I was 7 when this was on TV and was so hyped by the commercials for it. My favorite thing was the time clock in the corner of the screen: 40 minutes to smashup, 30 minutes to smashup, 20 minutes to smashup, etc. Obviously trying to keep people tuned in. And it worked!! At least for a 7 year old kid. My 10

year old brother and I were on the edge of our seats, even tho we were sitting on the floor, our eyes glued to the screen. I was so excited by it waiting for the big smashup and was in heaven when it finally happened! Being kids we just wanted to see cars smashed, not concerned about anyones welfare. Awesome!

The 1976 TV movie SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5 was one of the many disaster movies that popped up on the small screen during the 1970s as a spin-off of the larger big-screen efforts like EARTHQUAKE and THE TOWERING INFERNO.

Instead of being set in a plane, a train, or in a highrise, this film's disaster takes place along one of the most heavily traveled highways in America--Interstate 5 in Southern California. In flashbacks, it depicts the film's main characters in the forty-eight hours leading up to those frightening moment when dozens of vehicles pile into one another in a freakish fashion. Featuring such TV stalwarts as Robert Conrad, David Groh, and Donna Mills, as well as a young Tommy Lee Jones (still four years away from his breakthrough role in COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER), SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5, given the melodramatics of the situation, is fairly well-directed by John Llewellyn Moxey, who helmed the classic 1972 TV film THE NIGHT STALKER, and with a reasonably convincing pile-up scene.

I saw this movie when it aired on ABC, and at the time I was 10 years old. This movie scared the daylights out of me, but I have always remembered it for decades. I'd love to be able to see it again, and have just now saw it posted on here. I didn't realize the amount of stars that at the time weren't even known. This and several other movies from ABC's line up would be great to get on DVD.

I know now why highways have always scared me, and it was because of this movie. I still can't believe that my parents let me watch it at such a young age, but then I saw Deer Hunter, Godfather and Apocalypse Now before I was ten.

Incredible that but for one review, and even that only two months ago, no-one has seen fit to comment all through the years on this above average telemovie. Inarguably dated now, as evidenced by the vehicles themselves, the flares, hair-do's and music, SMASH UP ON INTERSTATE 5 is a reasonably faithful reconstruction (disaster-movie style) of the events leading up to the true-life pile up not so many years earlier.

Better than average script give the cast of well known actors and actresses something to work with. Robert Conrad, still looking the part of Jim West plays the police patrol officer most closely involved in the fifty car collision. Tommy Lee Jones, also a cop, looks like a youthful long haired refugee from WOODSTOCK and Buddy Ebsen is well, Buddy Ebsen, as always!

The film does not attempt to sensationalise the events, merely presenting them as is, albeit with considerable literary license one suspects. The actual collision is quite well done for its day, showed in stop-frame at the beginning and in full gory detail at the conclusion. I have this film in our library and decided to compile this review having watched it this evening, the first time in ten years or so. An absolute time-capsule!

Titled COLLISION COURSE in Australia, and several European countries.

This movie amounts to little of significance, but it has for some reason stuck in my consciousness ever since I saw it. With a well-known cast, I am a bit surprised it doesn't turn up occasionally on late-night or weekend small-station airings. The "smash-up" of the title is a massive 40 or 50-car accident on the Southern California freeway which both opens and closes the film. After the initial footage of the accident, the film skips back a day or two to tell the stories of several of the victims: a woman having an affair with a married man, some young criminals on the lam, a biker gang, and an elderly couple (the wife suffering from cancer), among others. The action leads back to the wreck, which is reshown in greater (and gorier) detail, followed by its immediate aftermath. The acting is rather good as I remember, especially Sian Barbara Allen as the "other woman" and Buddy Ebsen and Harriet Hilliard (Nelson) as the sweetly tragic elderly couple. As I've been writing this, I realize how much I'd like to see it again. I guess that amounts to a fairly strong recommendation.

"Smash-Up on Interstate 5" goes the same path as any disaster flick from the 1970s. The TV movie has a large, notable cast and multiple story lines, which culminate into the title incident. In an unusual move, the filmmakers chose to open the film with the same multi-vehicle accident and flash back to the characters involved in the accident.

Because of this creative decision, I did care about some of the characters and their fates. The most heartbreaking storyline was the older couple played by Buddy Ebsen and Harriet Nelson (Hillard) in which one member of the couple is faced with a fatal medical diagnosis.

In addition, the stunt work and editing of the actual crash was very terrifying and effective.

As with many television movies, finding this item on DVD is challenging.

Have you ever been in a severe traffic accident? I have... And even though it was nearly 20 years ago, I can assure you the narrated words during the opening sequences catapulted me straight back to the exact same sentiments I felt in the first hours and days after the accident. "For the majority of people, the victims of this smash-up will be nothing more than a holiday weekend statistic". That's also how I felt after I crashed into a tree on a Friday night and miraculously came out almost unharmed. In the blink of an eye, you're nothing more than a weekend traffic statistic. But behind every traffic casualty sits a person with his/her own story to tell, and that's what this modest but more than admirable made-for-TV disaster movie wants to emphasize.

In the weekend leading up to the 4th of July, we follow of handful of seemingly random people living in the area between Los Angeles and San Diego. Now, from the title and the opening sequences we already know these same random people will be the ones heavily impacted by the traffic accident on Interstate 5 (39 vehicles, 65 injured, 14 deaths) but before that tragedy happens, they are all "common" people dealing with versatile issues, like accepting medical diagnoses, romantic dilemmas and running from the law. It's not exactly the most exhilarating segmented film ever made, but it perfectly does what it intends, namely giving a background to usually anonymous traffic accident victims.

"Smash-Up on Interstate 5" can rely on the competences of the best TV-movie director in history, John Llewellyn Moxy, and has quite an impressive cast, with Robert Conrad, Vera Miles, Donna Mills, Scott Jacoby and Tommy Lee Jones. For the latter, it was still a relatively small role, in the period shortly before his breakthrough.

Satisfactory TV-made disaster-of-the-week, prevalent in the latter-half of the 1970s, begins on a July 4th holiday weekend in Southern California. Police sergeant Robert Conrad warns his men about the traffic on L.A.'s dangerous freeways: "Whatever could go wrong will go wrong"...and so it does. Buddy Ebsen and Harriet Nelson are loving oldsters (she has weeks to live); Vera Miles is a divorcée swept off her feet by romantic trucker David Groh; Scott Jacoby is a car thief hijacked by a fugitive couple (all are involved in the shooting of rookie cop Tommy Lee Jones, whose wife just had a baby); and Sue Lyon is a biker chick who, just hours before, attempted to engage her buddies in the gang-rape of Miles in broad daylight. They're all involved in a violent freeway pile-up which frames the movie in flashback mode. The action is well-filmed and edited, and the characters are surprisingly interesting if unsavory. Conrad keeps an amusingly cool head throughout and anchors the story with his macho charm.

Not really very good, but ahead of its time for strangers in one situation all vaguely connected. Memorable as a kid for the big Disaster Scene. Lots of Familiar Faces here.

This film starts off by showing several people in different vehicles traveling down I-5. All of a sudden, one particular car collides into another which causes a massive traffic accident. The viewer is then given a look at some of the characters involved in the crash. After some history into the lives of these people, the film then resumes back to the accident and reveals who survives and who doesn't. As far as the film was concerned, it was somewhat interesting for a made-for-television movie but as usual for that type of film it suffers from the inherent cut-and-paste limitations. Along with that there is no profanity, nudity, violence or graphic imagery. Also being made in the mid-70's it is a bit dated as well. I suppose the acting was adequate enough and it certainly didn't hurt to have attractive actresses like Vera Miles (as "Erica") and Donna Mills (as "Laureen") on hand. Still, that doesn't change the fact that this was pretty much standard fare for this particular time period. As such, I rate it as average.

SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5 was one of the most entertaining entries on the Tuesday and Wednesday Movies of the Week. This episodic drama, somehow economically told in 90 minutes, opens with a spectacular 39-car crash on a deserted stretch of highway. The film then flashes back 48 hours before the crash occurs and through multiple stories we get to meet all of the people involved in the crash and what they were going through at the time of the crash. The impressive all-star cast includes Vera Miles, Robert Conrad, Donna Mills, Buddy Ebsen, David Groh, Scott Jacoby, and there's an especially lovely turn by Harriet Nelson, widow of TV icon Ozzie Nelson. I like the way this movie showed us the crash first and then took us back. For some reason, it made us care even more about these people, knowing what was ahead for them.

If this movie had focused on the actual disaster of the title, it would have been done in 10 seconds. It is hard to understand why this TV movie is considered a disaster film since most of it focused on the lives of a some of the people involved in the titular event. And that event is produced right in the beginning of the movie before the flashback. The countdown to the disaster was meaningless since nothing leading up to it had anything to do with what happened. And it really is not clear who caused the smashup or what happened to make it occur. As a character study I suppose it is passable but I guess labeling it a disaster was for lack of anything else to call it.

After years of disaster films set on planes, ocean liners and even on trains, we finally got one set on the freeway. Other than that, it is just like the rest of the seemingly endless parade of mid-1970's disaster epics. Also, the characters were just like the ones in the others. You had the lonely rich middle age lady who finds love with a trucker, the older couple facing a terminal illness, the young lovers on the run and the vengeful cop looking for his partner's killer. All of these characters could have been put on the plane, train or ship but instead they are all on a collision course on a major California freeway. Also, it was pretty interesting that this film began with the "smash-up" and showed all the events leading up to it and showing it again at the end and all the aftermaths. For all its faults, it still was a pretty good film.

SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5 begins with a brief introduction to the various drivers involved in the catastrophe of the title, before plunging us into the vehicular mayhem, complete with slow-motion impacts!

Next, we're shown the lives of the victims, two days before the incident. This is made up of a true, all-star cast of 1970's TV luminaries, elder stars, and future celebrities.

Robert Conrad is a highway patrolman. Vera Miles is the lonely Erica. Scott Jacoby is a small-time crook, who got mixed up with a fugitive from justice. Buddy Ebson and Harriet Nelson are a loving, retired couple. David Groh is a trucker. Sue Lyon is a biker chick.

Even the co-stars are great! There's an impossibly young, Tommy Lee Jones as a cop, and Donna Mills as a pediatric nurse!

Unlike many such films, the individual backstories are actually interesting. The characters are fleshed-out well, and carry on intelligent conversations. We come to "know" and care about these people. So, when disaster strikes, it's tragic, and not just another action sequence.

Highly recommended, especially for the 1970's TV-movie connoisseur...

One of the great "70"s" disaster movies...Just a very unique setting. It has a good story and scenes of the times..if you like to see many mini stories in one movie youll love this flic... Good stars many of whom are no longer with us .....Plus it has great pictures of 70's CHP cars if you like old police cars.

I saw this film when it first came out, and I would love to see it again. The plot reminds me of "The Bridge at San Luis Rey," a novel by Thornton Wilder, as it explores what was going on in the victims' lives before the disaster. In the Wilder novel, a priest in colonial Peru, South America, questions whether people live by chance or by design interpreted as God's will. After the bridge collapses and kills several down-on-their-luck people, the priest investigates the backgrounds of the victims. He then concludes that God had His reasons for cutting short the lives of these people who had no further purpose in life or happiness in store for them. The victims in "Smash-Up" are shown to have similar things going on in their lives. In "Smash-Up" I thought it especially tragic that the teen-age couple were mistaken as criminals when they really were innocent and were on their way to see the whales off the coast at Big Sur. Being deceased, they could not defend themselves, and their reputations were tainted by the incorrect assumption about their supposed guilt. The viewer is left to imagine the tragic impact on the victims' families. Because of the similarity to Wilder's novel, I believe "Smash-Up" does have a meaning and a message. By the way, Wilder's novel was made into a relatively recent movie with Gabriel Byrne as the priest, and it bears the same title as the novel, "The Bridge at San Luis Rey."

And that is how films like this, Speed and a few episodes of CHiPS got made.

The human interest stories in this didn't get much attention so they are so uninteresting to the point where you don't care who lives or dies you want to see the crash. You do. Twice. In the beginning and near the end.

It is a piece of Americana we will never see again. The trashy TV movie.

With every disaster flick made from every aspect (air, water, rail and mother nature) I think the one thing that never gets a chance is the road. Here a multi-car pileup on Southern California's interstate 5 holds the title for being the first and to date only movie of its kind. With a all-star cast of TV star's and legend's including a young Tommy Lee Jones.

This movie holds interest through well written storylines and believable plots. Though it does tend to be a bit soap opry at times it does move along. One strong point is we are introduced to the main cast and get a glimpse of their life. This is a good movie to really get into though and enjoy without all the CGI that overtakes movies these days. I'm just surprised that no other director or producer ever made any other movies on this type of disaster.

The TV Movie SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5 beat SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER to the double boogie perspective by one full year; the camera spinning around while two people dance. To disco, no less: Enter PSYCHO co-star Vera Miles as Erica, newly divorced and reluctantly part of the singles nightlife, being romanced by creepy Herb Edelman and she wants none of it...

Other stories evolve from and head towards that inevitable crash on the mountainous region of (Southern) California's Interstate 5: Starting out with the catastrophe's onset as the rest of the movie, dictated by typed title cards beginning 24 hours earlier, follow various plotlines - many, like the one just mentioned involving Miles and an eventual romance with a younger man, David Groh, are of the soap operatic nature...

Yet the most intriguing has to do with crime, and murder: After a botched robbery, a teenager, shot and severely wounded, and his neurotic girlfriend hijack a kid named Lee, played by BAD RONALD star Scott Jacoby, at gunpoint, making him their getaway driver - after which a rookie cop, played by Tommy Lee Jones... whose wife is giving birth at the local hospital... is shot, and not so lucky. Jacoby's story has the urgency you'd get in a slightly heightened episode of CHiPS: Hence, the California Highway Patrol is the central force here...

First-billed (for being famous) star Robert Conrad's Sergeant Sam Marcum has the potential to be a resilient hero throughout, but his input is limited to an argumentative relationship with a nurse, his young girlfriend played by Donna Mills... whose acting-style, like in Clint Eastwood's PLAY MISTY FOR ME or Paul Newman's ex-wife in SLAPSHOT, was robotic until KNOTS LANDING gave her a role with edge. And speaking of edge: Sue Lyon, known as LOLITA from the Stanley Kubrick 1962 classic, is a hardened biker chick whose gang, at one point, intersects with the troubled Vera Miles...

This before Miles, who is pretty much the main character, meets the man of her dreams, Groh's Dale, a little too good to be true: A former heart surgeon turned existential truck driver, he wants the older lady to traipse the country on a mobile honeymoon...

You see, Dale first meets Erica after Sue Lyon's troublesome Burnsey tries instigating a rape for her gross biker buddy. Then, like in a Wester and right on time, a truck crashes to her defense, with Groh at the helm!

The biggest throwaway story, the one that should have been deleted entirely with a much too melodramatic and predictable conclusion, taking an abundance of screen time, has Buddy Ebsen and Harriet Hilliard discussing their future. Problem is: her future, with chest pains and a failed suicide attempt swimming out from their Malibu home, is limited, making us yearn more of the biker gang or Jacoby's kidnapping... the latter reversing when he gets in charge of the situation, the girl on his side now...

This new Bonnie and Clyde, dreaming of an early retirement in Big Sur, wind up kidnapping a sexed-up couple (including one of our favorite ingenues Cindy Daly, a gorgeous high school student from the horror classic, CARRIE) after stealing their ride - one of those vans you only see in the glorious 1970's...

All leading to the inevitable, previously established vehicle crunch, bringing white knight Robert Conrad back into the fray; but not for very long.

It's a nicely filmed bombastic crash that only provides a mere 11th hour taste of the Disaster genre premise, misled by the title... This SMASH-UP spends 98% of the time dealing with melodrama.. That is, like any ensemble, hit or miss... smash or veer... you nam...

Although, even during the most boring and banal, time-filling moments, SMASH-UP ON INTERSTATE 5 partially succeeds like any Movie-of-the-Week, created to entertain household audiences while eventually getting them relaxed enough for sleep. Remember folks, especially the youngsters out there: before video stores and cable television, these were the reigning source of non-theatrical entertainment.