While an unseen passenger buys some lipstick, lead pilot Charlton Heston (as Henry "Hank" O'Hara) prepares for a flight from Oakland to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Unfortunately, the "Global Airways" plane is going to suffer from some significant human turbulence. It starts when TV's pretty "Partridge Family" teenager Susan Dey (as Elly Brewster) visits the rest room. She dashes out to notify the crew there is a message on the mirror, "Bomb on plane. Divert to Anchorage Alaska. No joke no tricks death," written in lipstick...MGM and producer Walter Seltzer got some skilled professionals to work on this film, to no avail. It was obviously intended to make the same box office flight as "Airport" (1970), and is a tepid variation of that all-star mega-hit. However, "Skyjacked" is a bad trip. The home video sleeve markets it as a "Cult Camp Classic," which is making lemonade with a lemon. Soldering passenger James Brolin (as Jerome "Jerry" Weber) threatens to over-camp Mr. Heston, but the older actor conserves his strength for a spectacular finish.*** Skyjacked (1972-05-24) John Guillermin ~ Charlton Heston, James Brolin, Yvette Mimieux, Roosevelt Grier

Another Seventies Disaster, a Disaster Movie that Viewers Today Love to Poke Fun and some even call these Things Camp Classics. But in 1972 it was a Stinker and no Amount of Glossing Over its Inanities could make it anything more than a Boring Bunch of Passengers on board a Commercial Flight with a Former Military Pilot hoping to keep Control of "His" Airplane from a Nutjob Determined to Fill Two Hours of Screen Time with Clichéd Scene Chewing among the Clichéd People that Populate these Things.Bland, Hardly Exciting Waste of Time Watching Blurry Flashbacks that Attempt to Add Weight to the Proceedings and come off as nothing more than Sopa Opera Filler. There isn't an Interesting Character Aboard of the 100 Souls and the Tension is too Choreographed and Badly Edited to Amount to Much. This is Anything but Sure Handed Filmmaking. What's with all the Zooms to the Lipstick Counter, wouldn't One be Enough. The Movie has got no Heart and no Intrigue and Yes, it may be Laughable but at the Expense of Your Wasted Time and Trying to get Any Fun from this is Futile. It is just Plain Bad from the Awkward Beginning to the Overly Staged Ending.

I just revisited this after not seeing it since I was 12 in a theater. I must say, this movie holds up quite well. Yes, it is dated in places, but a 40-year old film naturally will be. Good suspense, a little soap opera fluff here and there, but never gets in the way of the story. Much more serious in overall tone than "Airport" from just a couple years earlier. Brolin is excellent as the crazed ex-soldier, and Heston is very good, in probably one of his last good roles. I would recommend this for both disaster-movie buffs, and aviation buffs, as it delivers for both. Also, gotta love Partridge Susan Dey in probably her first motion picture after her TV success.

I stumbled on this movie on TCM one slow afternoon and was surprised I never heard of it with so many big names in the cast. I can see why the director, John Guillermin, didn't do anything substantial after this lame duck. Even the most rudimentary aviation credibility is lost in this film, from the ridiculous flying skills obviously exaggerated for the movie, to the laughable aviation radio-speak, and finally the cockpit not even close to resembling anything like a Boeing 707.The plot is full of holes large enough to fly a 707 through. Like the Soviet fighters didn't know the airliner was 'civilian' until Charlton Heston drops the landing gear. Huh? Does anyone know how many miles it is from Anchorage to Moscow? Almost 4500! And I didn't even know James Brolin could over-act to this degree. I could go on and on but won't.My tolerance for 1970's disaster movies is fairly high but this movie is totally intolerable to the point of laughable. And what's with the flashbacks?! Did the script mandate all the profanity and silly dialogue? It's almost as though the director wanted to make "an adult film" and used profanity to prove the point.