User reviews

I decided to watch this movie because William Devane was in the cast. I have enjoyed every movie he has been in. I liked the way, as captain, that he kept control, his determination to survive and a sense of humor throughout the ordeal. I laughed when Rick (Winston Rekert) says to him (Captain Bob-William Devane) that they don't want to cause the oxygen masks to pop out because it might panic the passengers. Captain Bob replies, "MIGHT panic?? I'd be surprised if they're not back there knitting their own parachutes right now!"

This movie goes by two titles: "Falling From The Sky" or "Freefall" - both adding "Flight 174." I saw it as "Freefall" and thought the title was a tad over-dramatic. Flight 174 was never actually in freefall - but it was out of fuel and many of its systems were crippled and it was reduced basically to gliding. And I'd say that it was a pretty exciting story - made all the more exciting by the fact that it was a true story, and that the three main characters - pilot Bob Pearson, co-pilot Maurice Quintal and airline engineer Rick Dion - were all real people; played by actors of course, but these were their real names. The airline (Canada World) is fictional - it was really an Air Canada flight, and the flight number was 143 instead of 174. But, essentially, this seems to be a very accurate portrayal of what became known as "The Gimli Glider."

The flight left Montreal for Edmonton. It was 1983, the still early days of conversion to the metric system in Canada, and the ground crew in Montreal made a mistake in how much fuel to load on the plane as they tried to do conversions from pounds to kilograms. Partway to Edmonton, fuel alarms started to go off and eventually there was a system wide power failure. The pilots ended up flying blind, first seeking to land in Winnipeg and then, not able to do that, desperately trying to find an old Air Force landing strip at Gimli, Manitoba that could accommodate a 767.

The performances in this were really very good. There were a couple of fairly well known American actors - William Devane as Captain Pearson, and Mariette Hartley as his wife. Much of the cast were lesser known Canadian actors, but pretty much everyone did a decent job with their parts. Although the film did keep bouncing back to the plane's passenger cabin and to Pearson's wife on the ground, for the most part this movie avoided the excessive melodrama that usually accompanies movies like this, and a lot of it was shot in the cockpit, as we watched the planes crew struggle with their situation. I thought that perhaps the passengers remained a little bit too calm, given the situation, and the device of letting us hear what the passengers were thinking struck me a perhaps a little bit hokey. And I wish that there had been some explanation for why Captain Pearson rushed back into the cockpit after everyone else had gone down the emergency slides - meaning that Quintal and Dion had to risk their lives (again) by going back on board to rescue him.

Those points aside, though, this was a very good Canadian TV movie. It's exciting, and it does keep you in suspense pretty much up to the end. (7/10)

Also known as FREEFALL: FLIGHT 174.

Based upon the true story of an unsafe situation in the sky that emerges after new government mandates placed upon manufacturers of passenger airliners requiring each newly built airliner to convert from our traditional North American standard of measure to the confusing foreign Metric System.

If a viewer is a big fan of dramatic voice-overs, then FREEFALL: FLIGHT 174 will receive a big THUMB'S UP. If a viewer is not a fan of dramatic voice-overs, then this movie will receive a big THUMB'S DOWN.

The strengths: Fine acting, wonderful one-liners, good story. Weaknesses include general casting, and also many plot developments played out later in the movie.

The main problem with casting is that New York born and bread actors with their harsh New York accents attempt to play Central and Western Canadians. The New York actors should have been restricted to playing passengers because anyone with any accent can be a passenger. Local Canadians and ground crew characters should really have been played by non-New York actors who can project a modest Canadian accent at least.

The other great weakness was in the odd depictions that come towards the end. For example, everyone, even all those who receive a complete second chance, refuse to use the nearest and easiest exit, and for some unknown reason, they each time use the most distant and difficult exit in the jumbo jet. Also, a kid on the ground knowingly attempts to outrun the speeding jet. Sadly, the ending unintentionally switches from drama to comedy. The result is an average Made-For-TV effort.