The Skyjacker

On 24 November 1971, someone who called himself Dan Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 that was on its way to the airport of Seattle-Tacoma. Armed with an attaché case in which he said there was a bomb, he demanded $200,000 ransom and four parachutes, which he was then given.
This true story seems to have been the motivation for this unusual, convincing feature début by Jeff Pickett and cameraman and cowriter Eric Jensch. In The Skyjacker, we make the acquaintance of a young man who meticulously disguises himself before getting aboard the plane. When he lights a cigarette, he is asked by stewardess to put it out until they are in the air. This isn’t the only indication that we are far removed from today’s post-9/11 hysteria. The clothing, haircuts, the interior of the plane, the relaxed attitude of the airline staff and passengers, the calm tempo, the framing and cutting betray a profound fascination for a period in recent history that has not been forgotten, but is rarely experienced: the relatively carefree 1970s. Or, as expressed so pregnantly on the promotion card for the film: ‘It was a simpler time.’
The buzzing of aircraft engines, the action that occasionally appears compulsive and the dialogues have a trance-like effect – an effect that is only broken by the surprising ending of the film. (EH)