METEOR

STARRING: Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard

1979, 103 Minutes, Directed by: Ronald Neame

Probably the last disaster movie (Towering Inferno, Earthquake and Airport) in the 1970s to be made.

That is before the genre made a semi-comeback in the 1990s with Twister and Independence Day. The producers probably thought that giving Meteor a sci-fi flavor (remember this was made soon after Star Wars when sci-fi meant big bucks) with a lame story about a giant meteor about to hit the earth would draw the crowds. Well, it didn't. The film is one of the largest box office duds ever made - and with reason!

Except for a spectacular mud slide, little of the allegedly lavish budget can be seen on screen. In fact the special effects are atrocious and the dim-witted storyline rehashing all the disaster movie clichés is even more so.

Avoid.