Panique en plein ciel

Routine disaster movie but with a knockout cast.

With a couple of exceptions, I know the whole cast of this film from other productions of the 60s or 70s - be it be QM's The Fugitive or Earthquake or whatever! That is the appeal of this film. I joyfully walked down memory lane and turned a blind eye to some of the film's dull areas (before they all get on the plane).

But if you don't know and love the cast like me - you mind this flick too routine in plot to bother with?

My vote for most memorable character is the grumpy old doctor (played by Ray Milland).

It looks like 1976 was David Janssen's year of disaster movies as he appeared in the cinema released Two-Minute Warning in the same year.

The film features a brief racist remark that I never expected in a 70s network TV movie.

Directed by Robert Butler and this is the main talking point I have about this film. In the 60s Butler directed pilots and episodes of some of TV's greatest shows (Adam West Batman, Star Trek, QM's The Invaders) so whenever I see his name at the start of a film/show - I expect massive fireworks from what is to come. When we only get mild fireworks (as is the case here) I feel a little short changed.

Mayday at 40,000 Feet is okay.

Another TV movie that I've appeal to Youtube to reassessment since 1980 when I saw it for first time, it took a ride in Airport successful as an cheap option loading the same premise, this turn a dangerous convict Greco (Marjoe Gortner) must be transport from Los Angeles to his final prison on Chicago will be a key reason of the put the commercial flight in jeopardy on board due his police escort Marshall Reese (Broderick Crawford) suffers a sudden heart attack allowing his gun at Greco's hands, between the shotgun make damages on hydraulic system and becoming the aircraft hard to control by hands.

Meanwhile all those cliches previously the fight, the co-pilot San Burkhart (Christopher George) trying to regain his former girlfriend Susan (Margareth Blye) now a widow, the Casanova flight engineer Mike Fuller (Don Meredith) looking to increase his girls trophy flirting with the gorgeous stewardess Cathy (Lynda Day George the real wife of Christopher George) without forget a baby on board and her cautius mother.

Also the grumpy old Doctor Mannheim (Ray Milland) bothering all crew over the lack of Scoth whiskey to outdrink to forget some mistakes at hospital, aftermaths of the accident on board he'll calling to help the deadly wounded passengers and at last the worried pilot Capt. Peter Douglass due his wife was on surgery to certify over a probable breast cancer, it somehow hinder your focus on flying.

The same formulaic offer on Airplane series, therefore using older actors from the past, be ready to see the famous dancer Jane Powell as chief flight attendant in plenty shape yet, fine cockpit front sequences, several fabulous snowy shooting among enough tension that improves a little bit.

Resume:

First watch: 1980 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 6.5.

One of many made-for-television clones of the hugely successful 70s "Airport" franchise. These are supposed to be disaster movies with a little bit of melodrama, but in reality, they are sappy and sentimental soap-opera dramas with just a tad bit of disaster movie processed into them. "Mayday at 40,000ft" has a great cast full of reliable names, and they all depict troubled characters with their own stories to tell. They're all united on a plane from LA to NY, with a short stop in snowy Salt Lake City to pick up an aggressive con artist with a silly hairdo. After a long wait of approximately 2/3 of the film, the convict eventually causes the mayhem by stealing the gun of the ailing Marshall (who's far too old to the job, anyway) and firing one bullet in the leg of the pilot, and another one in the plane's hydraulic system. "Mayday at 40,000ft" is never boring, but it could have used a bit faster pacing, more action, and a lot less heart-breaking dialogue. Worth checking out, for sure, in case you - like me - have a weakness for grumpy old men, like Ray Milland or Broderick Crawford.

I can imagine the pitch at the TV execs office went something like this

" You know what everyone watches at the cinema these days ? Disaster movies , so let`s get everyone out of the cinema back into the home with a disaster movie for TV "

" Great idea . We`ll get a well known TV actor and some Oscar winning actor everyone has forgotten about . How we gonna come up with a new slant on the genre ? "

" that`s easy we set it on a plane just like in AIRPORT except , except there`s a mad psycho killer aboard the plane . We could even get that crazy guy from EARTHQUAKE to play the psycho "

" With an idea and casting like that that there`s no way we can fail with this TV movie "

I beg to differ because as someone who`s seen MAYDAY AT 40,000 FEET it is a failure because someone forgot to write an interesting script

In MAYDAY AT 40,000 FEET!, we are treated to the trio of David Jansen, Christopher George, and "Dandy" Don Meredith (as Capt. Pete Douglas; Co-pilot, Stan Burkhart; and Co-co-pilot, Mike Fuller, respectively), all sharing the cockpit of a commercial airline. Indeed, we've entered 1970's made-for-TV movie territory!

Once we get their personal, soap opera lives behind us, the title comes into play. A hard-boiled cop (Broderick Crawford) is transporting an extremely dangerous, bug-eyed criminal, named Greco (My personal lord and savior, Marjoe Gortner!) aboard the plane. Greco has other plans.

How could a cop with a bum ticker, transporting a homicidal maniac, possibly be a problem?

Horror and utter chaos ensue.

Annnd, there's a baby on board!

While this movie is cheeezier than 40,000 pizzerias, it's also extremely entertaining, especially whenever Greco gets going! Nobody goes berserk like Marjoe! Nobody!

Co-stars Ray Milland as the crankiest passenger in the galaxy, and Lynda Day George as the world's most impossibly upbeat flight attendant!

Recommended for lovers of telefilm thriller extravaganzas!...