SST: Death Flight (1977) (TV)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

David Lowell Rich

Writers:

Meyer Dolinsky (writer)
Robert L. Joseph (writer)

Release Date:

25 February 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

On its maiden flight, the crew of America's first supersonic transport learns that it may not be able to land, due to an act of sabotage and a deadly flu onboard.

Plot Keywords:

Aviation | Disaster | MST3K | Influenza | Sabotage

Cast

Barbara Anderson	...	Carla Stanley
Bert Convy	...	Tim Vernon
Peter Graves	...	Paul Whitley
Lorne Greene	...	Marshall Cole
Season Hubley	...	Anne Redding
Tina Louise	...	Mae
George Maharis	...	Les Phillips
Burgess Meredith	...	Willy Basset
Doug McClure	...	Hank Fairbanks
Martin Milner	...	Lyle Kingman
Brock Peters	...	Dr. Ralph Therman
Robert Reed	...	Captain Jim Walsh
Susan Strasberg	...	Nancy Kingman
Misty Rowe	...	Angela Garland
Billy Crystal	...	David

Also Known As:

Death Flight
Flight of the Maiden (USA)
SST: Disaster in the Sky (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials) | West Germany:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-16

Company:

ABC Circle Films

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Superdome (#1.15)" (1989)

70s TV Disaster Fluff

The success of "Airport", "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno" proved there was a big appetite for disaster movies so naturally television felt they had to get into the act by offering their own lower budget knockoffs of the Irwin Allen disaster movie formula. "SST: Disaster In The Sky" is the ultimate example of this, since not only do we see a gaggle of 70s TV stars (all of whom it should be noted had one thing in common at the time. Their once popular series had all been cancelled by then!) like Robert Reed, Martin Milner, Peter Graves etc. we even see two future 80s TV stars Billy Crystal and John DeLancie in smaller roles (I hope David Letterman some day springs a clip of this on Crystal the next time he appears on the show). That alone is enough to make you keep watching despite the bad dialogue (characters have to engage in a lot of implausible exposition at various points in order for certain things to make sense), cheap FX and silly plot resolutions at the climax. Heck, "SST" is even better than some of the worst theatrical disaster movies coming out by then like the dreadful "Concorde: Airport 1979" so if you loved the quality disaster movies of the time like "Airport" and "Towering Inferno" settle back and enjoy this intriguing TV knockoff of the genre.