Meteor

Dir: Ronald Neame

1979

***

Even by 1979's standards, Ronald Neame's Meteor looked a little dated but without wanting to sound like a rather patronizing voice from the future, there is something irresistibly charming about its low-budget special effects. You can't help but love the creepy synthesized noise the meteor makes as it slowly rolls toward the earth. Ignoring the special effects completely, what you are left with is still a pretty strong disaster thriller/melodrama. Firstly, it is directed by one of Britain's greatest ever film makers, Ronald Neame. Neame remains one of British cinemas great unsung heroes, his direction in Meteor showcases everything I love about 70s cinema. The film stars personal favourites Sean Connery and Natalie Wood, who are supported by the likes of Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Joseph Campanella, Richard Dysart and Henry Fonda, a rather impressive cast. In the film, the approach of the Meteor forces global governments to work together to save the planet, not easy during the cold war. In many respects this is a political film with the Meteor acting as a metaphor. The Meteor is basically the threat of nuclear war, an extinction level event but unlike a bloody great big Meteor, nuclear war is totally avoidable. It borrows elements from other disaster films and cold war thrillers, 1964's Fail-Safe in particular but I would argue that it is more assessable to the general viewing public. The metaphor may have been overlooked in 1979 and I'm sure it still is today by some which is a shame because it is a great film, take away the clever politics and it's just an average disaster film which were on the way out in 1979.