kohut and Jack Solomon).

Comic book adaptation
Marvel Comics published a comic book adaptation of the film by writer Ralph Macchio and artists Gene Colan and Tom Palmer in Marvel Super Special #14.

Similar films

 * Many elements of the movie's plot were used in the films Armageddon (1998) and Deep Impact (1998).
 * A 2009 film with the same title and a similar plot, Meteor, was broadcast by NBC as a 4-hour, 2-part miniseries.
 * Meteor replicated many elements of Fail Safe (1964). These include the Americans forced to co-operate with the Soviet Union and share secret details concerning their nuclear weapons in order to avoid a global Armageddon, the strenuous objections of a senior Air Force officer in the control room, and Henry Fonda again portraying the unnamed American President with an essentially identical demeanour.