Flood

Irwin Allen disaster movie about a flood.

Wonderful Richard LaSalle (Land Of The Giants) music scores the great location footage of the town and the endless helicopter footage. That is what Irwin Allen calls film showmanship. Irwin always gets the correct music for what is on the screen. Many producers do not.

In the first half of this movie Robert Culp (Outer Limits) and Martin Milner (Swiss Family Robinson) do wonders as they move around the town warning of disaster to come. Both actors perform very well. Richard Basehart is all wrong for this role of the man with something bad to hide, what was Irwin thinking by casting Basehart in this role? Poor old Whit Bissell is looking v-e-r-y old in 1976.

When the flood happens in the second half of the film, this is the problem area. We, the viewer, do not feel like we are watching a real flood. In 1977, Irwin Allen made another TV movie like this called "Fire", in that, the fire seemed real. In yet another 1979 Irwin TV movie "Cave-In", we had the Flood problem of a TV budget not being good enough for a disaster movie.

See Flood, just to get another taste of Irwin Allen showmanship, but don't expect too much.

This film essentially begins with a helicopter pilot by the name of "Steve Brannigan" (Robert Culp dropping off a passenger in a small town known for its freshwater fishing in a lake created by a dam several years earlier. On his return flight, however, Steve notices that a little boy named "Andy Cutler" (Eric Olsen) is lying on the ground and seems to be hurt. That being said, he quickly lands his helicopter to check out the situation and, while doing so, notices that the dam has sprung a leak. Having been reassured that Andy is okay, Steve then tells a friend named "Paul Burke" (Martin Milner) about the leak in the dam. Upon hearing this, Paul becomes very concerned and goes to talk to the mayor of the town "John Cutler" (Richard Basehart) who downplays everything and suggests that relieving pressure on the dam by opening the flood gates would result in a loss of tourist dollars during the busiest time of the year. What he doesn't realize is that his stubborn attitude is going to do a lot more damage to the town than he could ever imagine. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay Erwin Allen disaster film which benefited from a solid cast and some decent suspense along the way. Admittedly, the made-for-television format didn't help this movie all that much but, even so, I suppose it passed the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I did not know at all this disaster film made for TV industry, and produced by the master of disaster films, I mean Irwin Allen. Forget the plot, only concentrate on the flood sequences instead, forget the dialogues and concentrate on the message that this story is supposed to bring. Especially now, in 2025, with the climatic disruption problems all over the world. So this old fashioned disaster flick is on the contrary very current. Besides this, all the ingredients of disaster - or monster - films are here. Warnings from the "good guys " and ignored by the greedy "villlains" politicians....

Let's face it, we're all probably more than a little guilty at watching 'disaster movies' to see the scale of whatever carnage is being inflicted on our helpless protagonists. I don't want to spoil 'Flood!' but in this case a small town is being threatened by a plague of locusts from the future. Only kidding. It's a flood. Or rather a big dam just by their town and if it breaks - and it's already starting to crack - it'll flood the town and home insurance is going to go through the roof when it comes to the residents' next premium.

So we're introduced to the two men who have an idea as to what might happen and they try to warn the rest of the town. Or at least they try to warn the town's leader, who - in tried and tested stubborn style - refuses to believe them because if they drain the water from the dam it will impact on the revenue that fishing brings into their local economy.

So our heroes persist in their efforts to warn more people (in between popping home to their respective women who look about twenty years their junior, but that's another story). And then they go to a different location and warn a different person. In fact, most of the film is set in - very dry - houses with people talking to people about what might happen, i.e. The flood.

It's only the last twenty minutes or so where you see the actual flood. Now, maybe this pay-off is so awesome and ground-breaking that it makes the build up worth the wait? Sadly, this is a TV movie and there wasn't much of a budget for big practical effects, let alone an alien invasion with a skybeam.

So you have a film which is quite long and desperately wants to be an epic in its genre, but the lack of anything that really happens just makes most of it drag. Pity really, as it does have its charms and with a little more money behind it for the effects in the final act and a little less scenes building up, this could have been quite good.

Earl Bellamy directed this TV movie produced by Irwin Allen that stars Robert Culp as a helicopter pilot who becomes involved in the plight of the town of Brownsville, which is in a state of alarm because heavy rains have caused the nearby dam to overflow, and threaten to destroy it all together. Martin Milner plays the man trying to warn the stubborn mayor(played by Richard Basehart) about the threat, but he doesn't want to hear it, which will lead to disaster for all... Cameron Mitchel, Carol Lynley, Barbara Hershey and Teresa Wright costar. Disappointing film is a big build-up to very little, and contains a talky story that generates little interest, though the good cast tries.