''The Doomsday Flight'' is a 1966 American thriller

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

written by

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his Anthology series, anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone (1 ...

and directed by William Graham. The cast includes

Jack Lord John Joseph Patrick Ryan (December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998), best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer. He starred as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television progr ...

Edmond O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (; September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor of stage, screen, and television, and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on th ...

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American actor and dancer. He had a prolific career in film, television, theatre and radio, which spanned over 50 years, from 1940 to 1992. He was a major star at Metr ...

, Katherine Crawford,

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

, Richard Carlson and

Ed Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is most notable for portraying Lou Grant on the sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977) and drama '' Lou Grant'' (1977–1982), making him one of the few ...

.''The Doomsday Flight'' (1966)
on YouTube It aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

on 13 December 1966. The film concerns a bomb placed on an

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

, and the efforts to locate it before it explodes. The terrorist who placed the bomb demands money in exchange for necessary information. The film inspired real-life copycat incidents involving bomb threats.

Plot

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...

, a

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...

airliner takes off for New York. Shortly after takeoff, the airline receives a bomb threat. The stranger on the telephone asks for a sum of $100,000 in small denominations. He also states that the bomb is hidden in the cabin. The stranger is actually a former engineer who worked in the aviation industry. The company Chief Pilot Bob Shea decides to warn the flight crew. He orders pilot Capt. Anderson, to circle around Las Vegas. He also asks the flight crew to search for the bomb on board. It is revealed that the bomb has an aneroid, altitude-sensitive switch and will detonate if the aircraft lands. Meanwhile, the search to find the bomb on board the flight involves the opening of passenger hand luggage and tearing open several areas in the cabin and cockpit. All efforts are unsuccessful. The passengers are alerted to the emergency and start to panic. The bomb threat caller telephones again to tell the police how to pay the ransom. A delivery man will simply come to the airport and take the money. The police follow the van closely, but the van has a serious accident on a ring road and catches fire. The terrorist has trouble believing the police who confirm that they are preparing a second payment. He seeks refuge at a bar, where he drinks a lot and starts talking to the bartender who is suspicious of the caller. When the caller has a heart attack, the bartender calls the police who come running, but the man is dead. The FBI Special Agent Frank Thompson then interrogates the bartender asking him to report the exact words of the terrorist. The police discover that the bomb will explode if the airliner drops below 4,000 feet. The chief pilot then decides to tell the flight crew to land the aircraft at

Stapleton International Airport Stapleton International Airport was a major airport in the western United States, and the primary airport of Denver, Colorado. It opened on October 17, 1929, and was replaced by the current Denver International Airport in 1995. It was a hub f ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, whose altitude is higher, and landing there will not trigger the bomb. After the airliner is safely on the ground, the flight crew meet in the airline operations room of his company. In the end, by chance, the bomb is discovered where it was least expectedin the pilot's chart case.

Cast

as FBI Special Agent Frank Thompson *

as The Man, Bomb Threat Caller *

as Captain Anderson, Pilot * Katherine Crawford as Jean *

as George Ducette, a celebrity on flight * Richard Carlson as Chief Pilot Bob Shea *

Edward Faulkner Fielden Edward Faulkner II (born February 29, 1932, in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American film and television character actor. He is most known for his roles in John Wayne films, including ''Hellfighters'', ''The Green Berets'', ''Rio Lobo'', ...

as Co-Pilot Reilly * Tom Simcox as Flight Engineer *

Michael Sarrazin Michael Sarrazin (May 22, 1940 – April 17, 2011) ...

as Army Corporal with

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

Edward Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is most notable for portraying Lou Grant on the sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977) and drama '' Lou Grant'' (1977–1982), making him one of the few ...

as Mr. Feldman *

Malachi Throne Malachi Throne (December 1, 1928 – March 13, 2013) was an American actor known as Noah Bain on '' It Takes a Thief''. He also had guest-starring roles on multiple television series, including ''Star Trek'' and ''Batman'', and appeared in films ...

as The Bartender * Jan Shepard as Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson *

Greg Morris Francis Gregory Alan Morris (September 27, 1933 – August 27, 1996) was an American actor. He was best known for portraying Barney Collier on the television series '' Mission: Impossible'' and Lieutenant David Nelson on ''Vega$''. Early lif ...

as FBI Agent Balaban * David Lewis as Mr. Rierdon, Personnel Director, Aviation Co. *

Howard Caine Howard Caine (born Howard Elmer Cohen; January 2, 1926 – December 28, 1993) was an American character actor, probably best known as Gestapo Major Wolfgang Hochstetter in the television series ''Hogan's Heroes'' (1965–71). He also played ...

as Mack, L.A. Dispatcher

Production

The film was the second in a series of at least twelve movies made for television by Universal for NBC. The films were budgeted between $750,000 and $1,250,000 and would air on Tuesday and Saturday nights. Some would be pilots for series. It was the first TV movie for John Saxon.

Release

''The Doomsday Flight'' premiered in Canada on CTV on 10 December 1966, and on

in the United States on 13 December 1966. On NBC, it was the most watched made-for-TV movie to that time, with a

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the #Nielsen TV ...

of 27.5 and an audience share of 48% until it was surpassed by ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

'' in 1968. ''The Doomsday Flight'' was released theatrically in cinemas in other countries around the world,"Release Information: 'The Doomsday Flight' (1966)."
IMDb, 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019. and distributed by the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...

in the UK."Distribution: 'The Doomsday Flight' (1966)."
IMDb, 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019. MCA Home Video released "The Doomsday Flight" on VHS in 1986.

Reception

In a contemporary review by J. Gould in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' decried the "exploitation of bomb scares on passenger airplanes" engendered by ''The Doomsday Flight''.

Copycats and FAA concerns

''The Doomsday Flight'' led to copycats who would call airlines and claim to have a similar bomb aboard a flight. A notable attempt was the Qantas bomb hoax in 1971, when a caller claimed to have placed such a bomb. The man actually placed a bomb at the

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport — colloquially Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney Airport or Mascot Airport — is an international airport serving Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district, in the subu ...

, leading officials to take the threat seriously and pay out $500,000 to the person.Trumbull, Robert
"Australian Airline pays $560,000 in bomb hoax."
''The New York Times'', 27 May 1971. In 1971 the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

urged television stations in the United States not to air the film, on the basis that the film could inspire other emotionally unstable individuals to commit the same or similar acts as the villain in the film.Buckhorn,. Robert F
"TV stations asked to ban 'Domesday Flight'."
''The Bryan Times'', (Google News Archive Search, Google), 11 August 1971. Retrieved 16 August 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doomsday Flight, The 1966 television films 1966 films 1966 in American television 1960s American films 1960s disaster films 1960s English-language films 1960s thriller films American aviation films American disaster films American thriller television films Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films about terrorism in the United States Films directed by William Graham (director) Films scored by Lalo Schifrin Films set in Denver Films set in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Rod Serling NBC original films English-language thriller films