With a cast of 1970s TV stalwarts and a lame-sounding plot, I was preparing for the worst. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this film, although it wouldn't win any awards, was quite watchable.
A group of familiar TV faces (including Peter Graves, Robert Reed, Burgess Meredith, Bert Convy, George Maharis, Lorne Greene, Season Hubley, Doug McClure, and Tina Louise) takes off for disaster on a new supersonic airliner. The opening sequences establish that many of the characters absolutely hate each other, setting the stage for high drama in the sky. Angry bad guy Les Phillips (Maharis) sabotages the plane's hydraulic systems (apparently because he wants a promotion), leading to the inevitable crisis as the good guys (Reed, McClure, Brock Peters, and Meredith) fight to save the plane and passengers. Throw in a deadly virus that has escaped some onboard containers, and things get hairy pretty fast. Burgess Meredith saves the day with a pair of pliers, and the final crash landing seems a little contrived but overall the movie's not bad.
As with all disaster movies, the plot is pretty easy to figure out, and the next crisis is always predictable, but it was fun to see a lot of familiar 1970s actors again. Billy Crystal and Regis Philbin even appear, and boy are they young! The "special effects" are really atrocious, as an unconvincing model clumsily flies on a wire though the whole movie. However, you could do a lot worse than this TV disaster film, especially if you lived through the 70s.
PS-One final question: after Maharis sabotaged the plane, why on earth did he get on board it?
