Senteur
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Matylda Swan
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
mark.waltz
Yes, I laughed. No, I could not turn my head away. What was I laughing at? Robert Stack as the very serious pilot? (Don't call him Shirley...) Sonny Bono as a rock and roll star passenger? Danny Bonaduce as a prankster passenger who responds to Polly Bergen's acerbic comment about the fact that she bites, "Don't worry. I've had my shots." Then, how about cute old lady Molly Picon, the Jewish Helen Hayes? Farrah Fawcett (then Majors) in the ugliest sweater/stewardess uniform I've ever seen? A priest who apparently wears nail polish? A white-haired Fernando Lamas in a tacky outfit? I could go on with details of this all-star "Airport" rip-off (probably forgotten by the time that the Zucker brothers got to "Airplane" 'till Robert Stack reminded them about it) but I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of what you get to see.The basic plot line of this Aaron Spelling tele-feature is actually pretty suspenseful, dramatizing the efforts of Stack to discover which of his passengers sent a warning that there would be murders on his flight. It's the execution of this "Motel 6" variation of the "Grand Hotel" theme that makes it silly, although there are a few tense moments concerning doctor Ralph Bellamy treating a heart attack victim (Theodore Bikel) he discovers has been sending him threatening letters and the parents (Laraine Day and Dane Clark) of a deceased girl and the rock star (Sonny) they blame for her drug-overdose. Bergen's dipsomaniac character gets some of the best lines (all bitchy of course), but she exposes through hints in her eyes that the character is pathetically lonely and miserable. Lamas's outfit is so '70's tacky that his character is very difficult to take seriously, especially in the memory of Billy Crystal's later impressions of him.A cute pairing is Picon with Walter Pidgeon, almost a nod to "Funny Girl" considering that after Fanny Brice, Ms. Picon is the most famous Jewish female comic and that Pidgeon played Florenz Ziegfeld to Barbra Streisand's Fanny. As each of them reveals an aspect of themselves, you see a spark growing. I dare any anti-Semite not to watch Ms. Picon and not fall in love with her. She is just so adorable, but it is obvious that she was cast for this novelty part both on the strength of her success as Yente in the movie version of "Fiddler on the Roof" and her slight resemblance to "Airport's" Helen Hayes.The identity of the villain is not surprising considering how they are introduced, and there is where the inadequacies of the teleplay come into being. Even in mid 1970's travel, the TSA (mentioned here) would be more capable in identifying possible criminals. However, with that cast and a script filled with more bad lines than a "Mystery Science Theater", this ends up becoming a guilty pleasure that the audience can have a delightful time laughing at and yet feel nostalgic at the same time.
garyldibert
TITLE: MURDER ON FLIGHT 502 was release in theaters in the United States on November 21 1975 and it takes 100 minutes to watch this movie. Murder On Flight 502 is a 1975 made-for-TV movie starring Robert Stack, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Sonny Bono, Danny Bonaduce, and Fernando Lamas - After a Boeing 747-100 takes off from New York City to London, a mysterious note turns up at the airport stating that passengers aboard the flight will be killed before the Boeing 747-100 lands on Heathrow. This creates a twist on the classic whodunit suspense format that may be described as "Who's going to do it to whom?" — as all of the quirky passengers seem like potential culprits and/or victims. At first, the note is brushed off as a prank, but the plot thickens considerably once passengers do begin turning up murdered. Peter Graves plays the airplane's Captain, and would go on to play the same role as Captain Oveur in 1980's Airplane! Robert Stack also appears in that movie as a Captain.SUMMARY: With a noteworthy cast of film and television stars, that includes Farrah Fawcett, Sony Bono, Ralph Bellamy, Robert Stack, and Fernando Lamas, this thrilling whodunit reaches true heights of terror. As a 747 jumbo jet departs from New York en route to London, an ominous letter is found in the first class lounge of Kennedy Airport stating that a series of murders will take place on board the flight before it lands. Initially dismissed as a twisted joke, the threat becomes all too real when the first body is found. However, it is only after the discovery of a second victim that the clues begin to reveal the motives behind the deaths. The list of suspects implicates both passengers and crew as the captain and a police detective attempt to piece together the mounting evidence and unveil the homicidal maniac before he strikes again.MY THOUGHTS: All and all the weasel gives this movie 8 star. As far as Farrah Fawcett Majors goes, she did a great job at being the flight attendant in charge.
Stephanie Jonsdottir
You know why I gave this a 10? Because I watched it two nights ago with a friend and we laughed the whole way through. It is so deadpan that you could never accuse the cast of taking it seriously. The production values are bottom of the barrel, at the beginning of the film the cast congregate in the TOA first class lounge that is supposed to be at JFK airport in New York, however the 'Theme Building' at LAX is clearly visible out the window as well as several palm trees. I am an airplane buff so I notice when things don't match up in films involving airplanes, but anyone can see that the different shots of the plane in this film are clearly of several different airlines, and the shot of the plane taking off is actually a plane landing. I remember watching it on TV when I was younger and thinking it reminded me of an Agatha Christie story on an airplane, and that's basically what it is. the story is good, the set is so so, an earlier review mentions the lawn furniture and cheese display in the planes upper deck, that got a good laugh from us as well. On an interesting note, the stewardess uniforms that Brooke Adams and Farrah Fawcett are wearing were actual uniforms for TWA and can also be seen in 'Catch Me if You Can' at the end when Leonardo DiCaprio climbs out of the plane through the toilet. This movie deserves audience participation, or at least a drinking game.
sol
***SPOILERS*** Self-centered obnoxious and all around pain in the butt young Millard Kensington, Danny Bonaduce,pulls off one of his brainless practical jokes at the JFK Airport lounge just after Flight 502 went airborne. Danny antics alerted the crew on the plane as well as the police in NY and London to a letter that was left there for airport security chief Robert Davenport, George Maharis, stating that a number of murders were to have to happened on that flight. After a harmless smoke bomb went off in the lounge Davenport noticed a letter, that he was supposed to get later, addressed to him in the in mail chute saying that whoever wrote it was responsible for the murders on Flight 502. Knowing now ahead of time what was to happen the crew and passengers at least knew what to expect and be able to apprehend the killer before he got away when the plane landed even though in the end it didn't prevent them from stopping the murders. Top-flight cast in this low-budget made-for-TV movie about a peaceful flight over the Atlantic that turns into a terror trip with an unknown and unseen killer on the loose on board. Having a personal grudge against some the crew and passengers on the plane he plans to make them pay with their lives now for what they did to him, and members of his family, in the past. Your given a number of clues to who the killer is with a number of the passengers having it in for each other. There's also a number of sinister and unsavory characters on the flight as well.Those on Flight 502 who may be involved in the killings are Otto Gruenwaldt, Theodore Bikel, who's vengeful and has it in for passenger Dr. Walker, Ralph Bellamy, for not coming to his wife's aid that lead to her death. Dr. Walker was at a party and didn't want to be disturbed at the time. There's Ray Garwood, Dane Clark, who has it in for passenger and rock musician Jack Marshall, Sonny Bono, who Ray's daughter, a Jack Marshall groupie, overdosed in Marshall's hotel room while partying with his band. There's Paul Barons, Fernando Lamas, who's an exonerated bank robber, who was involved in a seven million bank heist where a security was killed, There's the person sitting next to Barons on the flight famous mystery/murder writer Mona Briarly,Polly Bergen, who's is really getting on his nerves by bringing up that unpleasant fact. There's also a Priest, Don Hammer, who's not a priest at all but is impersonating one who died some four months ago! Is he using that disguise to throw off the crew and passengers to him being the killer.The movie keeps you guessing until the flight almost touches down in London to who the killer is and what his motives are that leads to a shoot out and fire that almost has the plane crash with it's 250 passengers and crew. Robert Stack is his usual take charge and confident self as the pilot Captain Larkin and both Farrah Fawcett and Brook Adams are pretty appealing as the two stewardesses on the plane who are more then what you at first you thought they were. I found the scene between Dane Clark and Sonny Bono, as the distraught father Ray Garwood and entertainer Jack Marshall, who Ray held Jack responsible for his daughter death really moving, as well as explosive. It more then lifted up the movie "Murder on Flight 502" a couple notches, or hundred feet, higher then your average made-for-TV-movie or even theatrical release for that matter.
