The Doomsday Flight (1966) - 6/10

Having just watched the full original run of The Twilight Zone, this felt like the perfect next step. Written by Rod Serling, it has all the hallmarks of a tightly scripted dramatic thriller, this one based in one of Sterling’s favourite settings, a plane. This one is bound for JFK, but will it get there? A mysterious and somewhat desperate and deranged, short-sighted chap, known only as The Man (Edmond O’Brien) has placed a bomb onboard, one that will detonate if they try to land, that is unless the airline stumps up $100,000. His demands are made to Special Agent Thompson (Jack Lord) who’s in charge of saving the day, although to be honest he’s pretty useless. It’s all very reminiscent of Speed, which seems to have copied this closely. Copying was a concern. Serling is said to have regretted writing this, it was only aired once, due to concerns of would be criminals using it as a blueprint, a fear that was later realised in an Australian plot. The plane alerted, the race is on to find the bomb before they run out of fuel and go pop. There’s a decent cast of characters onboard, smooth talking arrogant TV star, George Ducette (John Saxon), smart stewardess, Jean (Katherine Crawford), a traumatised soldier from Vietnam (Michael Sarrazin) and the special agents wife, Elizabeth (Jan Shepard), all of whom are about to get the bad news as word spreads through the cabin. It’s all quite predicable in 2026, but I’ll bet that 60 years ago, on broadcast this was likely gripping stuff, with plenty happening on the ground as well as the air, as The Man stays one step ahead. O’Brien easily steals the show in a fairly vanilla cast, despite being largely tied to a telephone, he delivers the required amount of menace as nerves begin to fray. Yes it’s cheap and cheerful, with some terrible dialogue in places, but it’s also rather good, not as good as some of Sterling’s work, but pretty solid stuff with enough to anchor it and keep you gripped.

6/10