Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Woodyanders A dam bursts and floods the small Oregon town of Brownsville. Director Earl Bellamy, working from a tight script by Don Ingalls, keeps the engrossing story moving along at a steady pace, takes time to develop the characters, builds a good deal of tension, and pulls out the thrilling stops for the exciting and eventful last third. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps this picture humming: Robert Culp as cynical, yet heroic helicopter pilot Steve Brannigan, Martin Milner as the no-nonsense Paul Burke, Richard Basehart as the stubborn and unscrupulous mayor John Cutler, Barbara Hershey as perky nurse Mary Cutler, Cameron Mitchell as the harried Sam Adams, Francine York as the sweet Daisy Kempel, and Whit Bissell as the stalwart Dr. Ted Horne. Carol Lynley really makes a deliciously hammy meal out of her thankless pregnant woman in peril part. However, Roddy McDowall is wasted in a nothing bit role as whiny tourist Mr. Franklin. Rich LaSalle's robust score hits the rousing spot. Lamar Boren's slick cinematography provides a neat polished look. A fun flick.

kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS****One of the least known Irvin Allen disaster flicks of the 1970's with the usual all star cast but, with an only 2.5 million budget, below par-for Allen-special effects makes its point that you can't mess around with Mother Nature and end up getting away with it. That's the cold or wet hard truth that Brownsville mayor John Cutler, Richard Basehart, finds out when he thinks he can keep the truth about an engineers report about the town dam being defected and about to burst! It's Brownsville top dam mechanic Paul Burke, Martin Milner, who smells a rat in all this and tries to get the people of Brownsville and its surroundings to get the hell out before the dam bursts and they end up under water!The dam's supervisor Sam Adams, Cameron Mitchell, at first goes along with Mayor Cutler's idiotic demands, like the little Dutch boy holding off the Atlantic Ocean with his finger in the dike, to keep the water from overflowing but later realizing that he's both mad and delusional tries to relieve the water pressure only to get swept up with the action or rushing waters. As for Sam's very pregnant wife Abbie played by a previous survivor of an Irvin Allen disaster movie "The Poseidan Adventure" the lovely Carol Lynley is stuck in her house and about to give birth at any moment!***SPOILERS*** With Mayor Cutler now a total mental case, in how bad he screwed things up, it's up to Burke and helicopter pilot Steve Brannigan, Robert Culp, to save the day and the town of Brownsville from going under. With time running out and the water levels from the burst dam rising they not only have to work against the clock to detonate the remaining dam structure to alleviate the water pressure by draining it out but also save Mayor Cutler's son Andy, Eric Olsen,from it engulfing him and everyone still left alive in town! The rest of the cast has Barbara Hershey as Mayor Cutler's daughter and Paul Burke's girlfriend. It's Mary who's also a nurse in the local hospital. There's also Mary's mom and Cutler's wife Alice, Teresa Wright, who tragically doesn't survive the flood by her trying to rescue her son Andy who in fact, in all the confusion, she mistook for someone else.And last but not least in a cameo role Roddy McDowall as, what I think, naturalist Mr. Franklin who after less then three minutes of screen time completely disappears, like a puff of smoke, from off the face of the earth!

ddc300 Better than average made-for-TV disaster film by the master himself, Irwin Allen.Plot in a nutshell: Milner and Culp are believable as the owners/operators of a helicopter company in a small Oregon town. Mayor Richard "Adm. Nelson" Basehart tries to hide the fact that the earthen dam protecting the town of Brownsville is on the verge of collapsing. Milner takes him to task for being concerned only with town commerce and not protecting the lives of his constituents. In the end Milner and Culp use their copter to assist in the rescue of a number of townspeople when the dam finally bursts.Stars Martin Milner, Eric Olsen and Cameron Mitchell were all holdovers from Irwin Allen's short-lived TV series, "Swiss Family Robinson" which went off the air earlier in the year. Look for Irwin Allen 'stock players' like Francine York, Elizabeth Rogers and Whit Bissell in the hospital scenes.

Michael Satterwhite Irwin Allen was the king of disaster movies. It's not a surprise that he would base one around a flood. The film was OK, but the disaster wasn't the main thrust of the film.From the beginning, the story line revolves around Paul Blake (Martin Milner) trying to convince the mayor that the town dam was unsafe. Richard Basehart as the mayor did a good job in the mayor's role. Probably the best performance was given by Robert Culp as helicopter pilot Steve Branagan.My main criticism is that for a film built around the disaster, the disaster itself seemed underplayed. Stock footage of floods (it was a TV movie, so probably not big FX budget), and a brief time for its depiction.Watch for 70's teen idol Leif Garrett to have a small part in this.I'm a fan of the genre, so I gave it a 6. Your mileage may vary.