Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126431 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-08
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Customer Reviews

Worthwhile portrayal of a tragic event
This was a made for TV movie shown around 1993 that was a portrayal of a tragedy in 1987 in the Hill Country of Texas. A group of teenagers and their sponsors were leaving a summer camp in July of 1987 when their bus was suddenly overrun with overflow from a river, and some of the kids were swept away in the current when they tried to make it back to the shore. 10 young people died in this event, including one who's body has never been found. The event itself has touched me in a number of ways, and the reason for that is unclear. I did not know any of the kids, adults, or families involved. But I've felt a need to learn as much as I could about this event, including visiting the site of the accident while on vacation last year. That leads me to some criticism of the movie itself.

I understand that in movies, even true events are not always depicted as they occurred. The producers need to produce an artistic work that is, under any definition, entertaining. What bothers me is there was a great deal of editorial licensing, or changing of the facts, and in many cases, the changes were unnecessary. They added nothing to the film, and possibly put a stain on the name of some of those responsible for the youth.

For example, the movie shows the bus driving into a flowing stream. Then as the bus stalls, the stream gets bigger and faster, and the kids are removed and many are swept away. The only true part of this was the kids getting off the bus and being swept away. In fact, the bus drove immediately outside the gate of the encampment, and was hit with a flank of rushing water less than 100 feet or so away from the gate. Its hard to understand if you haven't been to the site, but when I saw it last summer, I immediately could see what the reports of what happened were saying. As one report said, the accident happened solely due to lousy timing, or the bus being in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. Had the bus left the gate just a few seconds earlier, it would have missed the rushing water, and would have safely made it across the bridge. Had it been there seconds later, the driver would have seen the water he didn't see before, and would not have attempted to drive into it. The movie shows a convoy of buses and vans driving for several minutes, perhaps even miles, before coming upon a running river crossing that has overflowed, and they attempt to cross. That isn't what happened. First, there was a single truck, followed by one bus and one van. Second, the water flanked up quickly instead of rose out of a flowing stream. I say all this to say that the bus driver, Richard Koons, played by Joe Spano, has taken some unfair criticism for his role in the event, when in fact, he is a hero for getting the kids off the bus as fast as he did.

Other things in the movie bothered me immensely. At the opening, the teen who was the ultimate hero (who's body was never found) is shown sneaking away from the camp with a few friends smoking. From all I've read, there's no indication that happened. Even though the producers changed the name of the young man involved (perhaps because of their depiction of events), that was unnecessary. The other thing is the thick drawled accents of most of the girls in the movie, and virtually all the parents. The church where the kids were from is located in Balch Springs, not more than about 15-18 miles from downtown Dallas. Although I don't get to that area a bunch, most people I've ran into in that area don't have such thick accents, certainly not like in the movie. I'm afraid the producers made too many characters into hicks just for entertainment value, and to me, that's over the top.

The movie draws out the emotion of the event well. The acting (other than whats mentioned) is good. I don't think the movie does as good of a job as making the young man who was never found into as much of a hero as he really was. He literally helped several kids to safety before he was last seen. Former President Bush awarded him a civilian medal a couple of years after the event.

In spite of its flaws, I strongly recommend this DVD.

The true facts of the 10 children
The gentlemen who wrote the reveiw about the 10 children who died being obese, obviously did not research the events or the children very well. I went to school with 3 of the teens who died in the flood and they were by no means obese or even overweight. The events of the flood were terrible. I sat in the funeral of my 3 friends and it was immensely sad. I was only 10 years old at the time, but I remember it like it was yesterday. It really upsets me to see people write things they have no clue about. Not all the teens were obese. They did not die because they were too fat to swim. They died because of the terrible floods that swept through. Not only did the rescue workers fight for the lives of these kids, so did their peers. Sadly, the flood waters overtook them. Please don't taint the reality of the story by believing bad research by one reviewer!

My own thoughts...
I've watched the movie a number of times... I was actually there for part of the events that occured as the media-liaison for the American Red Cross out of San Antonio.

One person talked about the people being made into steryotypes which I agree with to a point. Everyone was wearing cowboy hats in the movie.... just a bit over the top. But the events are largely accurate even if some of the characterizations of the kids and adults were a bit overly dramatic.

The young man who was never found I consider a personal hero of mine... I've never met him but know some day I'll get the chance after my own death. I sat across from his father and the bus driver at breakfast one morning and watched the two men cry and embrace with nothing but forgiveness and grace in their hearts.

The strength of the parents and the children could only have come from God...it was this incident that forever changed my life. The love they have for one another blew me away and on the way home after several days of being there, I gave my life to Christ. It wasn't anything anyone said to me, but it was the supernatural love they had for each other.

Everybody there has their own story to tell... their story has become part of my life-story.