In honor of ‘Hijack’: A look back at suspenseful takeovers of planes, trains and ships

Apple TV+’s hit limited series “Hijack” starring Idris Elba is a nail-biting thrill ride set in real-time. Over the years, there have been many types of hijack films. Besides planes, there have been suspenseful takeovers of ships, trains, subways and even trucks.

“The Taking of the Pelham One Two Three,” from 1974 — avoid the two remakes — is a superb thriller about four men who take over a New York subway car and hold the passengers, conductor and an undercover policeman hostage unless they get $1 million (remember that was a lot of money 49 years ago). If their demands aren’t met, they will start killing hostages. Directed by Joseph Sargent and adapted by Peter Stone from the best-selling novel by John Godey, “Taking” boasts a stellar cast at the top of their game including Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo and Martin Balsam. David Shire penned the influential score.

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A year before he directed 1993’s blockbuster “The Fugitive,” Andrew Davis helmed the exciting box office hit “Under Siege,” starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must save the day after a group of mercenaries take over a U.S. Navy battleship. Tommy Lee Jones, who would win an Oscar for “The Fugitive,” and Gary Busey also star. Three years later in the disappointing sequel “Under Siege 2,” Seagal is on a train traveling from Denver to Los Angeles when it is attacked by terrorists lead by a computer genius who was a former U.S. government employee. Eric Bogosian and Everett McGill are the baddies.

Reviews weren’t great for the 1973 ABC TV movie “Hijack” with the Los Angeles Times declaring “if you miss it don’t worry about it. You’ve probably seen it before.” David Janssen and Keenan Wynn play two down on their luck truckers who land a gig for $6,000 to transport an “important” but unknown cargo. They soon discover that mercenaries are also after the cargo and determined to hijack the truck. One of the last films for veteran Oscar-nominated actor Tom Tully (“The Caine Mutiny”). The director Leonard Horn died two years later of a heart attack at the age of 48 while shooting the “Wonder Woman” pilot.

Perhaps the weirdest hijack movie is the 2021 German thriller “Blood Red Sky,” which streamed on Netflix. A group of terrorists hijack a plane only to discover that one of the passengers is a vampire who gets a bit thirstier for blood during the flight.  Absolutely gonzo but tons of fun.

Hijack movies aren’t made for entertainment, but also to show the resiliency and bravery of hijack victims.

Nominated for five Emmys including outstanding TV movie and direction for Paul Wendkos, the 1988 NBC TV movie, “Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story” revolves around the actual 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847 as seen through the perspective of the flight chief flight attendant (Lindsay Wagner). Shortly after takeoff from Athens, the hijackers demanded the release of 700 Shia Muslims being held by Israel. Derickson, who was a consultant on the film, was able to communicate with the terrorists when she discovers one of them speaks her native German. She puts her life on the line — they kicked here in the chest, grabbed her throat and slammed her against the cockpit door-over a two-day period to work with the terrorists to save the lives of the passengers and crew.

It was less than five years after the devastating terrorist attacks of 9/11 when “United 93” opened in theaters to great acclaim. Directed by Paul Greengrass, who earned an Oscar nomination, the harrowing “United 93” chronicles how the heroism of the passengers and crew of one of the four airplanes hijacked that morning prevented the flight from reaching its intended target-the U.S. Capitol. The passengers, crew and hijackers all died when the plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, P.A. The production wisely didn’t household names in the film. In fact, Ben Sliney, who was the national operations manager at the FAA’s operations command center in Herndon, VA., played himself in the movie. “United 93” is a hard watch. The former L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan wrote it was “not an easy flight to board. This staggering, draining film is exceptionally accomplished but extremely difficult to watch. It turns out to be easier to admire from whatever distance you can manage than to embrace with any kind of emotional intimacy.”

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