Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983) (TV)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

Robert M. Young (screenplay)
Peter R. Brooke (story)

Release Date:

27 February 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The first hypersonic flight turns into a terrifying nightmare...in space. [Australia Theatrical]

Plot:

The fictional story of the first "hypersonic" commercial passenger plane, which can make the flight from New York to London in a mere four hours...

Plot Keywords:

Passenger | Oxygen | Orbit | Disaster | NASA

Cast

Lee Majors	...	Captain Cody Briggs
Hal Linden	...	Josh Gilliam
Lauren Hutton	...	Erica Hansen
Ray Milland	...	Q. T. Thornwell
Gail Strickland	...	Nancy Gilliam
George DiCenzo	...	Bowdish (as George Di Cenzo)
Tess Harper	...	Janet Briggs
Terry Kiser	...	Freddie Barrett
Heather McAdam	...	Laurie Hansen (as Heather Mc Adam)
Michael Sacks	...	Pete
Gary Bayer	...	Martin
Pat Corley	...	Joe Pedowski
Robert Webber	...	Felix
Jocelyn Brando	...	Mrs. Harvey
Diane Stilwell	...	Betty

Also Known As:

Starflight One (USA) (video title)
Airport 85 (Philippines: English title) (theatrical title)

Runtime:

115 min | Spain:109 min | West Germany:108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Australia:G | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12

Company:

Nelson Productions

Trivia:

The movie is loosely based on the novel "Orbit" by Thomas H. Block, from 1982. In the novel, a hypersonic plane on a cruise from New York to Sidney excesses its cruise altitude due to sabotage by a revenge-seeking company engineer.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The footage of a rocket referred to as "Delta" is clearly that of the Saturn V moon rocket.

Last Hurrah For The 70s Disaster Genre

This might have been made in 1983 but it carries the smell of a leftover of the 70s disaster film genre and their many TV knockoffs (director Jerry Jameson being responsible among other things for "Airport 77") with the long litany of big names in the cast and cliche filled subplots. Indeed, "Starflight" is really just a reworking of the 1977 TV-movie "SST: Disaster In The Sky" when you get down to it only this time we have the silly wrinkle of a hypersonic plane getting forced into orbit somehow by accident. There then follows the hilarious implausibility of a single space shuttle that is somehow able to be launched at a moment's notice, then land and relaunch within a couple hours (it actually takes days to get a shuttle hooked up to a new external tank and rocket boosters and then get rolled out to the launch pad). And then get a load of this: Pilot Lee Majors is insistent that the entire crew stay aboard to the end, stewardesses included, but oops, when it comes to the stewardess that he's shacking up with (Lauren Hutton) he makes darn certain that she alone among the crew gets a privileged pass off the ship before the moment of danger comes in re-entry! Guess the moral of the story is if you want to avoid the danger of possible death, make certain you're sleeping around with the people in authority.

And by the way "Goulash" from Bombay, if you're a real person who really loved this movie that much, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.....