Skyjacked (1972)

Powerful

Excellent but underrated film

Awesome Movie

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

"Skyjacked" tells the story of a commercial flight, captained by the steadfast Hank O'Hara (Charlton Heston) to Minneapolis-St. Paul. However, one of the passengers will demand that they reroute to Anchorage, threatening to blow up a bomb that they've brought on board. People on the ground and on the flight do everything they can to ensure a safe trip, even as the plane must travel through (you guessed it) stormy weather.I'll actually refrain from mentioning who the antagonist is, although I will say that it becomes too readily apparent too soon. Still, this early entry in the 1970s cycle of all-star disaster films offers reasonable entertainment. Director John Guillermin ("King Kong" '76, "The Towering Inferno") keeps things sufficiently tense, and sometimes amusing, and elicits mostly solid performances from his cast of veterans and then-newcomers. Photography, music, and action sequences are all impressively done.The rogues gallery of characters is rather standard for this sort of thing. Football legend Roosevelt Grier comes off the best as an upbeat, engaging jazz cellist. Lots of familiar faces, and some very lovely ladies: Yvette Mimieux is formidable as the strong willed head stewardess, and Susan Dey makes her film debut as a hippie type made to look suspicious by flying first class. Some performers don't get to do too much, but Walter Pidgeon, one of my favorite actors, is typically delightful as an old senator.You kind of have to put your brain in neutral for this one, but at least it isn't boring.Seven out of 10.

Skyjacked (1972) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Captain O'Hara (Charlton Heston) is on your typical flight when someone notices a bomb threat has been written on a mirror inside the bathroom. The pilot decides to follow the wishes of the unknown bomber and head the plane towards Alaska but soon the bomber identifies himself as a former soldier (James Brolin) who wants revenge against his country who he feels let him down.SKYJACKED is a fairly entertaining entry in the disaster genre, although there's no question that it doesn't really stand above the countless others out there. It's an interesting movie because it came slightly after AIRPORT, which was about a plane full of people with a bomber on board and it was a few years before AIRPORT 1975, which featured Heston and a plane that gets hit by another. There's a subplot here where the large plane comes close to colliding with a smaller one so all three films certainly share a lot of similarities.For the most part this is an entertaining film, although I think it goes on a tad bit too far and takes a little too long in getting going. It's pretty obvious from the word go who the bomber is going to be but the film tries to milk it as a mystery. This works for a little while but there comes a point where it's obvious yet the film still tries to milk the mystery. The finale of the film also manages to be a letdown but I'm going to avoid spoilers so I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen it. The film could have ended in countless ways but what's here wasn't all that entertaining or fulfilling. I haven't read the novel that the film is based on so I'm not sure if it's the same. Another problem with the film are some extremely silly and melodramatic flashback sequences that really kills whatever drama the film has built up.There are some fun performances here including Heston who plays it rather straight and serious. He's certainly good in the film and even Brolin comes across good in his psychotic role. He's actually much better here than he would be in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, another picture that required him to play crazy. The supporting cast includes nice performances from Yvette Mimieux, Claude Atkins, Jeanne Crain and Roosevelt Grier who steals the film with his fun natured performance.SKYJACKED features some very good cinematography and the action scenes contain a decent amount of drama but there's no doubt that this falls well short of being among the genre's best films. If you like disaster movies it's certainly worth watching but only after you've seen some of the better options in the genre.

Commercial airliner piloted by Charlton Heston is hijacked by someone claiming to have a bomb. Whether you consider it a knockoff of Airport or not, it's very much in the same vein as that film and its sequels. I see IMDb gives away the identity of the hijacker in their summary which is weird since the first 40 minutes of the movie is about that mystery. No spoilers here though.Full of the stereotypical cast you might expect from an Airport movie: the pilot and stewardess who used to have a thing (Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux), aging stars (Walter Pidgeon, Jeanne Crain), up-and-coming youngsters (Susan Dey and future Spider-Man Nicholas Hammond), professional athlete (Rosie Greer), pregnant lady (Mariette Hartley), and a troubled soldier (James Brolin). The tension aboard the plane is pretty good but the dated flashback sequences are silly. Not bad of its type. First 45 minutes or so is best. If you like the Airport movies you'll surely like this.

It's really amazing that people like to fly today considering all the air disaster films Hollywood has made over the years. There was a trickle during the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s (with such films as "Five Came Back" and "Zero Hour!" and "The High and the Mighty"). However, in the 1970s, it became an absolute phenomenon. Following "Airport" (1970), there were a flood of sequels as well as this film, "Skyjacked". It's really a wonder that ANYONE flew after seeing these films! "Skyjacked" is interesting in that Charlton Heston starred as the pilot in this one...and was also a pilot in "Airport 75". He does not, however, play the same character (thank goodness!).The film begins with a star-studded cast of passengers boarding an airplane. However, shortly after the plane leaves the airport, one of the passengers reports that they found something interesting in the restroom--a message written in lipstick on the mirror that says that there is a bomb planted aboard. To make it seem like it's NOT a crank, the person who left the message also left a detonator for the staff to find! Shortly after, one of the flight attendants finds a message on her cart instructing that the plane must change course to anchorage NOW or else! What's to happen to the plane and the innocent people and who is the hijacker--if there is one? Tune in and see.I was surprised by this one. Although I hated the sequels to "Airport", "Skyjacked" actually works quite well and is a tense little thriller. Now I am not saying it is a great film--the flashback subplot seemed totally unnecessary and dumb. Plus, the childbirth scene on the plane made me laugh, as the kid looked about a month old AND came out 100% clean! Sorry to say, it really doesn't work that way! By the way, if you care the 'Russian' fighter planes are actually American F-100s. You cannot blame the film company, as it wasn't like they could borrow some Soviet MiG fighters for the production!