Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay.  Today’s film is 1971’s Terror In The Sky!  It  can be viewed on YouTube.

On a flight heading from Minneapolis to Seattle, several passengers suddenly start to get ill.

Luckily, there’s a doctor on the plane.  Sporting sideburns and wearing a turtleneck, Roddy McDowall is quite chic in the role of Dr. Baird, the dedicated medical professional who comes to realize that the passengers are suffering from food poisoning.  As Dr. Baird explains it to head flight attendant Janet Turner (Lois Nettleton), everyone who had the chicken for dinner is about get severely ill.  Uh-oh …. both of the pilots had the chicken!

Is there anyone on the plane who has any flying experience?  George Spencer (Doug McClure) flew a helicopter in Vietnam but, as George explains, it’s an entirely different type of flying all together.  George has no confidence about his ability to land the plane but he’s the only chance the passengers have.

On the ground, gruff Marty Treleavan (Leif Erickson) has been summoned to the airport so that he can help to talk George through the landing.  Marty explains what all of the instruments do to George.  He tells George that he needs to stay in the air for a few hours so that he can get comfortable with the plane.  But the people on the plane are getting more ill and George says that he might be ding things up a little but he’s going to land this plane!

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

As I watched this film last night, I found myself saying, “Oh my God, this is just a serious version of Airplane!”

And actually, it is.  Terror In The Sky was based on Zero Hour, the 1957 film that also served as the basis for Airplane!  (The directors of Airplane! even bought the rights to Zero Hour so that they freely borrow whatever they wanted to from the film.)  Indeed, much of the dialogue in both Zero Hour and Terror In The Sky also shows up in Airplane!  Even the musical cues in Terror In The Sky and Airplane! are similar.

Terror In The Sky is not a bad film.  It’s an efficient made-for-TV film that features several made-for-television veterans, including Keenan Wynn and Kenneth Tobey.  Doug McClure grimaces heroically in the role of George Spencer and Roddy McDowall is as likable as ever as the doctor who hates to fly.  It’s a very earnest movie about a group of people doing everything that they can to save hundreds of lives.  They’re doing the right thing!

But it’s also totally impossible to take the film seriously because you spend the entire movie waiting for Roddy McDowall to say, “Don’t call me Shirley,” or for Leif Erickson to say that he picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.  Every moment and every line makes the viewer think of something funny from Airplane!

Personally, I think they bought their tickets.  They knew what they were getting into.  I say …. well, you get the idea.

And yes, I did rewatch Airplane! as soon as I finished up Terror In The Sky.