Skyjacked

U.S.A. | 1972 Directed by John Guillermin Starring Charlton Heston Yvette Mimieux James Brolin Color | 102 Minutes | PG Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC) Warner Home Video

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Also available in the Cult Camp Collection, Vol. 3: Terrorized Travelers

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6     5   10 = Highest Rating   Guest Review by Rod Barnett

I've never been a big fan of disaster films but over the last few years I've begun to appreciate them. I think it's the 70s-ishness of the genre that appeals to me more than anything else. I find a lot of joy in the time capsule feel of watching these movies that are so much of a time I was too young to remember well. Everything from the clothes and architecture to the sometimes radically different attitudes of the characters fascinate me. In a time before political correctness or any self awareness of the inherent arrogance of white men in power, it can be entertaining to just watch the testosterone seep out of the screen. And no one actor sums up the casual privilege of being 'The Man' more than The Omega Man himself, Charlton Heston. I think I'm starting to enjoy his steely-eyed, granite-faced solidity more with each passing year. In the movies he made in the 1970s it's almost always hard to take him seriously but it's a lot of fun to watch him teeter constantly on the verge of gnawing the scenery apart. Maybe I get too much entertainment out of his performances but you gotta take what you can get sometimes. Luckily, Skyjacked offers more than the intense Mr. Heston slinging his machismo about.     Clearly one of the inspirations for Airplane (1980), the movie is chock full of amusing clichés, short-form melodrama and As The World Turns-style pining. Captain Hank O'Hara (Heston) is an ex-military flyer who has been a commercial airline pilot for years. Cool, competent and commanding, he and his flight crew are set for a routine morning run to Minneapolis. Outside of a broken latch on one engine spotted by the amazingly eagle-eyed captain, everything seems to be in order for a smooth ride. At least physically! The last minute replacement for an ill stewardess (always women — it's the '70s) is Angela (Yvette Mimieux). It seems that Angela and Hank have a history together that neither are completely over. Further complicating this romantic wound is the new relationship between Angela and the flight's co-pilot (Mike Henry). But these people are professionals and so checklists are run through and passengers seated.     There are plenty of interesting folks on the flight. There's the elderly U.S. senator (Walter Pidgeon) and his college age son (Nicholas Hammond), expectant mother Mariette Hartley, attractive pseudo-hippie chick Susan Dey, cello player Rosey Grier (The Thing With Two Heads, credited as "Roosevelt") and his seatmate, army sergeant Jerome K. Weber (James Brolin), who's on his way to see his sister get married. Or is he? I'm not giving anything away by telling you that Brolin is the titular "skyjacker". The DVD menu page gives it away; the back of the DVD case gives it away. I'm surprised the film doesn't start with a disclaimer that not all military vets go nuts and take over airliners! This is a shame as the mystery of who the hijacker might be is a fun one, with suspicion cast over several passengers until Brolin comes completely unglued.     The tension begins with a note written on the bathroom mirror, scrawled in lipstick, after the plane is already in flight. The writer claims to have a bomb and demands the plane change course to Anchorage, Alaska. Initially leery of the threat the Captain radios in the information and has the navigator plot the change. But he doesn't turn the plane toward Alaska until a second lipstick note turns up on the beverage cart. This one warns of violence if his demands aren't met — and so off to Anchorage it is. O'Hara briefs the passengers and lets them know that there is someone on board claiming to have a bomb. Amazingly calm, everyone starts looking at everyone else with suspicion but it's Rosie that has the lucky seat next to Sgt. Weber. As the young soldier gets more drunk, Rosie suspects something is wrong and huddles with the captain to discuss the problem. But even though Rosie remains very careful when dealing with his seatmate, Weber eventually snaps, pulling a handgun and a grenade to take over the plane. O'Hara manages to land the jet in Anchorage in very bad weather and tries to convince his deranged passenger to call it a day. But Jerome K. Weber has another plan entirely. He's going to Moscow and the captain and everyone on the plane is going with him.     The movie does a good job of building tension for the most part, with only the unfortunate cheese factor interfering at almost every turn. For instance, Weber's insanity is hinted at in a flashback showing him being welcomed home and decorated in a military ceremony. But this scene doesn't stand out because by the time we see it we've already been shown a few hysterical flashbacks explaining the romance between Heston and Yvette Mimieux. These soap opera-like sequences are giggle-inducing with their soft focus smiles and doomed love music. When the last of these hysterical scenes reveals the reason for the relationship's failure (Heston's married to another woman!) you have to shake you head in wonder. Ah, the horrors of middle-aged adultery! I was beginning to think that we were going to be subjected to maudlin flashbacks for all the plane's passengers for awhile and was anticipating some of the silliness they might show but sadly we only get a few. That's a shame as these are some of the funniest things the film has to offer and more would have forced me to jack the rating up a point.     The film sports more than just this for camp value, though. It's loaded with nutty dialog that continues to play again and again in my head days afterward. I love the co-pilot's comforting of Mimeux by saying, "It's just a bomb." Or the gooey young love conversations between Hammond and Dey as they cling to each other in the crisis. And of course nearly every jut-jawed line delivered by Heston is a potential camp gem. Overall the film is a strange mix. There are some really great moments of nail-biting suspense side by side with some truly cartoonish melodrama. I'm sure the film was taken seriously in 1972 but I'm afraid the best approach for someone today is to expect silliness and be surprised by the segments that offer something more. I enjoyed Skyjacked more than I ever thought I would but I have a high camp tolerance. Your mileage may vary... and Moscow is a long trip.

Warner Brothers has issued the film on DVD in a bare-bones edition with just the movie and nothing else. The film is presented 2.35 widescreen (enhanced for 16x9 TVs) and the soundtrack is in Dolby stereo. Subtitles are offered in English and French but that is all you'll find. Image quality is very good; widescreen viewing is essential for understanding many of the shots inside the plane. I'd hate to think what lopping off the sides of the picture would do to the more exciting moments the story has to offer.     This DVD can be bought on its own or as part of the three-disc Cult Camp Collection, Vol. 3: Terrorized Travelers, which also contains 1967's Hot Rods To Hell and another Airplane influence, Zero Hour! (1957). 8/02/07

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