Coming Attractions: METEOR (1979) Theatrical Trailer

One of the final films from venerable B-movie studio American-International Pictures was Meteor, a (reasonably) big-budget attempt to cash-in on both the Irwin Allen all-star disaster thrillers of the early 70s and the late-70s interest in space and science fiction. Loaded with name stars, including Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Brian Kieth, Martin Landau (Space: 1999), and Henry Fonda (among others), directed by Ronald Neame of The Poseidon Adventure, and supported by AIP's largest marketing blitz ever, Meteor ultimately crashed and burned at the box-office, unable to recoup its production and marketing costs; a disappointing reception that contributed significantly to the downfall of the studio.

The movie itself is cheesy, undemanding fun (and I normally don't like to use the adjective "cheesy," but it seems to apply here), with a few particularly enthusiastic (or maybe, "hammy") performances, and a script creaking under the weight of some astoundingly banal dialogue. The miniature effects are especially underwhelming (wobbly, under-detailed models, over-lit and lacking any convincing sense of scale), especially considering this was a post-Star Wars genre movie competing directly with big effects films like Moonraker, The Black Hole and Star Trek - The Motion Picture. That said, some of the scenes of terrestrial destruction aren't too bad, and many of the practical effects (including a climactic flood of mud) are quite well executed.

As mentioned above, Meteor was fairly heavily marketed with a tie-in paperback novel (which I still have around here somewhere, I think), a Warren Collectors' magazine, a Marvel Comics adaptation, an arcade pinball machine, and even a Viewmaster reel! Needless to say, I'll be posting more on this flick one of these days...