Rating: ***
Review Date: 4/13/26
Cast: Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden, Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch,
Peggy King
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking."
Veteran combat pilot Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews) can't hold down a job and suffers from the trauma of a war mission that left six of his teammates dead. He blames himself and can't move beyond the past, which causes his wife, Ellen (Linda Darnell), to leave him. In a last ditch effort to save his marriage, he gets on her plane, but then the pilots and half of the passengers fall victim to food poisoning. He's the only chance they have for landing the plane and saving the dying passengers, but will he be able to face his demons? Especially with his former commander (Sterling Hayden) trying to talk him down?
If this sounds familiar, that's because this was the source material for "Airplane!" (1980), except played as a totally straight suspense drama. The cast does an excellent job, but the fact that so much of the dialog is identical between the two films makes it a surreal viewing experience because you literally know exactly what the characters are going to say. To hear "sluggish, like a wet sponge" in a totally serious context is beyond bizarre, and the film elicits a lot of unintentional laughs. It's a lean production that mostly takes place on two sets, and the flying footage is either stock photography or unconvincing miniature work. Still, it hits all of the right dramatic beats and the melodramatic tension is always high. Also, stewardess Peggy King is adorable.
I always thought that "Airplane!" was a spoof of all the "Airport" movies from the 70's, but "Zero Hour!" laid the groundwork for those films and established all of the genre clichés. It's amazing how closely "Airplane!" adheres to the story, and how I only learned about this connection 45 years later. While Ted Stryker's name is the same, all of the other characters (except Joey) have different names and some of the roles are slightly different. The biggest difference is that Ted's wife and son are passengers on the plane, rather than his girlfriend being a flight attendant on the flight.
While "Zero Hour!" stands well on its own as a disaster movie, it's really more interesting due to the "Airplane!" connection. It's an effective study of PTSD, and also a fascinating glimpse into air travel and flight logistics back in the 1950s.