Zero Hour! - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Zero Hour! or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Zero Hour!

[charlie]

This film is parodied in Airplane! (1980), so much so, that the producers of that comedy bought the rights to this movie and used some of the dialogue word for word.

[frederick]

This is Dana Andrews' first of at least three airplane thriller/disaster movies. He also was the captain of a commercial DC-6 carrier in The Crowded Sky (1960) which was rammed by jet pilot Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. Then, to return the favor in Airport 1975 (1974), Andrews was piloting his twin-engine prop plane that rammed a commercial 747 --- captained by Efrem Zimbalist Jr..

[kylie]

Early in the flight three men passengers are sharing a drink and talking about football. The Scotsman in the trio is explaining a new player position recently introduced to the game called a "flanker," which he describes as being impossible to defend against. In reality the position of flanker was created in the 1950s by Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, the pro football player turned actor who played Capt. Wilson in this film.

[ella]

Like Airplane! (1980), this movie featured an actor portraying a pilot who would be later elected to a sports Hall of Fame. Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch in this movie would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Airplane! was elected to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame.

[norma]

Dana Andrews would play a commercial pilot in the 1960 disaster film The Crowded Sky, and then a small plane pilot in Airport 1975.

[chad]

Linda Darnell, who played Ellen Stryker, was actually married to an airline pilot in real life at the time the movie was filmed.

[willard]

To guard against food poisoning FAA regulations forbid the serving of the same type meal (fish, meat or fowl) to a pilot and co-pilot.

[jesse]

Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell starred together in the Otto Preminger film noir Fallen Angel in 1945.

[phyllis]

There are several scenes that Dana Andrews would play almost exactly the same in the 1958 Film Noir, The Fearmakers, including having his eyes checked at a doctor's in the beginning. Also, actor Roy Gordon appears with Andrews in both movies, playing an old friend in each.