GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

cowbells Considering that this movie was aired in 1978, I feel it far exceeds any expectations of a movie today for its genre. Richard Crenna (always an actor highly underrated) gave a superb performance. Story line was based upon facts we had never considered in that time period. Crenna's character was not only significant as a scientist for this movie, but also put that special "personal touch" feel as he sacrificed his own life in the end for a small group of Indians in the desert. I think this movie should be on DVD and available to all of us who remember it fondly and also for those who have never had the opportunity to see it before. It far surpassed any expectations in 1978 for a made for TV movie. I have been searching for this movie for years and highly recommend it........P.S.--Just found my copy this month (July 2005) on EBAY. Woo-hoo!!!

andybob-3 A long forgotten about classic disaster movie, this one was certainly far superior to bigger budget, moronic trash like "Armageddon". Scientists discover a large comet is heading towards a possible collision with earth, while many believe it will ultimately miss or burn up hitting the atmosphere, two astronomers are convinced its going to hit just outside Phoenix Arizona, and with the help of a news station owner try to warn a skeptical public. If you watch this movie expecting spectacular effects like "Deep Impact" you'll be disappointed, although the special effects it does have are very good for its time, they are not really this movie's highlight. But what this movie does do exceptionally well is explore the kind reaction one would expect from the public and officials to the prospect of such a bizarre, massive and seemingly unlikely disaster, which is total disbelief and denial. Then panic and chaos sets in as they realize that not only is the destruction of Phoenix inevitable, but they may have waited too long to evacuate everyone. The final 30 minutes or so are particularly effective, even grim at times as evacuation crews and the military run out of time and are themselves ordered to leave, with one peering down from a helicopter at thousands trapped on a jammed highway saying "These people are on their own". Performances range from effective to rather weak, the late Richard Crenna is pretty good as astronomer Voight whom desperately pounds-podiums left and right trying to get people to listen to him, and delivers some of the more memorable one liners, such as "You can't miss us, there's a big white arrow pointing right down at us!" 7 out of 10, perhaps a bit too long and not for everyone, but a personal favorite and worth a look if you can find it.

brodzik Hilarious attempt at a small-screen version of a big-screen disaster film, complete with ersatz astronomy, the impassioned pleas of the ignored and scoffed-at scientist, and mandatory death and scale-model destruction scenes. The hysterical nurse who rushes from the subterranean shelter only to be ripped from life by the wake of the comet impact scene is a definite must.Look for the definitive sequence of astronomical photographic plates that feature a parade 'o planets with the coment growing ominously bigger and closer in each shot.Crenna's ending smokin'-peyote-with-the-Pima-Indians as we watch the comet streak toward its mark is also "to die for."Scale modelers, arise against abuse by bad made-for-TV movies! Let's give it three meteors out of ten.

Newfarmer This is perhaps my all-time favorite trash-TV movie. I have a theory that all of us secretly cherish at least one utterly indefensible object of art or entertainment - something we know is simply awful, but which we love nonetheless. Maybe it's pro wrestling, maybe it's "The Dukes of Hazzard." For me, it's this TV movie.I'm something of an amateur astronomy buff, so that may explain part of my attraction to this movie. However, virtually every moment, every plot device, every line of dialogue, every scene and every revelation of character in "A Fire in the Sky" is so stultifyingly formulaic that you wonder if the people who wrote it even graduated from grade school. It's no exaggeration to say that, twenty minutes into the movie, you can accurately predict the final outcomes of each of the several subplots. The characters are not the least bit real; they are complete and absolutely transparent stereotypes. And adding an element of incongruity to the movie is the fact that the actors attack their roles with surprising vigor. Richard Crenna and Elizabeth Ashley, in particular, seem to think they're in "King Lear," not this hokey, connect-the-dots, pre-fab drama.The result is a production that is not in on its own joke. It doesn't seem to know how bad it really is. It's a professional product that seems to have been offered seriously. And yet it's awful. The result is that it achieves a kind of exquisite stupidity. We're not laughing with it; we're laughing at it. And as such, for me, at least, it transcends its own badness and becomes highly entertaining.What can I say? There's no good reason anyone should like something this dumb. And yet I do.