Leofwine_draca
MURDER ON FLIGHT 502 is an Aaron Spelling-production murder mystery TV movie from 1975. It's an ultra-cheesy and dated tale about a flight from New York to London and the situation that arises when it becomes apparent that one of the passengers is intent on committing murder. Like one of those cheesy disaster movies from the decade, this features an all-star cast of faces (B-list this time around) and no less than four red herrings and one real murderer.The convoluted script from veteran TV writer David P. Harmon is the worst thing about this low rent and obscure movie, because it's really long-winded and lacking in interest. You're supposed to care about the characters involved in a film like this but you never do here; the tale is merely episodic, solving one mystery sub-plot before moving on to the next. Director George McCowan had previously made the fun B-movie FROGS but can do little with this film's story.The actors do the best with the material they've been given. Old-timers Ralph Bellamy and Walter Pidgeon supply old-timer advice. Theodore Bikel does shifty and sweaty very well (as anyone who saw his Columbo appearance can testify). Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Brooke Adams supply glamour as the stewardesses. Danny Bonaduce is incredibly annoying as the red-haired joker. George Maharis is the guy on the ground trying to solve things. Sonny Bono plays himself, essentially. The unravelling of the mystery isn't very interesting, but I do have a soft spot for TV movies from this era so it wasn't all bad for me, and the more dated a film is the more fun I find it to sit back and enjoy the fashions and attitudes from the era.
MartinHafer
In the 1970s, airplane disaster films were a dime a dozen. So, the fact that they'd make a film like this one isn't a surprise. It has the usual star-studded cast, it has the allure of death and mayhem and it has some very nice acting (at times). What it doesn't have is a decent script!The film plays almost like an old B-mystery film like one from the Charlie Chan series--but without the Chan! A 747 bound for the UK is the setting and it's full of Hollywood greats of the past--folks who by the time this was filmed were all but forgotten (including the likes of Walter Pidgeon, Ralph Bellamy, Dane Clark and Polly Bergen) or who were on Hollywood's B-list (including Sonny Bono and Farrah Fawcett--- just before she became famous). The Captain (Robert Stack) learns that someone issued a death threat--saying that they planned on killing someone during the flight! Who that could be and their intended victim or victims are unknown and apart from some incompetent folks on the ground, the Captain is assisted by an off-duty detective (Hugh O'Brian). Soon, you learn that LOTS of folks had reasons to kill people on this flight and there are at least three folks aboard who might commit murder!! One actually attempts to kill one of the other passengers--and after being subdued, isn't arrested nor is he handcuffed or tied up. In fact, he just goes back to his seat and everyone seems to forget that he just tried to stab someone! However, the real murderer is afoot and soon bodies start piling up--and it's amazing just how easy this all is! And, it's amazing that somehow the Captain knows that one of his crew members is a criminal--even though there is no evidence to support this! The bottom line is that despite some occasionally nice acting (such as that done by Ralph Bellamy), the film is 100% stupid. It NEVER makes sense and seems as if no one cared whether the script was written by a chimp or not....and I can only assume it was! A total waste of talent but perhaps worth watching because it IS so bad!
jvdesuit1
When you watch this movie, you wonder if the guy who wrote the script has ever taken a flight in his whole life, if he knows what are flying regulations for take of and landing; what happens for passengers after a shock of this magnitude when arriving at a national or international airport.How can any sensible producer accept to finance such a stupid, unbelievable story and how can a director accept to have his name attached to such a nonsense of a production.Even a debutant in the film industry would be ashamed of committing himself in such a project.Yes the only thing you should do is to cancel your booking on this flight!
gfast
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.
AD
