The Doomsday Flight
The Doomsday Flight
NR | 13 December 1966 (USA)
The Doomsday Flight Trailers

A bomb on board an airliner has an altitude-sensitive trigger. Unless a ransom is paid, it will explode when the plane descends to land.

Reviews
Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
rodrig58 51 years since it was made and very current. And well done. In fact, any film with Lalo Schifrin's music deserves a view. Schifrin is a living legend, has signed a lot of masterpieces such as "Mission: Impossible" (1966-1973), "Mannix" (1967-1975), "Dirty Harry" (1971), "Magnum Force"(1973), "Charley Varrick"(1973), "Joe Kid"(1972), "THX 1138"(1971), "Kelly's Heroes" (1968), "Once a Thief "(1965), "The Cincinnati Kid"(1965), "Cool Hand Luke"(1967), "Coogan's Bluff"(1968), etc. etc., 212 credits in 2018. William A. Graham was a very good and prolific director, an action and suspense films specialist. The cast includes many great actors: Edmond O'Brien, very good in the role of the bomb maker who place it where nobody not even think it can be, Van Johnson, as the captain of the plane, Edward Asner, John Saxon, Jack Lord, Michael Sarrazin, etc.
MartinHafer Back in 1966, "The Doomsday Flight" wasn't quite as familiar and tired a genre film as it would seem today. The "Airport" films were all made a few years later, though a few air disaster flicks had preceded it as well, such as "The High and the Mighty" and "Zero Hour!" in the 1950s. This take on the air disaster films is a bit different because it was made for television and it was written by Rod Sering. The overall effort is about as good as the better air disaster pics...and a lot better than the really bad ones (like "Airport 75").A cross country flight has many of the usual caricatures aboard. A maniac (Edmund O'Brien) calls the airport to tell them that he's put a bomb aboard the plane after it's taken off. He informs them that the bomb will automatically activate itself when the plane drops below 4000 feet! There is then a mad scramble to try to find out where the bomb is and provide the creep his ransom money if they cannot find and disarm it. The agent in charge of all this is played by Jack Lord but Gregg Morris and Ed Asner are also on hand to handle the case.The best thing about this film is probably the maniac. Edmund O'Brien is very malevolent and seems to delight on toying with everyone. It also becomes apparent that even if they pay him, he might just let the plane explode anyway!! A very tense and well made film with many aspects which were used in the parody film, "Airplane II". Worth seeing but familiar.
inspectors71 I remember watching NBC's tailored-for-television movie The Doomsday Flight about four years after it first aired in 1966, and it was fun to see all those performers who were big in 1970, from Jack Lord to Ed Asner to Michael Sarrazin. The movie is one gigantic airliner of clichés, sweaty upper lips, and the great Edmond O'Brien as a mad-as-a-Trump-supporter disgruntled bomber chewing the scenery behind glasses with lenses so thick his eyes look segmented (think Muddy the Mudskipper from Ren and Stimpy). As a 12 year old, O'Brien scared the airline peanuts out of me, and I still loved watching him a few hours ago as he snarled and whined and goobered and then vapor-locked right in front of another great character actor, Malachi Throne.Yup, old-home night on YouTube.And one last thing. There was Greg Morris (Mission Impossible) as a FBI agent. Did they shoot this before he became a regular on MI? Now, looking for an answer to that would be a great use of the internet!Along with watching ancient TV-movies, huh?
filmnoir2001 One of the best made for TV films with a an incredible cast! Especially interesting to see Jack Lord as an F.B.I. agent (in essence he is playing a character similar to Steve McGarrett, 2 years before Hawaii Five-0!)& kudos for Edmond O'Brien's chilling performance. This film which was written by Rod Serling (written in between Seven Days in May & Planet of the Apes) was not seen for many years due to a real life incident that copied the plot of the film. This would make a nice double feature with Fate Is the Hunter.