Disaster on the Coastliner

Last updated
Disaster on the Coastliner
Disaster on the Coastliner.jpg
GenreAction
Drama
Written by David Ambrose
Directed by Richard C. Sarafian
Starring Lloyd Bridges
Raymond Burr
Robert Fuller
Pat Hingle
E. G. Marshall
Yvette Mimieux
William Shatner
Paul L. Smith
Theme music composer Gerald Fried
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producer Frank von Zerneck
Production locations East Lyme, Connecticut
Groton, Connecticut
Cinematography Fred J. Koenekamp
Editor Robert Florio
Running time100 minutes
Production companies Filmways Television
Moonlight Productions
Original release
Network ABC
ReleaseOctober 28, 1979 (1979-10-28)

Disaster on the Coastliner is a 1979 American made-for-television action drama film. It was directed by Richard C. Sarafian and starred Lloyd Bridges, Raymond Burr, Robert Fuller, Pat Hingle, E. G. Marshall, Yvette Mimieux, William Shatner, and Paul L. Smith. It originally aired on The ABC Sunday Night Movie on October 28, 1979.

Contents

Plot

A disgruntled railroad employee attempts to cause a collision between two passenger trains.

Cast

Production

The film was shot on a railway line in Connecticut. At his own suggestion William Shatner did his own stunts, including standing on top of a moving F40PH. Years later Shatner called the stunt "the most truly dangerous stunt I ever did" and couldn't imagine "what [he] was thinking" in suggesting it. Shatner compared it to the work he'd done in Kingdom of the Spiders , and wondered which was worse: "standing on top of a speeding locomotive without any kind of safety cable or gluing tarantulas to your face?" [1] :105–108 Jack Sessums worked on the miniature effects and had his work profiled in TV Guide . [2]

Release

Disaster on the Coastliner premiered on The ABC Sunday Night Movie on October 28, 1979. [3] Although no DVD or VHS has been released in America, the movie's current owner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has made the movie available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount plus in the United States.

See also

List of television films produced for American Broadcasting Company

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Burr</span> Canadian actor (1917–1993)

Raymond William Stacy Burr was a Canadian actor who had a lengthy Hollywood film career and portrayed the title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Bridges</span> American actor (1913–1998)

Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, including the actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. He started his career as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in films such as Sahara (1943), A Walk in the Sun (1945), Little Big Horn (1951) and High Noon (1952). On television, he starred in Sea Hunt 1958 to 1961. By the end of his career, he had re-invented himself and demonstrated a comedic talent in such parody films as Airplane! (1980), Hot Shots! (1991), and Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998). Among other honors, Bridges was a two-time Emmy Award nominee. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 1, 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Taylor</span> Australian actor (1930–2015)

Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including Young Cassidy (1965), Nobody Runs Forever (1968), The Train Robbers (1973) and A Matter of Wife... and Death (1975).

<i>The Black Hole</i> (1979 film) 1979 American science fiction film

The Black Hole is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, while the voices of the main robot characters are provided by Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens. The music for the film was composed by John Barry. With a production budget of $20 million, plus another $6 million for advertising, it was at the time the most expensive picture ever produced by Disney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Hingle</span> American actor (1924–2009)

Martin Patterson Hingle was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was On the Waterfront in 1954. He often played tough authority figures. Hingle was a close friend of Clint Eastwood and appeared in the Eastwood films Hang 'Em High, The Gauntlet, and Sudden Impact. He also portrayed Jim Gordon in the Batman film franchise from 1989 to 1997.

<i>Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law</i> 1971 American TV series or program

Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974; Victor and McNeely produced it under the "Groverton Productions" banner through Universal Television, then an MCA company. A two-hour pilot movie, titled "A Pattern of Morality," had aired as a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week entry prior to the beginning of the series run.

<i>The Rookies</i> American police procedural television series (1972-1976)

The Rookies is an American police procedural series created by Rita Lakin that originally aired on ABC from September 11, 1972 to March 30, 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California Police Department (SCPD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvette Mimieux</span> American actress (1942–2022)

Yvette Carmen Mimieux was an American film and television actress who was a major star of the 1960s and 1970s. Her breakout role was in The Time Machine (1960). She was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards during her acting career.

The American Sportsman is an American television series that aired from 1965 to 1986 on ABC which presented filmed highlights involving the program's hosts and celebrities participating in hunting and/or fishing trips along with outdoor recreational activities such as whitewater kayaking, hang gliding and free climbing. It was typically presented on Sunday afternoons, frequently following coverage of live sporting events.

<i>Where the Boys Are</i> 1960 film by Henry Levin

Where the Boys Are is a 1960 American CinemaScope comedy film directed by Henry Levin and starring Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Hutton, and Frank Gorshin. It was written by George Wells based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. The screenplay concerns four female college students who spend spring break in Fort Lauderdale. The title song "Where the Boys Are" was sung by Connie Francis, who played one of the foursome.

<i>The Time Machine</i> (1960 film) 1960 film by George Pal

The Time Machine is a 1960 American period post-apocalyptic science fiction film based on the 1895 novella of the same name by H. G. Wells. It was produced and directed by George Pal, and stars Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, and Alan Young. The story is set in Victorian England and follows an inventor who constructs a machine that enables him to travel into the distant future. Once there, he discovers that mankind's descendants have divided into two species, the passive, childlike, and vegetarian Eloi and the underground-dwelling Morlocks, who feed on the Eloi.

<i>Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond</i> American TV anthology series

Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond is an American anthology series created by Merwin Gerard. The original series was broadcast for three seasons by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from January 1959 to July 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Boot Awards</span> American film and television award

The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Money raised at the award banquet was used to help finance various services offered by the Fund to those in the entertainment industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Sullivan</span> American actor (1923–1998)

Liam Sullivan was an American actor and singer, originally from Jacksonville, Illinois. He began acting while a student at Illinois College and continued in theater at Harvard University. In 1951 he began his career on Broadway appearing in The Constant Nymph.

Riel is a 1979 Canadian made-for-television biographical film about Métis leader Louis Riel.

Crash is a made-for-TV drama film aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on October 29, 1978. It was directed by Barry Shear and based on the true story of the first crash of a wide-body aircraft, that of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar which crashed in the Florida Everglades near Miami on the night of December 29, 1972. The film more or less follows the true events of the crash, although the names of key characters were changed and certain dramatic events were fictionalized. The crash sequence was one of the most authentic for television of the time, using multiple stunts, pyrotechnics and flyaway set pieces.

David Edwin Ambrose is a British novelist, playwright and screenwriter. His credits include at least twenty films, four stage plays, and many hours of television, including the controversial mockumentary Alternative 3 (1977). He was born in Chorley, Lancashire, and educated at Blackburn Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford. He was married to the Swiss-born artist Laurence Ambrose from 1979 until her death in 2019.

<i>Unstoppable</i> (2010 film) 2010 American disaster action film

Unstoppable is a 2010 American disaster action thriller film directed and produced by Tony Scott, written by Mark Bomback, and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It is based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident, telling the story of a runaway freight train and the two men who attempt to stop it. It was the last film Scott directed before his death in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra No. 3</span> Preserved 4-6-0 steam locomotive in Jamestown, California

Sierra No. 3, often called the "Movie Star locomotive", is a 19th-century steam locomotive owned by the State of California and preserved at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California.

<i>Secret of Treasure Mountain</i> 1956 film by Seymour Friedman

Secret of Treasure Mountain is a 1956 American Western film directed by Seymour Friedman and written by David Lang. The film stars Valerie French, Raymond Burr, William Prince, Lance Fuller, Susan Cummings and Pat Hogan. The film was released on June 25, 1956, by Columbia Pictures.

References

  1. Shatner, William (2008). Up Till Now. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN   978-0-312-37265-1.
  2. Stuck, Nelda M. (December 18, 2004). "Jack Sessums, engineer, film special effects producer, dies". Redlands Daily Facts. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
  3. Hal Erickson (2008). "Disaster on the Coastliner (1979)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2008-03-26. Retrieved 2013-05-27.