Skyjacked (1972)

A crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early '70s stereotypes, and demands to be taken to Russia.

Director:

John Guillermin

Writers:

David Harper (novel), Stanley R. Greenberg

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, James Brolin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlton Heston	...	Capt. Henry 'Hank' O'Hara
Yvette Mimieux	...	Angela Thacher
James Brolin	...	Jerome K. Weber
Claude Akins	...	Sgt. Ben Puzo
Jeanne Crain	...	Mrs. Clara Shaw
Susan Dey	...	Elly Brewster
Roosevelt Grier	...	Gary Brown
Mariette Hartley	...	Harriet Stevens
Walter Pidgeon	...	Sen. Arne Lindner
Ken Swofford	...	John Bimonte
Leslie Uggams	...	Lovejoy Wells
Ross Elliott	...	Harold Shaw
Nicholas Hammond	...	Peter Lindner
Mike Henry	...	Sam Allen
Jayson Kane	...	William Reading (as Jayson William Kane)

Storyline

A crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early '70s stereotypes, and demands to be taken to Russia.

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Plot Keywords:

disaster film | disaster | vietnam | suspense | airplane | 

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Taglines:

The Sky's The Limit For Suspense

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 1972 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Sky Terror

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Walter Seltzer Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The 'Global Airways' plane used in the movie was a World Airways Boeing 707 (N374WA). World Airways home base at the time was Oakland Metropolitan Airport, where just about all of the airport scenes in the movie were filmed.

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Goofs

The scenes of the "Soviet jets" are actually old films of American made jets performing in air shows.

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Quotes

[first lines]
John Bimonte: [Hank is doing his walk-around the aircraft] Hey, Hank! Ready to go.
Capt. Henry 'Hank' O'Hara: Wrong! You got a broken cowling latch here.
John Bimonte: What the hell? I'll get right on it.
Capt. Henry 'Hank' O'Hara: Take all the time you want, John. You got 10 minutes.

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Connections

Edited into Dr. Shrinker (1976)

User Reviews

Weaponry in his carry-on

A decent if not spectacular entry into the Seventies disaster films is Skyjacked often confused with another airplane disaster film that starred Charlton Heston, Airport 75. This one is better than that thing from the Airport series.

Susan Dey playing one of the passengers finds a note written in one of the airplane bathrooms demanding that the plane be taken to Anchorage Alaska for refueling for a trip to the then Soviet Union. The pilot is Charlton Heston the crew is co-pilot Mike Henry, navigator Ken Swofford and various stewardesses headed by Yvette Mimieux. The note says the writer has a bomb as well to enforce his demands.

There's not much suspense here in that from the beginning you know it is James Brolin, the soldier so eager to get on board. What you don't know is that he's being discharged for being deranged, but we learn that just a tad too late before Brolin reveals himself and takes the plane and its passengers hostage.

The best thing about Skyjacked is the duel of minds and wits between Heston and Brolin. In fact Brolin is a truly frightening individual whose instability makes him hard to control and his combat skills and weaponry make him deadly.

Speaking of the weaponry, note that Brolin takes it on board the plane as a carry on in his duffel bag. Thanks to 9/11 we've certainly beefed up security so that at least that could never happen now in that way.

Skyjacked is not the best of the Seventies disaster films, but it holds up reasonably well for today's audience.