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"Skyjacked," one of many "air disaster" films from "The High and the Mighty" to "Airport", is one of the best in the genre. Featuring a star-studded cast headed by Charlton Heston (as the pilot, of course) and Yvette Mimieux (head stewardess), it's a fast-paced, efficient study in suspense. Basically a story involving the attempted hijacking of a commercial airplane, it focuses on a small group of first class passengers who provide both the drama and occasional (intended) humor. Among them are a middle-aged couple (Ross Elliot and Jeanne Crain) worried about yet another job transfer, a senator and his son (Walter Pidgeon and Nicholas Hammond) a "hippie girl" (Susan Dey, on leave from "The Partridge Family" in her screen debut), a jazz musician (former football great Rosey Grier) and of course, a pregnant woman (Mariette Hartley), who is due any minute (apparently, the nun missed this flight). Also aboard is a young sergeant (James Brolin, who fit this in between seasons of "Marcus Welby MD). Last, but not least is Leslie Uggams making her film debut, as an assistant stewardess.

Despite the occasionally unintentionally funny dialogue and predictable situations which, let's face it, go with the territory, the film has enough action and melodrama to be consistently entertaining. The cast give it their all. Far more interesting than the love triangle between Heston, Mimeux and co-pilot Mike Henry (which is established in a few ludicrous, but mercifully short flashbacks) are the performances of those who play the passengers. Crain, as lovely as ever, (in her first film in five years,and her last) gets to assist in the delivery of Hartley's baby,(neither she, nor ''Co Midwife'' Mimieux can sing, and Grier won't turn his guitar loose, so we are spared an in-flight, improvised ballad) as well as a chance to attack the villain. Pidgeon doesn't have to say much to give his character authority, Hartley is charming, and Susan Dey is both natural and appealing. As for Grier, he displays a genial screen presence while Brolin even evokes a bit of viewer sympathy.

"Skyjacked" was a big hit when it was first released and got a big audience rating when it was shown on television as "Sky Terror". The photography is excellent, the music by Perry Botkin, Jr. ("Nadia's Theme") is unobtrusively effective, and the main theme is beautiful. Although "Airport 1975" was waiting in the wings, so to speak, "Skyjacked" holds it's own. It will be released this June on DVD in it's original Panavision aspect ratio. I for one, can't wait!

Had this been made by Universal Studios instead of MGM, they might well have called it AIRPORT '72, so closely does it follow the template of that popular disaster movie series; it even casts Charlton Heston as a pilot two years prior to his playing a similar role in AIRPORT 1975. The film introduces us to the personal lives of several passengers, including a U.S. Senator (Walter Pidgeon), a jazz cellist (football legend Roosevelt Grier), a smart-mouthed teenage girl (Susan Dey from The Partridge Family), and a very pregnant lady (Mariette Hartley, who used to do those cute Polaroid commercials with James Garner)who probably shouldn't be flying to begin with at this late stage. There's also an unusually twitchy Vietnam vet on board (hammily played by James Brolin) which should remove all doubt as to who is leaving scary notes on the bathroom mirror and threatening to blow up the plane if his demand to be flown to Moscow isn't met. Yvette Mimieux and Leslie Uggams appear as two of the best-looking flight attendants in aviation history (they were called stewardesses back then, but then again that was a time when you could also smoke openly on a commercial airplane.) TV's Claude Akins shows up in the control tower, essentially playing George Kennedy. This sounds pretty ridiculous, and in some ways it is, but director John Guillermin (The Blue Max, The Towering Inferno) keeps up a brisk pace and makes this quite watchable, for what it is.

If only all we had to fear today were hijackers.

As any film about an airplane made before 9/11, Skyjacked is badly dated but it's a real kick.

The plane wasn't full, first class was nearly empty - when was the last time anyone saw that? People entered and left the cockpit as though it was the Holiday Inn.

There was both a bomb and gun on board inside a carry-on satchel.

None of the carry-on baggage was screened.

People were smoking.

Roosevelt Grier could fit in a seat.

The story itself concerns a soldier from Crazytown (James Brolin) who hijacks the plane to take him to Moscow where he expects some sort of decoration for his service. Charlton Heston is the pilot. There are three people in the cockpit, which is a practice I recommend for all airlines now that a pilot left one cockpit and couldn't get back in.

Yvette Mimeux and Leslie Uggams are two of the flight attendants; Mimeux had a hot romance with the married pilot and is now engaged to the copilot.

Mariette Hartley plays a woman about to give birth.

Susan Dey is a hippie and a good suspect for leaving lipstick notes on the bathroom mirror.

It's a typical airplane story. There were some very exciting moments, particularly when the plane attempted to land in Alaska. There were some dumb moments: why Heston had to suggest the passengers deplane -- he was in the cockpit with James Brolin - the flight attendants, one would have thought, could have come up with that themselves. He also had to tell Yvette Mimiuex in code to deploy the chute and get the passengers out. Again, they couldn't have figured that out? Some parts of this were quite entertaining, and it's certainly worth seeing to look at old airline procedures. Flying was a lot simpler. And I wonder if it's any safer now.

Lots of familiar TV faces from the '70s and '80s besides those mentioned: Nicholas Hammond, who is still working, the late Claude Akins, Ken Swofford, now retired; the late Ross Elliott, Newhart's John Fiedler, and Magnum's John Hillerman, now retired. And two stars of the classic era of films: Walter Pidgeon, 75 then, and Jeanne Crain in her last film. If anyone is wondering, Jeanne Crain at 47 was still beautiful.

Routine airline flight, piloted by none other than Charlton Heston, is beset with hijack warnings via notes left on the lavatory mirror. Could the psycho-on-board be musician Roosevelt "Rosie" Grier? Sweaty soldier James Brolin? Hippie Susan Dey or boy toy Nicholas Hammond? What about distraught stewardess Yvette Mimieux--has she cracked under pressure? Genre disaster flick slipped into theaters in between 1970's "Airport" and its many sequels, and actually was quite a hit at the box-office (but in this era, what Charlton Heston movie wasn't?). Unfortunately, once all is revealed--in rather anticlimactic fashion--the last reel is extremely dire. Still, for the first three-quarters of its length, "Skyjacked" provides just the kind of silly thrills you'd expect from a movie with that title and cast. Speaking of titles, "Skyjacked" was RE-TITLED "Sky Terror" once it premiered on network television. No sense frightening anyone into thinking this might be a documentary. ** from ****

I was really surprised by this film, one, I had never actually seen it, and two, it was well worth seeing.

I did, however, find it very frustrating. Not through the plot or the acting or anything like that, but it was full of actors and actresses, whose faces were familiar to me, I spent about half the film wondering who had been in what, I couldnt wait to get on here and find out.

Charlton Heston was his always accomplished self, no more and no less, and he is always very good. James Brolin played a military section 8 well indeed, or at least I assume that is a way in which a section 8 would be, not like Klinger in M*A*S*H!

All together a very good film, well worth watching, and in truth probably suffered unfairly against the films of the day, The Godfather and The French Connection to name but two.

Not necessarily one for the collection, but worth seeing all the same.