Murder on Flight 502 Information

Murder On Flight 502 is a 1975 American made-for-TV movie directed by George McCowan and starring Robert Stack, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Sonny Bono, Danny Bonaduce, and Fernando Lamas.

Plot summary

Flight 502 takes off from New York City to London. At the airport, a fake bomb threat leads to Head of Security Robert Davenport finding a letter he would not have received until the next morning. The letter explains a series of murders will take place on flight 502 before it lands. He and his team go over the backgrounds of all the passengers to find possible suspects. In the air, Captain Larkin, off duty Police Officer Daniel Myerson, and flight attendant Karen White look for suspicious passengers. Relationships develop on board between elderly singles Charlie Parkins and Ida Goldman, rock star Jack Marshall and Dorothy Saunders, and mystery writer Mona Briarly and suave passenger Paul Barons. Briarly suspects Barons is actually a criminal who got away with stealing seven million dollars from a bank, but Barons denies it. The investigations on the ground and in the air produce several leads. It is discovered that passenger Otto Gruenwaldt's wife died because fellow passenger Dr. Kenyon Walker was not available to help. But Gruenwaldt's suffers a heart attack on board and is saved by Dr. Walker. Ray Garwood attacks Marshall, blaming him for the death of his daughter due to an overdose. Garwood denies leaving the note, and Captain Larkin and Myerson believe him.

A break in the investigation comes when Briarly tells the captain that a Priest on board may be an imposter, because he did nothing when it appeared Gruenwaldt was near death. Donaldson checks the Priest out and discovers he is indeed an imposter and a known thief. Myerson looks for the Priest, but finds him dead in the dumbwaiter. At this point the notes' contents are revealed to the passengers. Briarly again notices that Barons seems the most fazed by the Priests death, and wonders if the two men knew each other. Soon a second murder occurs; flight attendant Vera Franklin is found dead by the co pilot. At this point Barons confesses to Myerson that he committed the bank robbery, and that the Priest and Franklin were both involved in smuggling the money out of the country through the plane. Barons says he is the next target. Myerson agrees and pulls out a gun. The killer is revealed to be Myerson, who snapped when Barons escaped justice for his crime when no proof was found. Myerson takes the passengers hostage and explains he murdered the Priest and looked through the luggage of the crew and found the money in Franklin's bag. Captain Larkin makes a drastic move to distract Myerson by releasing the oxygen masks and going for the gun. In the ensuing struggle Barons is killed, the cabin catches on fire, and Myerson is badly burned. The passengers extinguish the fire and the plane lands safely. Just as the crisis ends Donaldson calls to warn Larkin about Myerson.

On the ground, Garwood apologizes to Marshall, Dr. Walker and Gruenwaldt reconcile, and Charlie Perkins and Ida Goldman decide to share a hotel room. Karen White thanks Captain Larkin for saving the passengers. But Larkin reveals that before the plane took off Franklin had dropped her bag, which had no money inside. Therefore the money was put in the bag by the real guilty smuggler, Karen. Larkin hands White and Myerson to the police. Myerson is taken away claiming he brought a thief to justice when the law would not, and will be commended for protecting the people from villains.

Cast

• Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Kenyon Walker
• Polly Bergen as Mona Briarly
• Theodore Bikel as Otto Gruenwaldt
• Sonny Bono as Jack Marshall
• Dane Clark as Ray Garwood
• Laraine Day as Claire Garwood
• Fernando Lamas as Paul Barons
• George Maharis as Robert Davenport
• Farrah Fawcett-Majors as Karen White
• Hugh O'Brian as Detective Daniel Myerson
• Molly Picon as Ida Goldman
• Walter Pidgeon as Charlie Parkins
• Robert Stack as Captain Larkin
• Brooke Adams as Vera Franklin
• Danny Bonaduce as Millard Kensington
• Vincent Baggetta as Fred Connors
• Rosemarie Stack as Dorothy Saunders
• Elizabeth Stack as Marilyn Stonehurst
• Steve Franken as Donald Goldman
• Philip Sterling as Benny Cummings
• Pepper Martin as Bomb Man
• Yolanda Galardo as Alice Quincy
• Bob Hachman as Operations Man
• Don Hanmer as Priest
• Glorie Haufman as Ticket Taker
• Byron Morrow as Diplomat
• George Petrie as Ferguson
• Dave Shelley as Harold

Soundtrack