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

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

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

Release Date:

27 February 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | 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 | Disaster | Space Shuttle | Rescue | Aviation

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 Duncan
Jocelyn Brando	...	Mrs. Harvey
Diane Stilwell	...	Betty

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

105 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:

Continuity: When the passenger tube explodes due to a spark igniting oxygen, both Starflight and Columbia should also have been destroyed.

I can admit that I still enjoy this made for TV movie.

When I saw this film during it's first airing back in 1983, at the age of 14, I thought it was a good movie. It had one of my favorite actors, Lee, the Six-Million Dollar Man, Majors in it. My generation also grew up on disaster films and this movie carried on the torch. Actually it is probably one of the last of the 70'ish type disaster movies. The plot, IMO, closely resembled that of AIRPORT-77, only this plane was stranded in space instead of underwater in the ocean.

I, especially now as an adult, can see why people may dislike this film. Although this film is supposed to be realistic it is about as realistic as and child's fairy tale. You know what, I don't care. I still enjoy this film. I don't watch a film like this for the real life science and technology. I watch it for fun and take the science and technology about as seriously as I do that of a Star Trek film or show.

Chezzy films may not be for everyone but for those that don't mind a little cheese this film will probably be worth viewing, at least once.