The Presidents Plane Is Missing (film)

Plot

With diplomatic tensions building and the United States facing a possible military confrontation with China, Air Force One mysteriously crashes in the desert while heading to California, with U.S. President Jeremy Haines (Tod Andrews) on board. While the crash is being investigated and the President's fate is yet uncertain, Vice-President Kermit Madigan (Buddy Ebsen) steps up as Acting President. Unfortunately, Haines had left him uninformed of current foreign policies. Madigan must now rely on the late President's aides to fill him in on information he lacks, but the aides have their own agendas.

National Security Adviser George Oldenburg (Rip Torn) claims that Haines was preparing to go to war if the Chinese did not back down, while career diplomat Secretary of State Freeman Sharkey (Raymond Massey) asserts that Haines was pursuing a peaceful solution to the problem with China. Madigan's wife Hester (Mercedes McCambridge) sees this as an opportunity to advance his career, but the Washington political community doubts his competence. In dealing with growing tensions and conflicting advice, Madigan struggles to avoid a nuclear war with the Chinese. Meanwhile, it turns out that President Haines was not aboard the crashed plane after all.

Novel

Robert J. Serling's 1967 novel spent multiple weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List and its success enabled Serling to become a full-time writer. Serling later penned a sequel to the novel entitled Air Force One Is Haunted, which centered around former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt haunting the current President whenever he boards Air Force One.

Production

The President's Plane Is Missing was completed for release in 1971, but due to then-President Richard Nixon's ongoing diplomatic relationship with and planned visit to China it was decided to postpone release of a film which painted China in a negative light until after Nixon's return from his visit to China.

The President's Plane Is Missing was released on October 23, 1973, as a period piece.

Reception

In Cinema and Nation, when comparing The President's Plane Is Missing to such films as JFK (1991) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) reviewers noted out that while many films use a premise that actual democracy is an illusion, this one was rare in that it turned the President into an action hero. In 1988, the reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald wrote that it was a "dull film despite an excellent cast."