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SST: Death Flight (TV) More at IMDbPro »

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7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Flight of the Maiden, 6 May 2006

Author: dakki78 from Pargas, Finland

The truth is that about 80% of the people who see (have seen) this movie won't like it. Why? Because it is not that original. But in saying that, I happen to belong to the 20% who really like it.

I first saw it back in the eighties when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Now almost 20 years on I saw it again, and it really brought back nostalgic memories from when I was a kid.

Some people say this movie has bad acting. I don't agree at all. While the story might not be the best ever, there is definitely nothing wrong with the acting. And the supersonic Maiden One plane looks absolutely stunning, even though it is 70's B-TV-movie material.

I really recommend it to fans of disaster movies. It is hard to get a hold of these days, but if you have a chance to see it, do so.

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
A cavalcade of 1970s Who's Who, 3 December 1999

Author: Brian Manville (Sterno-2) from Frederick, MD

Let me say straight away that this movie is toxic waste for the mind. This movie is not watchable because it has a good story; it doesn't. It's not watchable because there's good acting; there is none. It's watchable because of the cast. This will take you down TV memory lane...how many former TV stars can you pick out?

As with any TV "Movie of the Week", the drawing power is in the stars. The story involves the inaugural flight of "Maiden One" the first supersonic transport plane. (The movie ignores the fact that it was a British-French conglomerate that first built the Concorde, and had to sue for the right to land in America during this time.) In this movie, we have a disgruntled worker who sabotages the flight by putting detergent in the hydraulic lines in order to get revenge on his boss (Burgess Meredith).

We also have Doug McClure trying to get back into Tina Louise's pants, Billy Crystal playing a rather fey steward, John Delancie in training for his future role as Q, and Peter Graves as one half of a former May-December romance. Did I mention that there also happens to be a plot line about the airplane carrying the Senegal flu, which is now spreading among the crew? If you don't have sabotage, you've got the untamed strain of flu floating around.

There are two references that date this movie. One is a reference to the "Swine flu". The other is the way that Burt Convy discusses abortion with his bimbo girlfriend -- the concept is mentioned, but she won't let him say the word.

The movie does have a reverse natural selection -- the megastars like Meredith & Graves die, but losers like Convy, McClure, etc. live to make another bad TV movie. Check out the cameo of Regis Philbin (and his hair) as an annoying TV reporter.

Sterno says SST Death Flight is a guilty pleasure.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
1-Adam-12, see Mike Brady, problem in the sky..., 15 November 2001
Author: stargazer24 from midwest

Being a fan of the boys of Route 66, I just had to see this movie. However, I was very disappointed that they never even bothered to give Marty and George one scene together. Nevertheless, I kept watching and laughed all the way through. Of course, I was watching the MST3K version and I would suggest all do the same if you can find it. I mean, George Maharis is mad at Burgess Meredith (who built the plane), so he puts detergent in the hydraulic system, hoping that when things get bad, Robert Reed will turn the plane around. Bobby doesn't listen to him, and well, you can figure out the rest. That, along with a bunch of other ridiculously funny happenings, including nice-guy Bert Convy dating a bimbo (Miss SST!), make this a MUST SEE for fans of all that was bad 70's TV.

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
70s TV Disaster Fluff, 30 March 2001
Author: Eric-62-2 from Morristown, NJ

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.

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Fun flight, 27 November 2000
Author: Uffe-13 from Storuman, Sweden

This is a very enjoyable disaster movie, about yet another one of those star-filled planes heading for trouble. This time, a Concorde is sabotaged, and if that wasn´t enough, there is also a virus spreading inside the plane. The film has everything an airplane-disaster movie buff could ask for: tacky effects, lots of stars and fun dialogue. Pretty good stuff.

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Awful but interesting., 9 December 2000
Author: lartronic from Akron, Ohio.

This was a terrible made for TV film, but it was fun to see which stars were in it. Of course, that's the only interest at all in this otherwise worthless flick. The plot isn't exciting, the acting not very good, and it basically suffers from "Bad-70's-TV-Movie-itis". But, like I said before, it's fun to watch all of the stars in one bad movie. And this film got one step further: it was riffed by MST3K back when the show was on KTMA TV-23. Now that was an experience, all the stars in one big bad movie while being riffed on by Joel & the 'bots. How could you go wrong?

3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Bad flight = Bad movie, 7 October 2000

Author: InzyWimzy from Queens, NY

A plethora of stars are here. I was surprised to see a fay Billy Crystal, annoying Regis, Mike Brady, Burgess, Ginger, Q, Peter Graves. It's Titanic in the sky as anything that can go wrong does go wrong on this plane's maiden voyage. Lots of sub plots are thrown at you and still no story can be found. I loved the realism of how passengers could easily walk up and down aisles freely during the flight. This wild ride couldn't end any faster for me.

5 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
It changed my life!, 2 October 2005

Author: dontim from Italy

This, according to most, was not the best film of all time! And, perhaps they're right, but one never knows just what can happen when you see a film. My winter vacation had already been planned when, one Monday evening in February 1982, I saw "SST: Disaster in the Sky" (one of its other names). It only took me 'til Friday to call my travel agent and change my destination from Columbus, Ohio to Dakar, Senegal. I took off within a few days and with no hotel, old French and a small bag, I landed in Dakar. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. For that reason, this movie for me is a 10! No one ever said that a film had to win Oscars in every category to have a profound effect on the viewer. This one did it for me and that is why I watch it whenever it's on TV. Unfortunately, so many years have passed, that no channel shows it anymore. Ah, if only there were a DVD. I'd buy it immediately.

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Cookie-cutter 70s disaster film-making, 8 February 2008

Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Here's a an idea – let's round-up a bunch of Hollywood has-beens, second rate TV actors, and a bunch of no-names and put them all on board a cross Atlantic flight. And let's add a crazed mechanic with a grudge. Oh, and how about adding a deadly virus that fills the plane? You've got the recipe for a 1970s TV movie-of-the-week!

How many of these doomed airplane movies did they make? If you believed what you saw at the movies and on television, planes were dropping out of the skies like flies in the 70s. These kinds of movies were all the rage and SST: Death Flight was meant to grab onto the disaster-cycle coattails. I'll give the movie credit, though – it's actually not much worse than most of the rest of its ilk. The acting is what you would expect from the likes of Lorne Greene, Tina Louise, and Bert Convy. The manufactured tension comes across 30 years later as more humorous than anything else. The characters are cardboard cutouts with overly dramatized problems that can miraculously be solved in an hour or so. The one thing SST: Death Flight has going for it is a slightly unusual twist at the end where the characters the choice of life or death. Other than that, it's cookie-cutter 70s disaster film-making at it's best (or worst, depending on how you look at this stuff.)

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
SST: Flight to apathy. *SPOILERS*, 6 May 2002
Author: quamp from Irving, TX

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I think the producers of this film felt that if they assembled a good cast, they could cover over the shoddy script. Nothing doing here. Another thing the producers ignored here was chemistry; none of the actors really have any magic with each other, and many of them let their egos get in the way of making a good film. This is especially true of stereotypical blonde-bimbo actress Misty Rowe and Tina Louise. The whole plot of the piece is basically a rip-off of Airport. Take these talented actors and put them on an SST where everything goes wrong. There's a deadly virus that gets out when the seals explode in the area, and then everyone gets sick. In the end, when the plane crashes in the African jungle, you'll wish everyone died in the crash. No such luck, however....

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