Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983)

On the maiden flight of the first hypersonic commercial plane which can make the flight from New York City to London in four hours, a minor disaster occurs resulting in the plane actually ... See full summary »

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

Robert Malcolm Young (screenplay by), Peter R. Brooke (story by)

Stars:

Lee Majors, Hal Linden, Lauren Hutton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Majors	...	Captain Cody Briggs
Hal Linden	...	Josh Gilliam
Lauren Hutton	...	Erica Hansen
Ray Milland	...	Q. T. Thornwell
Gail Strickland	...	Nancy Gilliam
George DiCenzo	...	Bowdish (as George Di Cenzo)
Tess Harper	...	Janet Briggs
Terry Kiser	...	Freddie Barrett
Heather McAdam	...	Laurie Hansen (as Heather Mc Adam)
Michael Sacks	...	Pete
Gary Bayer	...	Martin
Pat Corley	...	Joe Pedowski
Robert Webber	...	Felix
Jocelyn Brando	...	Mrs. Harvey
Diane Stilwell	...	Betty

Storyline

On the maiden flight of the first hypersonic commercial plane which can make the flight from New York City to London in four hours, a minor disaster occurs resulting in the plane actually leaving the Earth's atmosphere and orbiting around the globe. A lack of heat-resistant tiling prevents the plane from simply re-entering the atmosphere. With oxygen (and therefore time) running out, the crew of the plane and the crew on the ground must figure out a way to return the plane and its passengers to safety.

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Plot Keywords:

passenger | oxygen | orbit | nasa | disaster | 

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Taglines:

The first hypersonic flight turns into a terrifying nightmare...in space. [Australia Theatrical]

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Jocelyn Brando's final acting role before her death on November 27, 2005, at the age of eighty-six.

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Goofs

The Space Shuttle Columbia launches multiple times in one day, once with a two hour turnaround time. The absolute minimum turnaround time planned for the Space Shuttle orbiters was two weeks. However, the fastest actual turnaround during shuttle program history was 54 days, performed by the orbiter Atlantis on mission STS-61-B.

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Quotes

Joe Pedowski: You're gonna try to fly this thing back?
Captain Cody Briggs: Joe, did you ever skip a flat rock across a lake and watch it skim and bounce along the surface? I wanna give reentry that kind of shot.
Joe Pedowski: I have skipped a few rocks on a few lakes in my time and I never saw yet one that didn't sink. It's one chance in a million.
Captain Cody Briggs: So was this accident.
Joe Pedowski: I am scared out of my mind being up here inside this plane and you want me to go outside?
[laughs nervously]
Joe Pedowski: oh no!
[pause]
Joe Pedowski: I'll need a wire stripper and some wire nuts... and a dry ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

While the credits list the character played by Herbert Jefferson Jr. as 'Kenny', at 1:31:57 Capt Cody Briggs (Lee Majors) addresses the character as 'Benny', in conjunction with the subtitles. At 1:32:07 the character, and the subtitles clearly note the characters name as 'Benny'

User Reviews

Last Hurrah For The 70s Disaster Genre

This might have been made in 1983 but it carries the smell of a leftover of the 70s disaster film genre and their many TV knockoffs (director Jerry Jameson being responsible among other things for "Airport 77") with the long litany of big names in the cast and cliche filled subplots. Indeed, "Starflight" is really just a reworking of the 1977 TV-movie "SST: Disaster In The Sky" when you get down to it only this time we have the silly wrinkle of a hypersonic plane getting forced into orbit somehow by accident. There then follows the hilarious implausibility of a single space shuttle that is somehow able to be launched at a moment's notice, then land and relaunch within a couple hours (it actually takes days to get a shuttle hooked up to a new external tank and rocket boosters and then get rolled out to the launch pad). And then get a load of this: Pilot Lee Majors is insistent that the entire crew stay aboard to the end, stewardesses included, but oops, when it comes to the stewardess that he's shacking up with (Lauren Hutton) he makes darn certain that she alone among the crew gets a privileged pass off the ship before the moment of danger comes in re-entry! Guess the moral of the story is if you want to avoid the danger of possible death, make certain you're sleeping around with the people in authority.

And by the way "Goulash" from Bombay, if you're a real person who really loved this movie that much, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.....

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Starflight One

Filming Locations:

Laird International Studio - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orgolini-Nelson Productions, Orion Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1