Disgruntled former scientist with NASA is brought back to the fold after a comet--"wrenched out of orbit by Jupiter's gravitational pull!"--collides with an asteroid in space, sending a chunk of rock five miles wide heading straight for Earth. Disaster flick from American International looks fairly convincing, if you're not too demanding. The heated exchanges between the scientists and the generals is wearing, but at least the sub-plot regarding the stubborn Russians gives us tongue-in-cheek Brian Keith as an astrophysicist and Natalie Wood as his assistant and translator, both speaking perfect Russian! The dialogue is almost as overwrought as Laurence Rosenthal's score, which would be entertainingly cheesy were it not so repetitive and intrusive. Directed by Ronald Neame, he of "The Poseidon Adventure", and an apparent victim of director-typecasting. The scientific rhetoric leaves itself open for logical criticism, and when the smaller meteorites hit Asia and the Alps, we are treated to some very tacky archival and stock footage. Pretty depressing overall, with Sean Connery looking uneasy and Henry Fonda inserted here and there as the U.S. President. ** from ****