Murder on Flight 502 (1975) Reviews

• One Of Those "Light Entertainment" 70's Made For TV Movies

  sddavis632009-09-15

  Back in the 70's all the major networks would put out these made-for-TV movies, usually featuring a collection of unknowns and a good number of well known actors and actresses and for the most part they were always enjoyable, even though they were't as sophisticated or as big budget as a major motion picture. This movie was no exception. I stumbled across it on a DVD and for $2 figured it was worth a look see. I can't remember if I ever watched in on TV in the 70's, but it brought back memories of enjoyable enough nights in the living room watching the set. This is probably most notable for a pre-Charlie's Angels performance from a very lovely Farrah Fawcett as a stewardess on a flight from New York to London that has a murderer on board. In some ways it's rather preposterous. There are far too many coincidences - far too many people in the First Class section who just happened to know each other and have grievances with each other. The intent was obviously to give a large stable of possible suspects to keep the viewer guessing. In some ways it didn't work. I had the murderer figured out pretty early, and if you didn't figure it out well before it was revealed then you missed something pretty obvious. Mind you, the same could be said for the plot twist involving Fawcett's character at the end, and that took me off guard. I also couldn't figure out why the man who tried to kill singer Jack Marshall (played by Sonny Bono) is never restrained, but ends up back in First Class with his wife as if nothing had happened - he just tried to kill a guy with a knife! This was clearly made by Aaron Spelling as lightly entertaining TV mystery to keep people occupied for a couple of hours in front of their TV screens. With folks like Robert Stack, Walter Pidgeon, Danny Bonaduce, etc., it's pretty good fun. 6/10

• Unintentionally Hilarious Airplane Murder Mystery

  jonspader2005-02-01

  If you've seen Airplane!, enjoyed Airplane! and perhaps wondered where Airplane! got some of its inspiration from, check out Murder on Flight 502. My brother found it for the astounding price of one dollar American, and for that single bill you get Robert Stack, Farrah Fawcett, Sonny Bono, and...Danny Bonaduce? Oh, but yes. And there's more. As the film tepidly moves along, begging you to find the murderer among the passengers before anyone is actually murdered, you'll be treated to outrageous mid-70's fashion (brown is IN!), bizarre character backgrounds, and the hottest burgeoning romance this side of Harold and Maude, an elderly Jewish woman and an elderly Methodist known only as Uncle Charlie. "Ah...I know half the story already!" says the elderly woman slyly after Uncle Charlie introduces himself, and believe me, you will know every sundry detail of Uncle Charlie's hard knock life, even though it's probably better that you didn't. You will see Sonny Bono sing, and you will realize why Cher was much better on her own. Robert Stack will make Bruce Willis in Die Hard look bad with his endless barrage of hard-boiled, sarcastic one-liners. But most of all, you will figure out who the murderer is, and you will be satisfied when they get their comeuppance. No, there is no singing stewardess, no jive-talkers, no inflatable auto-pilot, no Leslie Neilsen. But unless you are unable to mock the earnest, but futile work of many to make a taut murder mystery shot almost entirely on a plane full of large, orange seats, you will like Murder on Flight 502. I promise.

• So Bad It's Great

  gfast2007-04-05

  This film falls firmly in the So Bad You'll Love It pile of bargain-bin wonders, a TV feature film, of the type made for audiences assumed to have an IQ equivalent of a retarded chicken. The corny Dialogue reaches new heights of hilarity only matched by the Airport series, and its spoof Airplane! (Flying High). Cheap sets - an "airport lounge" that looks like the set of a cheap office where some equally cheap 70s show had just been filmed, the "aircraft" with impossibly wide expanses, giant square door, "hundreds" of passengers of which we only see a handful and sometimes the cabin seems empty, the TWO, yes TWO stewardesses, disappearing passengers (Danny Bonaduce stops appearing in the cabin half way through) a cockpit where nothing ever seems to happen except hilarious radio exchanges, a plane that takes off and in the next shot is shown landing (different models, different colour schemes even used in consecutive shots of the supposed airliner taking off), not to mention the impossibly ridiculous "script". Its hard to believe that this film was intended to be taken seriously. One of the priceless lines (about a bogus priest who wears nail polish - what???!!!)comes from a psychologist attempting to analyse why someone would impersonate a priest: "A clinical manifestation of religious hysteria!" - I kid you not. See it and prepare to laugh yourself silly.

• Fun to watch, but not great

  dtucker862003-09-13

  I am a Sergeant in the Army and had to go to a school called BNCOC at Fort Jackson, South Carolina recently and I found this tape in the base px, it was only $3. Robert Stack wrote in his autobiography Straight Shooting that this picture was a rather poor copy of The High And The Mighty. He said the only reason he took it was to work with his wife and daughter. This is one of those movies of the week they used to make back in the 1970s featuring old time stars in the fading twilight of their careers. Aaron Spelling used them on shows like Murder She Wrote, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Hotel. Ralph Bellamy and Walter Pidgeon are both on board and its always nice seeing them (Bellamy was probably the greatest FDR ever in Sunrise At Campbello). This was also one of Farrah Fawcett's first films and even Sonny Bono has a part in it. I have to admit the sets look cheap. There are supposed to be 200 people on the plane but you only see a few. The dialogue is really funny because they deadpan it. The funniest part is where Robert Stack lectures Danny Bonaduce on playing practical jokes. I always love airplane pictures and this one is fine, just not great. SPOILER ALERT!!!I will tell you one thing about the ending when Hugh O'Brien flips out and reveals he is the real killer and he shoots into those oxygen tanks in the lounge and starts a fire. There wouldn't just be a fire there would have been a massive explosion! Oh well like they say its only a movie. By the way, the night after I watched this film I heard on the news where Robert Stack had died at the age of 84. He was a great actor who made Unsolved Mysteries such a wonderful show. He was also a true gentleman, someone of whom you can say they don't make em like that anymore. I was lucky enough recently to obtain a rare copy of The High And The Mighty with him and John Wayne. It is an awesome film and I feel like I have a treasure in my barracks apartment.

• Typical 1970's Made-For-TV Film

  Lechuguilla2006-05-25

  An ensemble cast of familiar Hollywood faces act, and attempt to act, in this low-budget whodunit, about a New York to London flight that has a psychopath on board. Polly Bergen hams it up as an alcoholic writer, and is fun to watch. Robert Stack plays the pilot, consistent with his serious, take-charge persona. Danny Bonaduce plays himself, more or less. Laraine Day's acting is fine but she needs more makeup. And hip looking Sonny Bono shows why he was wise to earn his living as a singer. The film's sets look cheap, and the stereotyped characters are too perfunctory to spark much interest. The film's visuals look dated. Given the suspects and the obvious red herrings, the whodunit puzzle is not that hard to solve. However, the plot twist at the end I did not see coming. Even with a couple of obvious plot holes, "Murder On Flight 502" held my interest as a whodunit puzzle. But it has a "Producer Aaron Spelling" look and feel to it, with those cheap sets, bland dialogue, cardboard characters, and nondescript elevator music, all rather typical of assembly-line 1970's made-for-TV movies.