THE HINDENBURG (1975) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Robert Wise
George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton,
Charles Durning, Roy Thinnes, Gig Young,
Burgess Meredith, Rene Auberjonois, Richard Dysart
Blimp of fools. In 1937, the world's most famous luxury airship leaves Berlin for Lakehurst, New Jersey, with a bomb on board. Will security officer George C. Scott uncover the plot before it's too late? If you've done your history homework, you know the answer to that one. Released during the golden age of big-budget disaster movies, this is one of the better ones, based on a real event, with the mayhem and melodrama in the care of Robert Wise. The passenger manifest includes Anne Bancroft as a pot-smoking countess, Burgess Meredith and Rene Auberjonois as card sharks, Gig Young as a businessman with a deadline to meet, and Charles Durning as the pilot whose job is to keep the zeppelin in the air till it reaches the East Coast. The sound and visual effects won Oscars, and the fiery climax, shot in black and white and incorporating newsreel footage of the real Hindenburg's disintegration, is horrifying. What caused the Hindenburg disaster remains uncertain. Sabotage is one possibility.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Sporgersi
