As others have said, some interesting scenes indicative of the times: pilots and passengers smoking mid-flight, pregnant woman orders a bloody Mary, crazy hi-jacker is able to board with a machine gun and a satchel full of live grenades. Plus he has a flashing light on his carry-on bag which he later pretends contains a bomb that he can control with a remote control device. Hmm... nobody at check-in asked him about the flashing light on his hand luggage?! LOL The weakest part of this movie was how they used dreams and weakly designed flashback sequences to provide "depth" (such as it is) about some of the key characters. But we really didn't gain anything from finding out that Heston had an illicit affair with Mimieux. (Given the opportunity, who wouldn't? She's gorgeous.) The hi-jacker was Section 8 case from the Army who decides to hi-jack this plane to Moscow but his flashbacks explain almost nothing: somehow he's disgruntled that he didn't get his due from the U.S. military and he anticipates being able to get recognition from the Soviets by hi-jacking a U.S. passenger jet which happens to be carrying a U.S. senator whose on some mission that's never explained. Would the Soviets give a damn? Evidently not since they gun him down after the jet lands in Moscow. But he doesn't help his case deplaning with his machine gun and a vest full of grenades.
This may sound like I didn't like the movie but that's wrong. Heston did a decent job, Mimieux is nice eye-candy and Claude Akins was his usual self as the only guy capable of talking Heston down through the ice storm into Anchorage. I had to laugh at the earlier review who stated that the reviewer has had more difficult bowel movements than Mariette Hartley's emergency delivery on the plane! Why the hijacker would keep a woman in labor on his plane when he could have gotten rid of her in Anchorage is never explained---other than that he's a Section 8 case and not making much sense in most respects.
Worth seeing for sure---once!
This may sound like I didn't like the movie but that's wrong. Heston did a decent job, Mimieux is nice eye-candy and Claude Akins was his usual self as the only guy capable of talking Heston down through the ice storm into Anchorage. I had to laugh at the earlier review who stated that the reviewer has had more difficult bowel movements than Mariette Hartley's emergency delivery on the plane! Why the hijacker would keep a woman in labor on his plane when he could have gotten rid of her in Anchorage is never explained---other than that he's a Section 8 case and not making much sense in most respects.
Worth seeing for sure---once!