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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > Telefilm > Higher Ground (1988/Thriller Telefilm/Sony DVD)

Higher Ground (1988/Thriller Telefilm/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: C

 

 

John Denver loved airplanes and before flying an experimental craft in 1997 killed him, he had it as a constant theme in his music and any other work he could squeeze it into.  Even after RCA Records dropped him after so much success, he tried to negotiate to be able to fly in a spaceship/space craft/satellite so he would have a new place to write songs.  That never happened.  However, he did continue to act long after his peak with the underrated hit film Oh, God! (1977) and Higher Ground (1988) embraced airplanes in a very bad thriller.

 

The footage of the airplane is the highlight, since the teleplay is a formulaic wreck, but it has some good actors (John Rhys-Davies, Martin Kove, Richard Masur as the bad guy), Denver fans might like his new songs here and it is directed by the great British gentleman director Robert Day.  His work on the big and small screen includes several 1960s Tarzan films, Danger Man, some of the best episodes of the original version of The Avengers, The Invaders and Banyon telefilm.  This is a professional production all around, but even in that cannot overcome all of its problems.  It is one of his last works to date and is for the curious only.

 

The 1.33 X 1 Full Frame image is from a good print, by is a bit softer throughout despite how clean the source is, but color is good and the best shots in particular hold up.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is a decent recording for its age, though it can be low sounding at times and Lee Holdridge actually did the music.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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