The "Horror" of it All!

I have been OBSESSED with airliner-in-peril movies ever since my mother took me to the local theater to see Airport 1975 (1974) when I was but 7 years of age. That time period was staggeringly fertile with feature films and made-for-TV flicks that centered on airplanes in some sort of distress. Episodic TV got in on the action as well. Our skies were apparently a place for any sort of danger to appear. And in today's movie, the 1973 telefilm The Horror at 37,000 Feet, the danger is bizarre as can be. Unbelievably, I had never seen this movie in my life until a couple of days ago! How it escaped me, I'll never know. I likely had it mucked up in my memory with Terror in the Sky (1971), Murder on Flight 502 (1975), Crash (1978) or any other of a number of countless projects in the same vein. This trim "thriller" has quite a few familiar faces in it, though I can't imagine any of them would be proud of that fact. It's not that it's bad. It's astronomically awful! Thus, it must be reviewed here. Ha ha! (It was directed by David Lowell Rich, who helmed the equally inane The Concorde: Airport '79, 1979.)

Things begin in England at famed Heathrow Airport, though the closest we'll ever get to that location is this old, bleary stock footage.

We meet the plane's captain (Chuck Connors) as he's taking part of a pre-flight inspection.

More stock footage of a busy, light-filled Heathrow gives way to...

...this standard-issue ticket counter set, which bears no relation the alleged setting! Note the man in the middle with glasses, one William Shatner preparing to board.

Next we meet Jane Merrow (acres away from The Lion in Winter, 1968!) and a cocky, ludicrous cowboy actor played by Will Hutchins.

Hutchins, who never seems as ashamed as he ought to be, looks like a cross between Billy Jack and Ronald McDonald. He's horrendous in this, but he's not the worst.

Connors wants to know why the barely-populated red-eye flight has so much fuel assigned and Bob Donner (in a bit role) informs him that it's due to some very heavy cargo.

Said cargo is housed in these containers. It consists of part of an old abbey, including the altar, that a passenger is taking to America for use in a new place on Long Island.

Then comes another passenger for the fateful flight, Tammy Grimes. Like a few others, Grimes is sporting a faux English accent.

Why she's toting a German Shepherd with her is anyone's guess, but she's disappointed that he isn't able to join her in the coach, but will instead be placed in the cargo hold. (This was long before anything like a "support animal," apart from guide dogs. Maybe she ought to have worn sunglasses?) 

In comes Roy Thinnes, who happens to be Merrow's husband and the man who's bringing the ancient abbey architectural artifacts with him.

Hoo boy! Check these stewardess uniforms out! On the left is Darlene Carr. On the right is Brenda Benet. Benet is clearly chief-stew because her uniform helmet has a volume control knob on the top of it!

After Benet walks away, a sudden chilly blast of air bursts through the plane, lifting Carr's miniskirt to reveal a jaunty pair of red short-shorts. (You'll all recall Pamela Sue Martin in similar ones during The Poseidon Adventure the year before this.)

In the cockpit, Russell Johnson and H.B. Wynant are also startled by a sudden drop in temperature.

In fact, the friggin' windows temporarily frost over! But the cold is gone as quickly as it arrives, so... oh, well.

This uniform scheme is a real go-go getter! Soon enough the hats come off as well as the red vests. That futuristic look caught on for a brief time in the late-1960s/early-1970s, both on planes and in other venues.

Back at the ticket counter, we meet another passenger, this time Paul Winfield as a doctor, delivering a sketchy British accent.

The gals struggle to shut the plane's door as it readies for takeoff. This glimpse is all we get of passenger France Nuyen in the way of her own arrival.  Too difficult to capture clearly was Buddy Ebsen, one of the last people to board.

Likewise, Shatner's wife, Lyn Loring, is only seen on the plane, not boarding it.

Since we have to have a kid onboard, too, there is little Mia Bendixson (flying solo) and her dolly. (Her accent may be worst of all!)

Ready for takeoff at last, Connors lifts off.

"Special effects by Revell model manufacturers..." (I'm kidding.)

Merrow, who at least really does have an authentic, crisp accent, and her husband Thinnes are hardly in the air before they're quibbling over his bringing the abbey over from England. It's part of her family estate (the rest of which is being developed into condos!)

Across the way, Hutchins is trying to update Carr on how famous he is. He's just starred in a spaghetti western called "Rimrock."

She's skeptical at best.

Grimes pounces on Thinnes and Merrow, expressing outrage over their decision to dig up and move sacred, priceless relics. They'd all argued about it previously, but now she's come on the plane with them to niggle them further about it. After Grimes is sent away, the couple bickers more until Thinnes finally heads to the plane's bar.

Shatner is revealed to be a defrocked priest. He's drinking away his woes with booze from a coffee cup. We narrowly escape one horror when Loring picks up a guitar!! Luckily, she barely strums it at all, versus breaking out into a song like, perhaps, "I'm My Own Worst Enemy" (an inversion of Helen Reddy's later "I'm a Best Friend to Myself!")

Merrow is having trouble listening to music on her headphones so Hutchins comes lurching over again to "help." Once he's able to get sound to come out of them, she manages to shoo him away like the horsefly he is.

Soon after, though, she starts hearing spooky, cryptic sounds and voices! Eventually, she ditches the headphones altogether.

There aren't even a dozen passengers on the flight, but Benet is mulling over whether they ought to let the tourist class use the lounge upstairs. Check the canapes on the counter in those long ago days when everything wasn't hermetically-sealed.

Upstairs, Ebsen and Thinnes are enjoying a drink (one they've made themselves from a cart of booze!) Wheeler-dealer Ebsen informs architect Thinnes that he once refused a bid of his for being too high. That's how he's made his millions; knowing about every cent.

I had to chuckle during this scene when Carr went to place her hors d'oeuvres tray down and there was a stack of cocktail napkins in the way! Then she felt the need to wipe her nose with her fingers!! I'll take the bagged potato chips instead, please.

Thinnes isn't terribly interested in Ebsen anyway. He's spied Nuyen across the room.

Turns out she's a model. (Nuyen's role could hardly be more thankless or superfluous.)

Up front, Connors has problems. The plane isn't getting anywhere! They're running into a headwind so strong that it's akin to jogging in place.

Shatner is confounded by what he sees out the window.

No! It's not his old pal from "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," a famous Twilight Zone episode he did a decade earlier! LOL

But he knows that the plane is not traveling the way it ought to be. So does Ebsen, who keeps detecting turns and altitude shifts that oughtn't to be occurring.

Down in the cargo hold, Grimes' dog is not happy. The cargo next to him is making pounding noises as if something is in there that wants out!

Now, even without the headphones, Merrow is hearing weird sounds and voices, including her own name being recited. She is headed upstairs to see who what Thinnes is up to, but passes out en route.

Shatner sees her episode and rushes to her aid.

When Merrow begins unconsciously speaking in Latin, the observers offer a variety of reactions. Winfield's chief prescription is to suggest that Benet serve up their dinner!

Loring, who overacts in this movie in such a way it ought to be criminal, suggests that Shatner's interest in Merrow might be more than casual. Note that Shatner's face and neck are a robust pink while the fake hairline in his hairpiece remains a pasty ocher.

Carr, downstairs to pitch in on dinner preparations, can hear something amiss in the cargo hold, including growls from the dog. She stops short of going in when the noises cease.

A few minutes later, though, she's stunned to see that the mirror next to the cargo door is frozen over!

It can always be worse, though, right? She could have found Winfield in there staring back at her! Ha ha!! (From The Charmings.)

Freaked out, she attempts to take the elevator up and out of there, but it gets stuck midway!

It takes several people to get the door forced open and get her out of there before she's frozen to death.

Carr frantically attempts to inform the flight crew what has happened to her, but they aren't exactly buying it. She thinks that there's been a rupture to the plane, but their instruments say otherwise.

Johnson and Connors head downstairs and find that the freezing has extended beyond even what Carr told them. They struggle to get the cargo door open.

What they discover inside is positively hair-raising! (And only one of them makes it back upstairs...)

The once-prim and tightly-coiffed Grimes is becoming more and more disturbed.

She informs the small gaggle of passengers that the problem is stemming from Thinnes' uprooting of sacred relics which had been buried for thousands of years. He doesn't want to hear this, naturally.

Before they can settle anything regarding the fact that Druid spirits seem to have taken over the plane, and their sacrificial stone is on board, some severe turbulence breaks out, sending them scattering to the front of the aircraft.

The adults all go running away, leaving the little girl in the back all alone! It's up to Benet to go retrieve her.

She gets the little rascal up and out, but the kid still wants her dolly which was left behind! Then comes a ferocious wind from the rear of the plane.

Benet is rendered unconscious. And beyond her, the floor is beginning to rupture!

Either the evil spirits are creeping up through the cargo hold beneath or someone really caused a problem in the starboard can...!

Benet is rescued and (inexplicably, because she wasn't originally there to know that the girl even wanted it), Carr takes the time to grasp the doll and bring it out, too.

Merrow is still hearing crazy voices calling her name. Shatner informs her that the gobbledegook that she'd earlier been unconsciously spouting was from a black mass.

A horrified Merrow is in disbelief.

Picking up the spare, an increasingly creepy Grimes informs her that a 15th century ancestor of hers was burnt at the stake on her property - for heresy and murder. Her family had engaged in human sacrifice! Grimes insists that Merrow is now being required as an offering to the spirits herself!

After first declaring that perhaps they could toss little blonde Bendixson to the demon (!), Loring decides that her doll might do.

Loring frantically rips the doll's clothes off faster than you can say Bianca Censori and wraps one of Merrow's scarves around it.

In my long, long, LONG years of watching movies and TV, I have never witnessed such sustained overacting as that which is supplied by Loring in this project. She has a deranged facial expression for 98-44/100% of the movie (and she's not the one who's supposedly possessed!) Clearly aping Mia Farrow from Rosemary's Baby (1968), it's like she took one moment of Mia's from that blockbuster and decided to utilize it for the bulk of her role here.

This pointed publicity shot of Farrow is way more than she ever demonstrated in the actual film (that I can recall, anyway), but even it is less than what Loring feels the need to provide here!

Thankfully, Shatner was allowed to crack a smile - in character -during her insane performance. One likely would have come through anyway!

Loring cuts off some of Merrow's hair for the doll, then trims off the tips of her fingernails, which Nuyen adheres to the doll's fingers!

The women prepare the baby doll for sacrifice with Loring going so far so to add makeup to the hapless toy's face.

"Hello, and welcome to Merle Norman. I'll be your beauty consultant today." (More like Sears Weather Beater outdoor paint!)

In another understated bit of acting, Loring presents the doll to the Druid demons who have taken up residence in the lower rear of the plane.

Not sure how much longer "Baby Alive" is going be be....!

The passengers watch as their offering is received...

Grimes, clearly annoyed that Loring has maintained focus for the last few minutes, marches up to the lounge to tell Merrow that the sacrifice wasn't enough and that she needs to come downstairs and give herself up! It's accidentally discovered, though, that fire may hold the spirits at bay.

As the desperate passengers are about to build a fire, though, all hell breaks loose. Nevertheless, they gather up some paper and Thinnes grabs some stiff booze...

...and a small fire is built on one of the plastic tables.

Winfield and Shatner calmly watch as the others furiously toss papers and booze into the small pyre.

This measure does stave off the danger for a little while. Spirits of those burnt at the stake are apparently repelled by flames, even small ones.

As the fire dwindles, Hutchins preposterously takes money out of his pocket and burns that to keep it going...! Maybe try one of the fabric seat covers or any of the clearly-flammable 1970s clothing that is all over the place?

Soon, with varying degrees of intensity, some of the passengers decide that it's got to be Merrow to end the demonic siege.

Since she'd rebuffed his advances multiple times anway, Hutchins decided he may was well toss her into oblivion and solve their problem. Thinnes defends his wife, though.

Anyway, Shat has another idea.

He decides to head back there himself and confront the evil that lurks.

No wonder their fire went out! Either he had secretly hoarded all available newspaper or his carry-on suitcase contained the biggest joint ever to make it out of Heathrow and onto an airliner!

As the epic nears its conclusion, Loring demonstrates her customarily underplayed concern for her husband's well-being... This movie is available on YT in a very fine copy right here, should you wish to partake! A few candles lit about the room ought to be enough to adequately protect you.

Following military service and a period of (mostly) minor league baseball and basketball, Connors began winning small film roles in the early-1950s and continued in that vein with occasional TV parts until 1958. That year, he starred in the hit series The Rifleman, which made him a household name. The 1960s brought further starring parts on shorter-lasting shows like Arrest and Trial, Branded and Cowboy in Africa, with films roles sprinkled in along the way. At this point, he was working mostly in obscure movies, though he did have a key supporting role in Soylent Green (1973.) (He'd worked previously with that film's star, Charlton Heston, in the very successful western The Big Country in 1958.) Always busy, but in increasingly less prestigious fare, he passed away in 1992 of lung cancer and pneumonia at age 71. 

There is no truth to the rumor that Connors was used as the model for Large Marge in Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985!)

A movie actor and dancer from the 1930s, Ebsen was paired with such names as Shirley Temple, Judy Garland and Eleanor Powell. He was cast as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (1939) until a severe allergy to the makeup led to recasting. WWII service interrupted his resume for a time, but he was soon back on screen as well as appearing on the new medium of TV. It was on The Beverly Hillbillies, a massive success, that he gained the most fame. (Ironically, he'd just about decided to retire when his role in Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961, led to his casting on Hillbillies!) And just after this TV-movie, he began a long run on the hit detective series Barnaby Jones. This was followed by a season on Matt Houston, among other guest roles. Ebsen lived until 2003 when pneumonia claimed him at age 95.

Though she worked on TV and in movies, Grimes was primarily known for her stage performances, winning two Tony Awards in the process. (For The Unsinkable Molly Brown and Private Lives.) Fitting in television appearances with her 1950s stage work, by 1966 she was offered the starring role in two sitcoms. The one she chose was The Tammy Grimes Show, which was yanked off the air in a month. The one she turned down? Bewitched! Her movie appearances after Horror were not successful and included Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), The Runner Stumbles (1979) and the infamous Can't Stop the Music (1980), which was where I first encountered her. By the start of the 2000s, Grimes was mostly retired, though she lived until 2016 when she died of natural causes at age 82.

Loring was a child actress, with a decade spent on Search for Tomorrow, when she began segueing into older parts (Splendor in the Grass, 1961, being one.) She guest-starred on many TV series in the 1960s, with a recurring role on the first season of The F.B.I. Prior to this telefilm and until 1984 she was wed to Horror costar Roy Thinnes in real life. The two of them had paired in several projects beforehand as well. Within two years of Horror, she moved into film production (Mr. Mom, 1983, being a highlight) and was even in charge of MGM/UA Television Productions for a time. Having suffered from chronic illness for some time, Loring passed away in 2023 at age 80.

Loring and Thinnes in less Horror-ble circumstances.

Pretty Merrow was a young British actress who began to work on TV in her homeland during the early-1960s, winning occasional bit parts in movies as well. In 1963, she was cast in the title role for the British miniseries Lorna Doone. Popping up on hit shows of the day like The Prisoner, The Saint and The Avengers, she was considered as a replacement for Diana Rigg in the latter, but the part went to Linda Thorson. A Golden Globe nominated part in A Lion in Winter (1968), lost to Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby, might have signaled greater things, but it mainly led to a lot of episodic US television. In the late-1980s, despite a reasonably active career, she returned to England to run a family business and act on screen only occasionally. She is about to turn 83.

Young model Nuyen made a bit of a splash when she was selected to portray the fateful Liat in South Pacific (1958), followed by that movie's director Joshua Logan's stage production of The World of Suzie Wong. (This despite Nuyen speaking virtually no English and speaking mostly phonetically!) Her costar in that, William Shatner, got some mileage out of how rocky the production was, though it ended in a decent run and acclaim for them both. Nuyen and Shatner popped up together once on Star Trek and also after this on an episode of Kung Fu, as spouses. Most people my age came to know her as Leilani, the exotic kidnapper of Charles Townsend on Charlie's Angels. As her career wound down, she pursued a career as a counselor with a master's degree in clinical psychology. When she has acted in later years, it's often been as a doctor. She is 83 today.

Periodically cast together since 1958, the inset represents the most that Nuyen and Shatner have to do with one another in Horror.

Canadian-born Shatner went from acting in college to work on the stage, including a Broadway debut in 1956. He understudied Christopher Plummer (once Tammy Grimes' husband!) in Henry V and got to go once, memorably, when Plummer was felled by a kidney stone. A frequent TV guest (including practically forgotten work on The Howdy Doody Show!) and occasional movie performer, he will forever and always be remembered as Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek and its movie sequels. When that show was canceled in 1969, a very bleak period came to him, career-wise, which included this movie, which he considered close to the worst. Renewed interest in Star Trek saved him along with another successful series, T. J. Hooker. Long mocked for his dramatic, staccato delivery of lines, he nonetheless earned latter day success (and Emmys) for work on The Practice and Boston Legal. The indefatigable actor has overcome any number of career and personal difficulties and earned a measure of respect in the bargain. Currently he is 93. 

So bad were things for Shat at this juncture that he was neither listed nor depicted in the TV Guide ad for the movie, despite having a large role...!

Thinnes began in late-1950s television guest roles, notably The Untouchables and Gunsmoke, before landing the juicy part of Roy Brewer on General Hospital. That led to the short-lived series The Long, Hot Summer and later to The Invaders, a Quinn Martin production. A failed show called The Psychiatrist followed. But he was soon in the sky fighting disaster in movies like Airport 1975 (in which he had a far harder time than he does here!) and The Hindenburg (1975, ditto!) Later, he worked on the series From Here to Eternity and Falcon Crest as well as a rebooted Dark Shadows. After a return to daytime TV with One Life to Live (two separate stints and roles), he retired around 2007. He's currently 86.

Method stage actor Winfield began appearing on TV in the mid-1960s to good avail. Among his credits were Perry Mason, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, Mannix and Julia (on which he worked four times.) After acting with Sidney Poitier in The Lost Man (1969) and Brother John (1971), among other movie parts, he landed the male lead in Sounder (1972) and was Oscar-nominated. The night of the ceremony, he had to watch as Sacheen Littlefeather went up and declined Marlon Brando's Oscar for The Godfather. To appear in this project after that was a decided comedown. He nonetheless proceeded on to a lengthy, very prolific career in movies, TV shows and miniseries. Emmy-nominated several times, he finally won as a guest on Picket Fences. In 1982, he had a memorable part in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (albeit sharing no scenes with Shatner.) Once romantically involved with Cicely Tyson, who played his wife three times on screen, he ultimately realized he was gay and partnered with a man for 30 years. Not long after his partner died of bone cancer, Winfield himself, whose health had been diminishing, died of a heart attack in 2004 at age 64. 

I think all my readers know I love to be snarky, but I do try not to be downright harmful. That said, I have to confess that any time I see Carr pop up in a project (and she was a very prolific performer in the 1970s), I am instantly disappointed. Somehow, her performance vibe just does not coincide with my own tastes. I'm not even going to try to explore why. She's just not one of "my" people. A youth performer from the mid-1960s, she was the younger sister of Charmian Carr, Liesl of The Sound of Music (1965), and in fact helped sing some of Duane Chase's notes on the soundtrack. As a young lady, she appeared on many hit TV shows, recurring on The Streets of San Francisco and working as a regular on The Smith Family (a Henry Fonda sitcom) and The Oregon Trail (where she was desperately out of place.) Later, she was a regular on Bret Maverick as well. In the mid-1980s, she successfully explored voice acting (like her other sister Shannon Farnon, who was Wonder Woman on The Super Friends!) Retired since 2000, she will be 74 later this year.

If Shatner suffered from typecasting, consider poor Johnson. Following a distinguished stint in the air force during WWII, he'd become a steadily-working movie actor from the early-1950s on, playing a wide variety of supporting roles. He portrayed good guys, villains, scientists, soldiers, cowboys... But when he accepted the role of Professor Roy Hinkly on Gilligan's Island, he would forever be associated with that character. Age did help distance him from the role since The Professor never aged in those endless reruns while Johnson himself became older and less immediately recognizable. He continued to appear on TV and in the occasional movie until 1997. In the end, he embraced his iconic role for the incredible pop culture impact it provided, though there was a time when it did hamstring his career options. He died in 2014 of kidney failure at the age of 89.

Little Bendixson was only about 7 years old, but had amassed a fair amount of credits already. She was in many TV commercials, had acted on Medical Center, Gunsmoke, The F.B.I. and appeared in the Burt Reynolds movie Fuzz (1972.) Roles on Barnaby Jones, Cannon and Little House on the Prairie followed as well as parts in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) - as Alice in flashback - and Prophecy (1979.) As the 1980s dawned, she segued out of acting, pursued an education and married. She is currently in her late-50s.

Bright, pretty Benet was a skilled musician who spoke five languages. Thanks to her appealing physique, she was put to use in things like Beach Ball and Harum Scarum (both 1965), along with various TV guest roles (often in ethnic parts due to her coloring.) She worked on the daytime soap The Young Marrieds (soon marrying herself, to former child star Paul Petersen of The Donna Reed Show.) She left Petersen for Bill Bixby and worked a couple of times on his shows. In 1979, she took a role on Days of Our Lives which was in stark contrast to her earlier sweet roles. She was a venomous villainess, bent on destroying one the of the show's key couples, and fans were vocal in their disgust. Her marriage to Bixby ended and when he took their son on a ski trip, where the boy died of a sudden throat condition, Benet was never the same. In 1982, she locked herself in a candlelit bathroom and placed a gun in her mouth, committing suicide. She was 36.

I saved Hutchins for last due to reasons you'll see in a moment. A 1950s Warner Brothers contract player, he debuted on Warner Brothers Presents in 1956 and began popping up in their shows Conflict, 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick as well as movies such as Lafayette Escadrille and No Time for Sergeants (both 1958.) They thought enough to make him the lead in his own western Sugarfoot, which was a hit. He also made more movies, including Claudelle Inglish (1961) and Merrill's Marauders (1962.) He twice appeared alongside Elvis Presley in Spinout (1966) and Clambake (1967.) For a time during this period he was the brother-in-law to Carol Burnett, married to her sister Chrissie (depicted in a fashion on Carol's show by protegee Vicki Lawrence.) Then came the TV series rendition of Blondie, in which he played Dagwood Bumstead. (By this time, cartoon-ish acting must have become a thing for him!) By the time the 1970s drew to a close, so did his acting career, expect for a couple of credits. He's still with us today at 93! I've long wondered how a prominent TV star could somehow wind up an uncredited cop in Magnum Force (1973), but after seeing The Horror at 37,000 Feet I no longer question it. His performance here was atrocious. I wracked my brain to try to figure out who he kept reminding me of during this opus and finally, it came to me...

Dick Van Dyke during the climax of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968!) FYI - Hutchins actually became a circus clown and ringmaster for a time after his career as a screen actor slowed...! Till next time.