TV REVIEW : ‘Crash’ Nurses a Badly Wounded Script

In 1991, several student nurses from USC and a Lancaster eye doctor made national headlines when they rescued seriously wounded colleagues from a remote plane crash site in Mexico.

In the natural progression of events, and with the usual embellishments, that rescue has been transformed into the TV movie “Nurses on the Line: The Crash of Flight 7” (at 9 tonight on CBS, Channels 2 and 8).

Shot on location in Catemaco, Mexico, the scenery is eye-catching, but Lindsay Wagner’s intelligent presence and Robert Loggia’s strong talents are wasted in this turgid soap opera. Stressing dewy-eyed moments of self-realization drains the urgency from a hazardous, courageous rescue effort that succeeded despite the rescuers’ inexperience, few medical supplies and rugged terrain.

The script by Norman Morrill and Andrew Laskos, directed by Larry Shaw, abounds with stereotypes: The Mexican authorities are obstructive and heartless, saintly peasants teach lessons in humility and brutish drug lords brandish guns and roam the jungle (but never confront the rescue party).

The help that townspeople gave in the actual rescue is minimized, and the Americans don’t fare too well, either. Dr. Rulon Beesley, who participated in the rescue and publicly credited the nurses with saving four lives, is portrayed here (by David Clennon) as a pessimistic fusspot, while Loggia plays a great doctor who calls the shots until he’s sidetracked by bureaucratic red tape.

Throughout, authentic human drama takes a back seat to syrupy pop psychology, as the student nurses gain “a greater understanding of their own worth and the power of teamwork, trust and love,” to quote the show’s press material. Viewers who want a real sense of the truly remarkable heroics involved will have to look up the news reports.