The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story (1988) Reviews

• Surprisingly low-key and effective hostage drama

  donrogers422007-05-22

  And you thought your last vacation was bad! This modest 1987 made-for-TV docudrama, starring Lindsay Wagner as flight attendant Uli Derickson, does a surprisingly good job of depicting a 1985 Arab hijacking without too much of the expected overdone histrionics or Rambo-esquire heroics. The writing carefully and sensibly sticks to Derickson's perspective. This is certainly one of Wagner's best roles; she is affecting, again without being overly glamorized. If this all has something of a Reader's Digest Drama-in-Real-Life feel to it, that goes with the territory. No great contribution to world cinema, but well done.

• Hostess with punch!

  john1911582001-02-27

  Based on a true story, Lindsay plays air hostess Uri Dereikson on a hijacked plane by Iranian terrorists. Good direction and enough suspense to see the viewer through to the end of the film. I wonder how cool and calm hostesses would be in real life? If I was on such a flight I'd want someone like Wagner as hostess, that's for sure. One of the few Wagner movies available to purchase in Australia (most go straight to video)and scored well in the tv ratings when screened here more than a decade ago.Rating 8 out of 10.

• I never was on the New Jersey!

  sol12182007-04-27

  ****SPOILERS**** Moments after TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome reached cruising level the plane was suddenly hijacked by two Arab fanatics Castro & Saiid, Eli Danker & Joseph Nasser. The two hijackers demand that some 700 suspected Arab terrorists held in Israeli jails be released or else they'll bring the plane, and it's 152 passengers and crew, down in the Mediterranean Sea by detonating a bunch of hand grenades that they have on them. The hijackers waste no time at all in brutalizing the passengers and crew and almost creating a panic. That in itself would have brought the passenger plane down without the use of explosives if it wasn't for the chief flight attendant on the plane Uli Derickson, Lindsey Wagner. Uli put herself between the hijackers in trying to keep both them and the terrified passengers from overreacting and causing the plane to tailspin and crash into the sea. The film "Flight 847" shows the kind of courage that's so rare in most movies. In that we have Uli not only risking her life over and over again in order to keep both Castro & Saiid from bringing down the plane and killing everyone on it but trying, and with some success, to get the two desperate men to at least let a number of the passengers, women & children, on the plane go. Uli at one point refused to reveal which of the passengers, by the names on their passports, are either Isralie or Jewish. This action again had Uli risking her life knowing full well the fate that would be in store for them at the hands of the vindictive and hateful Arab hijackers; Who's country Lebanon was bombed invaded and occupied by Israeli Army three years ago. It turned out that the person who got the worst of it among the passengers was US Navy man Robert Stethen, whom the film was dedicated to, played by Steven Eckholdt. Stethen was savagely beaten by the two hijackers so all throughout the film. Later at the Beirut Airport, battered and almost unconscious, he was shot to death and dumped out on the tarmac to show everyone, on and off the plane, that hijackers meant business. It turned out that the hatred that the two, especially Castro, had for poor Robert Stethen was that him being in the US Navy. Castro & Saiid held Stethen responsible for the bombardment of Beirut by the 16 inch guns of the US Navy's giant battleship the USS New Jersey that killed Castro's wife and infant daughter. It took all of Uli's skills as a negotiator as well as her unbelievably courage to keep all of the passengers and crew, with the exception of Robert Stethen, to get out of this hell, that turned out to be Flight 847, alive. Even though a number were brutally beaten by the two hijackers but survived thus making the best of a very very bad situation. The hijackers were reinforced at Beirut by some dozen other members of their group and , finding out that the Israeli Army was about to air-dropped and storm the plane, had Flight 847 take off again and land in Algiers.It's there when the nightmare finally ended for Uli and the remaining 151 passengers and crew with the release of the head man of the hijack group Ali Atwa, Emile Beaucard. Atwa incidentally was apprehend before the hijacking ever took place by the Athens Airport security guards before he could ever get on the plane. One of, if not the only, few light moments in the movie was when after Uli sang a song, that both Castro & Saiid insisted on, to break the tension on the flight that Saiid was so moved by it that he asked her to marry him. Which to a shocked and surprised Uli, who was already married with a young son, would have been as bad, or even worse, then having her go down in flames together with Flight 847 in the middle of the Mediterranean. The movie "Flight 847" didn't have the usual and predictable Hollywood happy ending with the calvary, or actors Chuck Norris & Lee Mavin, raiding to the rescue and taking out all the bad guys like in the fictitious but exciting version of Flight 847 in "The Delta Force". It did have a true to life hero, or heroine, in the true story of a young woman who risked her life. She did that by standing down a plane full of desperate and suicidal hijackers and thus single-handedly saving the lives of practically all of the passengers and crew on board that she was responsible for without a shot, on her part, being fired. Which would be something that even the elite Delta Force couldn't do with all the state of the arts arms and unlimited supply of ammunition that they'ed have at their disposable.

• TWA 847 Rome To Athens

  sexylips692006-02-28

  Based on a true hijack situation back in 1985 when TWA 847 was hijacked by iranian terrorists,bound for Rome from Athens we see Lindsay Wagner playing purser uli derrickson and the trails and tribulations she suffered that day also we see passengers and crew violently assualted on a number of occasions in particular when uli is collecting the passengers passports and she puts herself at risk by concealing the solidiers and divers military id cards.i throughly enjoyed this film and it was gripping from start to finish and some of the scenes were quite disturbing one in mind when uli has to sing to the terrorist. Lindsey was great in this film from a magazine article i read shortly after the film was released miss Wagner was subject to everything Mrs derickson was subjected to on that awful day so go on girl keep up the good work

• endgültige, endgültige Testikel

  sat-elite2005-02-18

  Uli, if you have have some medication left over, I would like some. Just why should they be releasing garbage like this on UK TV ( at this time)? Utter utter bolox, one of those films that ages before it was even put in the can. Nothing on a plane equates to the passenger situation, even in the mid eighties. Wheres the sweat, the compression/decompression/noise. Only realistic detail is the in flight entertainment (nothing). even the meal given to the beaten man is too good to be true. The main 'terrorist' is able to parle Englisch within a half hour of the movie, even though his chums on board have never recognised (recognized?) the language. and then one of his friends wants to marry the German speaking hostess - I can in a warped sense of reality imagine this, it takes toasted Stilton cheese before an early bedtime, and I would give the benefit of the doubt, but why ?. Give all the film crew and cast a towel, facing East, towards Backpool, or anywhere, just to hide their heads in shame. Complete drivel