The Crowded Sky (1960)

What a waste of my time!!!

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Early in the film, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is checking out a new Edsel at the local Edsel dealer---a car that was a disaster is the perfect metaphor for the disaster that follows. . Laughable product placement like that should tell you that, at best, this is a film filled with unintentional humor. At worst, it's a feature film starring that paargon of wooden acting, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and featuring that blonde dreamboat who couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, Troy Donahue.

Over the top soap opera nonsense makes this one of the worst "Grand Hotel in the Sky" themed films. While it obviously was not used in the writing of that 1980 comedy classic, it's the only way to stomach the tepid plot line, clichéd characters and wretched pacing of the film. So why did I put myself through this film yet again, for the third time? To find some humor in my way of re- looking at it, and to once again catch one of my favorite comic character actresses, Patsy Kelly, rising back up after nearly two decades away.Yes, the comic sidekick of Harlow, Faye, Davies, Todd and other blonde 30's bombshells, is listed way down the credit list. She's far more interesting than the lead characters of Efrem Zimbalist and Rhonda Fleming whose marital troubles set up the story, and the struggles of pilot Dana Andrews, once again facing "Zero Hour". It was a serious plot twist of that 1957 sleeper, more famous because of the big twist being used in "Airplane". When his back story is explained, it takes the movie off course, with strange bleeds and unappealing unknown actors as his wife and son.The threat here is a mid-air collision, not food poisoning. With both Andrews and Zimbalist thinking of their personal issues while flying, no one in the sky is safe! There's also Troy Donahue as a sailor flying home on a military plane with Zimbalist, John Kerr as the co-pilot, Keenan Wynn as a TV writer sitting next to a mystery woman who knew him in her past, and Anne Francis as the stewardess, all of their names showing up in 3D style in the credits. Really ridiculous dialog, especially the two strangers sitting next to each other imagining what the other one is thinking. It seems to have inspired one of the many gags in "Airplane!" This has some of the same aspects of the 1954 blockbuster "The High and the Mighty" missing that fabulous score and the interesting assortment of unique characters. When it tries to be funny or topical or poignant, it falls flat. Flashbacks to earlier situations makes the structure jumbled. But that's not surprising, with more than a dozen stories to try to follow, to try and accept unbelievable dialog, and to try to deal with the weird way the story takes off, and ultimately belly flops.

"The Crowded Sky" joins "Zero Hour," "The High and the Mighty," and others as pre-"Airport" films. Like weddings and road trips, commercial flights make for stories that involve different subplots and characters, so this type of film is done fairly often."The Crowded Sky" has high production values and a decent cast - Dana Andrews, Efren Zimbalist Jr., Rhonda Fleming, Troy Donahue, John Kerr, and Anne Francis. It's an episodic tale about two planes, one a navy jet with a broken radio system, and the other a passenger plane with an arrogant pilot. The two planes are in danger of colliding.The backstory of the characters is told in flashback: Zimbalist, who had a previous air disaster and now is in the midst of a bad marriage; Kerr, an aspiring artist who doesn't want to get married but has an attraction to flight attendant Francis; and some smaller stories that include Keenan Wynn, Jean Willes, Patsy Kelly, Donald May, all passengers.Formulaic and not terribly interesting. Ken Currie as Dick Barnett Jr. is a horror; Patsy Kelly as usual talks like she's projecting from the stage of the Majestic Theater; Troy Donahue is....Troy Donahue. Rhonda Fleming was made for color. But the leads are likable and professional as always.Very soapy with some over the top dialogue. the director, Joe Pevney, was a very experienced TV director.

A mother lode of clichés mined by Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers for their 1980 classic, "Airplane," "The Crowded Sky" is entertaining in its own right. A shameless pastiche of flashbacks erupts when two planes find themselves on a collision course in the skies over the American heartland. Dying wives, vengeful mistresses, love-starved spinsters, marriage-crazy stewardesses, and tough agents spar with lovelorn husbands, ham actors, marriage-shy co-pilots, unforgiving fathers, and cads on the make. Director Joseph Pevney juggles the familiar sub-plots competently, and viewers are unlikely to be bored, although they may have to stifle a giggle or two.While not as stellar as "The High and the Mighty" or "Airport," the cast does include some solid actors from the period. Characters rarely develop in films like this, and most are little more than stereotyped sketches. Not surprisingly, the performances run the gamut from professional to embarrassing. The pros fare best led by Dana Andrews, the by-the-book TransState captain; Patsy Kelly, a blowzy chain-smoking agent; and Rhonda Fleming, a sexy scheming wife. Although the film's credits include Efrem Zimbalist, Troy Donahue, Keenan Wynn, and Anne Francis, many of the rest never became names.The special effects use obvious model airplanes on wires and are a dated delight. Also dated and delightful is the depiction of flying. The passengers all dress in suit and tie; the stewardesses take tickets aboard the plane; the captain personally points out the oxygen canister to an interested passenger; a smiling stewardess cracks jokes about false teeth while instructing passengers on emergency procedures; air traffic controllers work 40 hours without a break; passengers board without security checks. What a wonderful experience flying used to be; beyond slick obvious entertainment, "The Crowded Sky" has the added dimension of evoking nostalgia for a vanished way of travel.