source: Skyjacked

Trailer—Skyjacked

Skyjacked

I just revisited this after not seeing it since I was 12 in a theater. I must say, this movie holds up quite well. Yes, it is dated in places, but a 40-year old film naturally will be. Good suspense, a little soap opera fluff here and there, but never gets in the way of the story. Much more serious in overall tone than "Airport" from just a couple years earlier. Brolin is excellent as the crazed ex-soldier, and Heston is very good, in probably one of his last good roles. I would recommend this for both disaster-movie buffs, and aviation buffs, as it delivers for both. Also, gotta love Partridge Susan Dey in probably her first motion picture after her TV success.

This old-fashioned disaster film is not bad, despite a few slips into soapy silliness (the flashbacks). Charlton Heston is commanding as always (when he says "Nobody dies on my airplane!", you believe it), and there is even a little Agatha Christie-type mystery in the beginning, concerning the identity of the mad hijacker. (**1/2)

Routine airline flight, piloted by none other than Charlton Heston, is beset with hijack warnings via notes left on the lavatory mirror. Could the psycho-on-board be musician Roosevelt "Rosie" Grier? Sweaty soldier James Brolin? Hippie Susan Dey or boy toy Nicholas Hammond? What about distraught stewardess Yvette Mimieux--has she cracked under pressure? Genre disaster flick slipped into theaters in between 1970's "Airport" and its many sequels, and actually was quite a hit at the box-office (but in this era, what Charlton Heston movie wasn't?). Unfortunately, once all is revealed--in rather anticlimactic fashion--the last reel is extremely dire. Still, for the first three-quarters of its length, "Skyjacked" provides just the kind of silly thrills you'd expect from a movie with that title and cast. Speaking of titles, "Skyjacked" was RE-TITLED "Sky Terror" once it premiered on network television. No sense frightening anyone into thinking this might be a documentary. ** from ****

Commercial airliner piloted by Charlton Heston is hijacked by someone claiming to have a bomb. Whether you consider it a knockoff of Airport or not, it's very much in the same vein as that film and its sequels. I see IMDb gives away the identity of the hijacker in their summary which is weird since the first 40 minutes of the movie is about that mystery. No spoilers here though. Full of the stereotypical cast you might expect from an Airport movie: the pilot and stewardess who used to have a thing (Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux), aging stars (Walter Pidgeon, Jeanne Crain), up-and-coming youngsters (Susan Dey and future Spider-Man Nicholas Hammond), professional athlete (Rosie Greer), pregnant lady (Mariette Hartley), and a troubled soldier (James Brolin). The tension aboard the plane is pretty good but the dated flashback sequences are silly. Not bad of its type. First 45 minutes or so is best. If you like the Airport movies you'll surely like this.

I was really surprised by this film, one, I had never actually seen it, and two, it was well worth seeing. I did, however, find it very frustrating. Not through the plot or the acting or anything like that, but it was full of actors and actresses, whose faces were familiar to me, I spent about half the film wondering who had been in what, I couldnt wait to get on here and find out. Charlton Heston was his always accomplished self, no more and no less, and he is always very good. James Brolin played a military section 8 well indeed, or at least I assume that is a way in which a section 8 would be, not like Klinger in M*A*S*H! All together a very good film, well worth watching, and in truth probably suffered unfairly against the films of the day, The Godfather and The French Connection to name but two. Not necessarily one for the collection, but worth seeing all the same.