MovieChat Forums > Hostage Flight (1985) Discussion > what is the other ending?

what is the other ending?

posted 19 years ago by yduric
15 replies | jump to latest

Can anyone please give me the answer to this question, because I just saw this movie again and I have read that the NBC executives asked that the original ending be changed, because they found it too horrendous; it is nevertheless said that the original ending was shown when the movie was released outside the United States. As I live in Switzerland, the ending I saw shows that the hijackers have been hanged in the airplane; so I have two questions: is this the original ending or not? what does the other ending show?

[–] rebound4july 19 years ago

****SPOILERS**** (obviously)

When I read on here that there were two endings I was going to ask the same question, but you answered it for me as your description is the one I never saw.

About the other ending (as best as I can remember 20 years later): While the passengers are still debating what to do, two of the terrorists are discreetly trying to untie themselves. Suddenly they lunge out of their seats and a passenger holding a gun( the guy who was most in favour of an execution) shoots them both. At that moment the detective jumps up to stop him and the passenger as a reflex shoots him too. The movie ends with the passenger sitting in his seat crying and shaking his head. Very powerful. Don`t know which ending was the original. Wish I see this movie again. Highly underrated.

[–] pcventures 19 years ago

I watched just about every made for TV movie in the mid 80s.

I can say for sure that the version that first aired on the networks (NBC I believe) was the one in which the nervous gun-holding passenger shoots the two terrorists, then the sky marshal, then it cuts to the passengers just staring pensively ahead).
(I really, really like the argument the passengers had about what they were going to do with the captured terrorists).

I saw the alternate ending on WWOR channel 9 (New York Metro area) a few years after that, literally just caught the ending part.
When I saw the feet swinging, I just knew that I saw some sort of alternative ending.
In numerous "review" books, including the Leonard Maltin's guide, they often mention that there are two endings to the film.
As I mentioned on a now-dead forum on Davisdvd.com, this movie should be out on DVD, with both endings.

[–] medic249a2 18 years ago

It was some time before I saw both endings to this movie. The first one I remember seeing was the terrorists' feet swinging from the aircraft ceiling - they had been hanged. I didn't see the alternate ending until about 4 years later - the one when the two terrorists get loose and are swiftly killed with their own weapons, then the police officer who had gunned down the fat terrorist is killed accidentally. Undoubtedly the second ending was more frightening than the first.

[–] sax007 18 years ago

Does anyone know where to find this film? It's not available on Amazon.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stevenackerman69 17 years ago

Yes, there were two endings. Originally, Rune (however it is spelled) is able to break out of his seat belt and stands up and charges but the lecturer guy sees him and shoots him dead. Then he shoots the woman because he's out of control and DiSalvio tries to stop him from firing again and he gets killed instead of the ringleader (last terrorist). After the lecturer guy realizes what has happened he and the other passengers decide to turn in the lone terrorist to the authorities. Bart Cooper is guarding him in the shot of the passengers waiting for the plane to land. When the movie aired in syndication, they changed it in that DiSalvio is still alive and they killed and hung the three remaining terrorists in the back of the plane. When my family and I saw that we were surprised too because we remembered the original ending. Also, in 1995 when Lifetime aired the film, they used the original ending (although they cut some other scenes). An okay film that obviously played on the TWA hijacking from that summer.

[–] mtb555 17 years ago

i just got an import of the film from japan (a VHS in English with subtitles) and this version has the hijackers hanged at the end. i had seen the other ending before, this is much more shocking.

[–] mtb555 16 years ago

Since it's very hard to come by, I managed to upload the alternate ending on YouTube (forgive the quality, it does the job though).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plh19XM-2AY

[–] summa1 16 years ago

I am fairly certain that the terrorists being hung was the original ending. I saw this TV movie when it originally aired. I remember the captain of the plane (played by Mitchell Ryan) being very distressed, because he wanted the terrorists to be kept alive to trial, but the passengers had already made up their minds that the terrorists would be killed immediately.

I also remember several years ago seeing this movie again on cable TV, and I was waiting for the passengers to hang the criminals, and then the guy shoots the terrorists and the cop, and I am thinking, WTF was that? Was that a dream sequence or something? Then realized that it was an alternative ending.

[–] stevenackerman69 16 years ago

No, the original ending was with only 3 terrorists getting killed and DiSalvio getting killed by mistake. The alternate ending was when the terrorists were all killed and hung at the back of the plane.

[–] lese1968 15 years ago

Where can I get a copy of that movie? Do you know? Please respond if you can to [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 15 years ago

Good news! You can buy a copy of this film on either DVD or VHS at:
www.robertsvideos.com

Hope this helps!

[–] lese1968 15 years ago

As I remember seeing it in 1985 the original ending is where the terrorists are hanging from the inside the plane.

[–] stevenackerman69 15 years ago

No, the original ending is what I said. You must've seen it after it was changed. By the way, in that ending, notice how Rene Enriquez and his wife character aren't seen? I guess they couldn't come back for the reshoot.

[–] pcventures 14 years ago

For some inexplicable reason I was RIVETED to 80s TV movies, and saw a lot of them when they first aired. My mind caught details like a steel trap.
20+ years ago, I still remember looking forward to Hostage Flight when I saw the promos, enjoying the film tremendously, and then being surprised at the ending with its weird combination of terrorist and friendly fire killings.
(Perhaps not even that unrealistic. The shooter nailed the cop due to stress, adrenaline, inexperience with firearms, and something that Massad Ayoob calls the 'ideo-motor reflex.')

I also vividly remember catching it as a re-run on WWOR channel 9 a few years later. They argued over what to do about the captured terrorists, they went to a commercial break, and upon return simply showed the feet swinging in the air.
I immediately thought "that is NOT the original ending. How cool is that - an alternate ending!"

"...and Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lotta ice, whenever he's away."