CHARLTON HESTON 'SKYJACKED' YVETTE MIMIEUX & SUSAN DEY

Susan Dey in Skyjacked YEAR: 1972

Some of the best elements of hijacking, plane crashing, ship sinking, building burning or any other disaster type film is the setup before anything bad happens. Meeting each character beforehand, so when the tragedy occurs we care for each member during the perilous situation...

Rating: ***1/2

This 1970’s flick directed by John Guillermin starring Charlton Heston as a pilot of a skyjacked airliner, does the exact opposite: The passengers on board – including Rosie Grier as a cello player, Susan Dey as a hippie girl, Nicholas Hammond as a senator’s son, Walter Pidgeon as the Senator, Mariette Hartley as a pregnant woman; Jeanne Crain a classy older lady and Heston's DIAMOND HEAD sister Yvette Mimieux as the stewardess who’d once been linked with Heston and now dates co-pilot Mike Henry – aren’t very interesting. Except James Brolin as a high-strung Vietnam vet who needs a few drinks too many. Meanwhile, in the tower is the very in-charge Claude Akins with John Hillerman and John Fielder: the latter with a badly dubbed voice.

James Brolin goes nutty in Skyjacked RATING: ***1/2

The tension builds once a “note” on the woman’s room mirror, written in lipstick, warns of the immanent hijacking. Although the description spoils who the culprit is, the story tries its best to keep us unaware until the menace is revealed as Brolin comes to life as a jaded veteran with flashbacks of a coming home ceremony, but we never get to know any reasons for his lunacy other than the stock "well he was in Vietnam so of course he's nuts," which perhaps was good enough then but not so much anymore: making him one-dimensional and ultimately, uninteresting.

Not bad for a disaster melodrama that inserts a few horrible THE CROWDED SKY type romantic flashbacks, SKYJACKED is Heston’s ride as he plays the cool hero with ease. But as thrillers go it could have been much more intense and suspenseful before the 11th hour showdown. And anyone familiar with the TV show LOST – the final moments of this film mirrors the final moments of that show.

Susan Dey and Yvette Mimieux in Skyjacked

Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, Jeanne Crain and James Brolin in SKYJACKED

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First Class hippie Susan Dey shown over to coach by Yvette Mimieux in SKYJACKED

Jenifer Shaw as Cosmetic Salesgirl selling lipstick to unseen passenger in SKYJACKED