''The Night the Bridge Fell Down'' is an American

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as ...

starring

James MacArthur James Gordon MacArthur (December 8, 1937 – October 28, 2010) was an American actor with a long career in both movies and television. MacArthur's early work was predominantly in supporting roles in films. Later, he had a starring role as ...

, Desi Arnaz Jr., and

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. Nielsen was bo ...

. The movie was produced by

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...

in 1979 in association with

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

but was not aired in the United States until February 28, 1983 – the same night the final original episode of ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. The ...

'' ("

Goodbye, Farewell and Amen "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" is a television film that served as the series finale of the American television series ''M*A*S*H''. Closing out the series' 11th season, the 2 1⁄2-hour episode first aired on CBS on February 28, 1983, ending the s ...

") aired on rival network

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. (

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

showed ''

American Gigolo ''American Gigolo'' is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story about a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically ...

''). The fictional Madison Bridge is represented by the Astoria-Megler Bridge on the Columbia River, the longest continuous truss bridge in North America.

Plot

Engineer Cal Miller's unauthorized attempt to close off the dangerously unstable Madison Bridge is foiled by the police pursuit of a robbery suspect. The chase ends in a multi-car accident in the middle of the bridge, which begins falling apart during the confusion. Miller organizes a rescue operation for the handful of bystanders who find themselves stranded with the armed suspect and a wounded policeman on a short stretch of crumbling pavement high atop a single collapsing pylon.

Cast

as Cal Miller * Desi Arnaz Jr. as Johnny Pyle *

Char Fontane Char "Kaci" Fontane (January 12, 1952 – April 1, 2007) was an American actress and singer. She was born Kerry Charae Fontane in Los Angeles, to singer Tony Fontane and his wife, actress Kerry Vaughn Fontane. Early in her career, Fontane wo ...

as Dee *

Richard Gilliland Richard Gilliland (January 23, 1950 – March 18, 2021) was an American television and movie actor, best known as JD Shackleford in ''Designing Women'' (1986–1992). Life and career Gilliland was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended high sc ...

as Harvey Lewis *

as Paul Warren *

Eve Plumb Eve Aline Plumb (born April 29, 1958) is an American actress, singer and painter. She is best known for portraying the middle daughter Jan Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. A native of Southern California, Plumb began appearing in com ...

as Terry Kelly * Barbara Rush as Elaine Howard *

Gregory Sierra Gregory Joseph Sierra (January 25, 1937 – January 4, 2021) was an American actor known for his roles as Detective Sergeant Chano Amengual on ''Barney Miller'', Julio Fuentes, the Puerto Rican neighbor of Fred G. Sanford on ''Sanford and Son'' ...

as Diego Ramirez *

Phillip Baker Hall Philip Baker Hall (September 10, 1931 – June 12, 2022) was an American character actor. Hall is known for his collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, including '' Hard Eight'' (1996), '' Boogie Nights'' (1997) and ''Magnolia'' (1999). He a ...

as Warren Meech

Production

The casting of Eve Plumb and Barbara Rush was announced in July 1979.

Reception

The show fared poorly in the ratings against the last episode of ''MASH'', which attracted the largest audience for any single show in television history. It had 10 percent of the viewers in New York, 12 percent in Los Angeles and 5 percent in San Francisco.

References

External links

* 1983 films 1983 television films 1980s disaster films 1980s English-language films American disaster films Disaster television films Films directed by Georg Fenady Films produced by Irwin Allen Films scored by Richard LaSalle NBC network original films 1980s American films {{1980s-action-film-stub