SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5 begins with a brief introduction to the various drivers involved in the catastrophe of the title, before plunging us into the vehicular mayhem, complete with slow-motion impacts!
Next, we're shown the lives of the victims, two days before the incident. This is made up of a true, all-star cast of 1970's TV luminaries, elder stars, and future celebrities.
Robert Conrad is a highway patrolman. Vera Miles is the lonely Erica. Scott Jacoby is a small-time crook, who got mixed up with a fugitive from justice. Buddy Ebson and Harriet Nelson are a loving, retired couple. David Groh is a trucker. Sue Lyon is a biker chick.
Even the co-stars are great! There's an impossibly young, Tommy Lee Jones as a cop, and Donna Mills as a pediatric nurse!
Unlike many such films, the individual backstories are actually interesting. The characters are fleshed-out well, and carry on intelligent conversations. We come to "know" and care about these people. So, when disaster strikes, it's tragic, and not just another action sequence.
Highly recommended, especially for the 1970's TV-movie connoisseur...
