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.
14 Reviews
Phoenix In The Cometary Crosshairs...And Nobody Can Do A Thing About It!
virek21314 July 2014
Before such films as METEOR, NIGHT OF THE COMET, Armageddon, or DEEP IMPACT (though after films like DELUGE or WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE), there was the 1978 made-for-TV sci-fi/disaster movie A FIRE IN THE SKY, which depicted a collision between our planet and an interstellar visitor, specifically a meteor, an asteroid, or a comet.
In the case of A FIRE IN THE SKY, it's a comet that is not only pinpointed at Earth, but at one specific target: Phoenix, Arizona. And there's only one sharp-eyed astronomer (Richard Crenna) who believes and realizes that fact, while everyone else refuses to believe, or wants to cover it up. Of course, this latter plot line is a common one among most disaster films, whether for the big screen or the small screen: a sort of post-Watergate "Enemy Of The People" situation, one far different from the situations seen in METEOR or DEEP IMPACT, where joint operations to stop these potentially cataclysmic deep-space visitors are put into effect.
At the same time, however, A FIRE IN THE SKY, for all the flaws it shares with a lot of other disaster films made for the small screen, including some ripe overacting and dialogue that is a little bit too unintentionally humorous at times (even though the screenplay is based on a story by Paul Gallico, whose 1969 novel "The Poseidon Adventure" provided the basis for the classic 1972 disaster film of the same name), is boosted by some really effective matte work and special visual effects that one would not have ordinarily found in a made-for-TV film of the late 1970s. And it may as well be said that the director, Jerry Jameson, was known for being a specialist in this genre, with films like 1974's HURRICANE and TERROR ON THE 40TH FLOOR, as well as (for the big screen) 1977's AIRPORT '77.
Crenna, always a very underrated actor (he may be most remembered for being Sylvester Stallone's commanding officer in the "Rambo" films, though he also starred with Steve McQueen in Robert Wise's 1966 classic THE SAND PEBBLES), gives a fairly good performance even with the sometimes dodgy dialogue; and the cast includes Elizabeth Ashley, Merlin Olsen, Lloyd Bochner, Kip Niven, and John Larch (who played the mayor of San Francisco in the original DIRTY HARRY back in 1971). The scenes of destruction and the cometary impact on Phoenix, while they may not match what was seen in DEEP IMPACT, are sufficiently spectacular to overcome the bumps and grinds of the screenplay, which merits my giving A FIRE IN THE SKY a solid rating of seven out of 10.
In the case of A FIRE IN THE SKY, it's a comet that is not only pinpointed at Earth, but at one specific target: Phoenix, Arizona. And there's only one sharp-eyed astronomer (Richard Crenna) who believes and realizes that fact, while everyone else refuses to believe, or wants to cover it up. Of course, this latter plot line is a common one among most disaster films, whether for the big screen or the small screen: a sort of post-Watergate "Enemy Of The People" situation, one far different from the situations seen in METEOR or DEEP IMPACT, where joint operations to stop these potentially cataclysmic deep-space visitors are put into effect.
At the same time, however, A FIRE IN THE SKY, for all the flaws it shares with a lot of other disaster films made for the small screen, including some ripe overacting and dialogue that is a little bit too unintentionally humorous at times (even though the screenplay is based on a story by Paul Gallico, whose 1969 novel "The Poseidon Adventure" provided the basis for the classic 1972 disaster film of the same name), is boosted by some really effective matte work and special visual effects that one would not have ordinarily found in a made-for-TV film of the late 1970s. And it may as well be said that the director, Jerry Jameson, was known for being a specialist in this genre, with films like 1974's HURRICANE and TERROR ON THE 40TH FLOOR, as well as (for the big screen) 1977's AIRPORT '77.
Crenna, always a very underrated actor (he may be most remembered for being Sylvester Stallone's commanding officer in the "Rambo" films, though he also starred with Steve McQueen in Robert Wise's 1966 classic THE SAND PEBBLES), gives a fairly good performance even with the sometimes dodgy dialogue; and the cast includes Elizabeth Ashley, Merlin Olsen, Lloyd Bochner, Kip Niven, and John Larch (who played the mayor of San Francisco in the original DIRTY HARRY back in 1971). The scenes of destruction and the cometary impact on Phoenix, while they may not match what was seen in DEEP IMPACT, are sufficiently spectacular to overcome the bumps and grinds of the screenplay, which merits my giving A FIRE IN THE SKY a solid rating of seven out of 10.
Meteor takes out Phoenix!
shuz14 October 1998
Classic schlock TV movie about a meteor heading for Phoenix. If you enjoy campy '70's disaster movies you will like this one. When it hits, the city is pretty much destroyed. There are some great scenes of people running and screaming as buildings fall on them, just what you'd want from a disaster film. Watch for a very young Michael Biehn.
Unjustly Neglected
mwstone-702-79494018 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this on TV decades ago, and finally got a (home made?) DVD after a lot of searching.
This movie seems to be in the "love it or hate it" category, and I am one of the lovers. It's probably my favourite among the "giant meteor impact" stories that were so popular a few years back. For me it avoids some of the worst faults of the genre. In particular, super-science doesn't come to the rescue at the eleventh hour. The powers that be try to nuke the comet, but they fail, as in real life they almost certainly would. There is the inevitable "failing marriage with adultery" angle, but at least it is made relevant to the plot. The woman frantically searching for her kids and husband does not find them. They have to meet up at the refugee camp after it's all over and they have come through it without her rescue. For my money, this is how it would really be - for those lucky enough to survive at all.
There is, of course, always room for the odd gripe. Given the split-second timing required, would those nuclear warheads really be fired manually? All in all, though, I like it, and am saddened that it seems to have been passed over for a proper DVD. I wonder if that is precisely on account of the things that appeal to me. Perhaps the failure of "Yankee know-how" to save the city is uncomfortable to some. Still, it has my vote and I hope the omission will soon be rectified.
This movie seems to be in the "love it or hate it" category, and I am one of the lovers. It's probably my favourite among the "giant meteor impact" stories that were so popular a few years back. For me it avoids some of the worst faults of the genre. In particular, super-science doesn't come to the rescue at the eleventh hour. The powers that be try to nuke the comet, but they fail, as in real life they almost certainly would. There is the inevitable "failing marriage with adultery" angle, but at least it is made relevant to the plot. The woman frantically searching for her kids and husband does not find them. They have to meet up at the refugee camp after it's all over and they have come through it without her rescue. For my money, this is how it would really be - for those lucky enough to survive at all.
There is, of course, always room for the odd gripe. Given the split-second timing required, would those nuclear warheads really be fired manually? All in all, though, I like it, and am saddened that it seems to have been passed over for a proper DVD. I wonder if that is precisely on account of the things that appeal to me. Perhaps the failure of "Yankee know-how" to save the city is uncomfortable to some. Still, it has my vote and I hope the omission will soon be rectified.
It's headed for Phoenix
bkoganbing18 October 2020
Current science may have just dated this film in that the comet similar to the one depicted A Fire In The Sky would cause a lot more damage than the destruction of a major American city. It is believed that one like this spread
enough dust and debris to wipe out the dinosaurs.
But if you buy older theories than this film rates as one of the 70s better disaster films, better than a few that were on the big screen. Richard Crenna and Elizabeth Ashley head the cast. Crenna is the astronomer who discovers that bit of space debris heading on collision course with earth and he plots Phoenix as ground zero, Ashley is the media mogul who insists on the public's right to know. The public sadly reacts accordingly.
There are some standout performances in the supporting cast. Nicholas Coster is the poll driven governor whose first priority is how will he come out of this politically. Lloyd Bochner is a bean counting insurance executive and his usual hateful self with Marj Dusay as his wife. Andrew Duggan is the president of the USA. David Dukes is Ashley's husband and works at cross purposes with her.
My favorites are Merlin Olsen who takes his boys along with others on a survival hike without any communication. Olsen is a good and resourceful man. And Diana Douglas who is grandmother of would be rodeo cowboy Michael Biehn who hunkers down with Biehn and his girlfriend Cindy Eilbacher in their cellar to wait out the event. She's one tough old girl. By the way Eilbacher is Bochner and Dusay's daughter and Bochner is at his most hateful at a restaurant scene meeting Biehn.
Unless you don't like the science A Fire In The Sky holds up well even for today.
But if you buy older theories than this film rates as one of the 70s better disaster films, better than a few that were on the big screen. Richard Crenna and Elizabeth Ashley head the cast. Crenna is the astronomer who discovers that bit of space debris heading on collision course with earth and he plots Phoenix as ground zero, Ashley is the media mogul who insists on the public's right to know. The public sadly reacts accordingly.
There are some standout performances in the supporting cast. Nicholas Coster is the poll driven governor whose first priority is how will he come out of this politically. Lloyd Bochner is a bean counting insurance executive and his usual hateful self with Marj Dusay as his wife. Andrew Duggan is the president of the USA. David Dukes is Ashley's husband and works at cross purposes with her.
My favorites are Merlin Olsen who takes his boys along with others on a survival hike without any communication. Olsen is a good and resourceful man. And Diana Douglas who is grandmother of would be rodeo cowboy Michael Biehn who hunkers down with Biehn and his girlfriend Cindy Eilbacher in their cellar to wait out the event. She's one tough old girl. By the way Eilbacher is Bochner and Dusay's daughter and Bochner is at his most hateful at a restaurant scene meeting Biehn.
Unless you don't like the science A Fire In The Sky holds up well even for today.
By the time it gets to Phoenix, the movie is practically over!
mark.waltz28 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a very enjoyable but completely contrived TV disaster movie that isn't quite a disaster, but totally corny. It has an all-star cast of veteran actors in soap opera like storylines, all of a sudden jumbled together in their efforts to get out at cnx when it is announced that a huge asteroid is headed towards the area. Elizabeth Ashley as a reporter and Richard Crenna as a scientist had the cast, with Andrew Duggan as the president, Nicolas Coster as a local politician, Merlin Olsen as a father on a camping trip, Lloyd Bochner and Marj Dusay as a wealthy businessman and his wife dealing with a daughter (Cindy Eilbacher) desperate to be with her rodeo loving boyfriend and assorted science experts, government officials and panicking people desperate to get out of Arizona.
The actual disaster doesn't strike until 2 hours and 5 minutes into the movie so you've got about an hour of explanation of what's going to happen, another hour of preparation and attempted evacuation, then15 minutes of a bunch of skyscrapers tumbling down. This comes a fee years too late after the initial span of disaster movies produced by Irwin Allen, but it's entertaining for what it is. You don't require a lot of brain cells to get through this one, with the cliched characters getting ridiculous lines.
You know the minute that Nicolas Coster says leave in an orderly fashion that panic is going to ensue. I longed for the graceful Marj Dusay to tell her obnoxious husband Lloyd Bochner to shut up (her only response is basically "be polite"), but then she forgets her jewelry in the car while evacuating, perpetuating stereotypes about rich women when she's been so sweet up to this point. Diana Douglas playa the stereotypical wise grandmother of Eilbacher's boyfriend Michael Biehn who refuses to leave her home. The ultimate in camp comes when someone says "There is no Phoenix anymore!". At least they didn't end with a big spiritual and someone yelling out "We'll build a new Phoenix!" Like someone did in 1936 in the granddaddy of all disaster movies, "San Francisco".
The actual disaster doesn't strike until 2 hours and 5 minutes into the movie so you've got about an hour of explanation of what's going to happen, another hour of preparation and attempted evacuation, then15 minutes of a bunch of skyscrapers tumbling down. This comes a fee years too late after the initial span of disaster movies produced by Irwin Allen, but it's entertaining for what it is. You don't require a lot of brain cells to get through this one, with the cliched characters getting ridiculous lines.
You know the minute that Nicolas Coster says leave in an orderly fashion that panic is going to ensue. I longed for the graceful Marj Dusay to tell her obnoxious husband Lloyd Bochner to shut up (her only response is basically "be polite"), but then she forgets her jewelry in the car while evacuating, perpetuating stereotypes about rich women when she's been so sweet up to this point. Diana Douglas playa the stereotypical wise grandmother of Eilbacher's boyfriend Michael Biehn who refuses to leave her home. The ultimate in camp comes when someone says "There is no Phoenix anymore!". At least they didn't end with a big spiritual and someone yelling out "We'll build a new Phoenix!" Like someone did in 1936 in the granddaddy of all disaster movies, "San Francisco".
Fire In My Pants - A Fire in the Sky
arthur_tafero11 July 2023
This is a very silly attempt at a disaster film. It is successful, however as a disaster of a film. Richard Crenna is a peyote-smoking scientist who is willing to sacrifice himself for mankind. Other forgotten actors and actresses have roles such as the cheating husband, the reporter who will sleep with anything to get a story, and a survivalist and his family who actually believe that they can survive an impact of comet if they dig a hole and cover their butts with a blanket. There are several other idiots in this really bad imitation of a disaster film made from a puppet set, but they are not worth mentioning. Where is Miss Brooks when you really need her? The alternate title of the film was "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", but they decided to save that title for another film.
Still Appealing 33 years later.
tgs33313 December 2011
What are the odds of a comet traveling millions of miles through space making a direct hit on Phoenix Arizona? Merlin Olson saves the day by hiding out in a sleeping bag!
I first watched this movie when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I learned to never leave home without a sleeping bag.
Campy and a bit sleepy. Classic 70's doomsday appeal.
Overall good acting and a healthy number of Hollywood stars.
Special effects were decent for a made for TV movie and to some extent holds up today.
I highly recommend this movie, good 70's film.
I first watched this movie when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I learned to never leave home without a sleeping bag.
Campy and a bit sleepy. Classic 70's doomsday appeal.
Overall good acting and a healthy number of Hollywood stars.
Special effects were decent for a made for TV movie and to some extent holds up today.
I highly recommend this movie, good 70's film.
One of the best, first in it's subject matter.
cowbells1 May 2005
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!!!
Guilty pleasures
rcw-522 July 2000
As a kid, I saw two movies in the late 70's about celestial bodies heading towards earth, A Fire In the Sky and Meteor. This movie was quite different from Meteor in premise alone. This was not about a collective effort to avert a disaster; it was about how to collectively get the hell out of town. Richard Crenna played Jason Voight, an astronomer who somehow knew that this desert metropolis was doomed the split second after the words were uttered from the Presidents mouth, as he explained to a group of scientist that the comet was probably heading for earth. Although this movie to me was extremely cheesy, over acted and sometime under acted, and you got to see down town Phoenix high-rises crumble one by one, I liked it. I would have to say that it is one of my GUILTY PLEASURES
A Fire In The Sky
Vendor8426 March 2006
Most people probably won't believe this, but I was actually in this movie. I was an extra, from the 997th Aviation Company, AZ National Guard. I was the driver of a jeep for Col. Standers. I almost didn't get in the movie. I blew two takes, before the director accepted it..... :) I'm looking for a copy of the movie to share with family and friends that have never seen it. Columbia Pictures sent me a check for $25 and change after taxes. They called me for a speaking part that paid $600, but I wasn't able to make the commitment; a couple guys I knew did... and one was shot by a looter in the movie. There was another movie titled Fire In The Sky, about alien abduction in Arizona that my friends think of when I tell them about my part in the other one. I would like to do another flick someday with a small speaking part, but that probably won't happen............ :(
Transcendental trash
Newfarmer17 June 2000
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.
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.
Classic trash
antc18 January 2001
Spawned from the disaster move craze of the 70's, with all the production and artistic values one would expect from a network dramatic production. So horrible I can never take my eyes off the screen.
Having grown up in Phoenix, the destruction scenes -- including a hilarious shot of the Hyatt rotating restaurant spinning off like a Frisbee -- are my particular favorite.
Having grown up in Phoenix, the destruction scenes -- including a hilarious shot of the Hyatt rotating restaurant spinning off like a Frisbee -- are my particular favorite.
70's Bandwagon Television Disaster Film
brodzik1 November 2002
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.
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.
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