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An asteroid, Orpheus, is hit by a comet, and small fragments are sent on a collision course towards Earth, wreaking havoc on the planet, revealing the threat of the slower oncoming five-mile wide asteroid fragment that will cause an extinction-level event. The United States government has a secret orbiting nuclear missile platform satellite, Hercules, designed by Dr. Paul Bradley (Sean Connery), intended to defend Earth against a threat like Orpheus, but commandeered by the U.S. Armed Forces to become an orbiting weapon aimed at the Soviet Union. Bradley calculates that the fourteen nuclear missiles on board Hercules are not enough to stop the asteroid. The Soviet Union also has a similar weapons satellite in orbit, Peter the Great, with sixteen nuclear warheads pointed down at the United States. Needing additional firepower to stop Orpheus, the President goes on national television and engages in political maneuvering, revealing the existence of Hercules, but fabricating a story that it was created to meet the threat that the gigantic asteroid represents. He offers the Soviets a chance to also save face by announcing the . has the same “asteroid defense“ program and their own satellite weapon, and joining forces in order to destroy Orpheus. Meanwhile, more meteorite fragments strike Earth, inside Siberia, and the Soviets finally agree to join in the counter-effort between the two countries. Soviet scientist Dr. Alexei Dubov (Brian Keith), his interpreter Tatiana Donskaya (Natalie Wood), Bradley and Harry Sherwood (Karl Malden) of NASA meet at the control center for Hercules in Lower Manhattan. Major General Adlon (Martin Landau) is the commander of the facility. Struggling with Cold War politics, Dubov cannot admit the existence of the Soviet device, so they work on how a “theoretical“ Soviet space platform's weapons would be coordinated with the American platform. Both satellites are coordinated, and turned towards the large incoming asteroid as smaller fragments continue to strike the planet, causing great damage, including a deadly avalanche in the Swiss Alps and a tsunami which devastates Hong Kong. With hours remaining, Peter the Great's missiles are launched, with Hercules's missiles set to be fired 40 minutes later. With seconds to spare, Hercules launches its missiles. The splinter impacts the city, destroying the top half of the World Trade Center twin towers, and creating a crater in Central Park. The control center is destroyed, and the survivors are forced to go through the New York subway system, and become a trapped, due to water from the East River flooding the tunnels. The two flights of missiles link up into three successively larger waves. The Hercules crew reaches a crowded subway station and waits while others dig them out. Eventually, the missiles reach the meteoroid. The first wave of missiles strikes the rock, causing a small explosion, the second wave follows with a larger blast, and the third wave creates an enormous explosion. When the dust clears, the asteroid appears obliterated. In New York City, the radios broadcast the good news: Orpheus is no longer a danger to Earth. Then the subway station occupants are rescued. Later, at an airport, Dubov, Tatiana, Bradley and others exchange goodbyes before Dubov and Tatiana depart on a plane for the Soviet Union. A 1979 American science fiction disaster film directed by Ronald Neame, produced by Sandy Howard, screenplay by Oscar winner Edmund H. North and Stanley international cast includes four Oscar winners: Henry Fonda, Sir Sean Connery, Karl Malden, and Martin Landau; and three Oscar nominees: Natalie Wood, Trevor Howard, and Ronald Neame, and co-stars Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Joseph Campanella, and Richard Dysart. Sybil Danning appears in a cameo as a girl skier. Natalie Wood wanted to be cast because she could speak fluent Russian, she was the daughter of Russian immigrants. She worked with George Rubinstein to perfect a Leningrad accent. Brian Keith was also fluent in Russian. Theodore R. Parvin got the idea for the story from a “Saturday Review“ article by Isaac Asimov about a meteor hitting a major U.S. city. Parvin hired Edmund H. North to write the screenplay, who took further inspiration from the 1967 MIT report, “Project Icarus.“ The spaceship that the astronauts were in, was actually a model of .'s first manned space station “Skylab“. After special effects director Frank Van der Veer was fired, his was not usable, William Cruise and Margot Anderson were hired. They were also fired and replaced by Paul Kassler and Rob Balack just two months before the film's release. This was an American International Pictures co-production with the Shaw Brothers Studio in British Hong Kong, and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound. One of the final movies from “American International Pictures.“ This movie's overall failure is considered to have attributed to their downfall.
