Steal the Sky (1988 TV Movie) User Reviews

Mariel Hari

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 28 September 2009]

"Based on a true story, 'Steal the Sky' stars Mariel Hemingway as the American-born Israeli spy Helen Mason. Sent to Iraq to coerce an Iraqi pilot into hijacking a Soviet jet for Israeli defense research, she seduces Munir Redfa (Ben Cross) in order to blackmail him - with unexpected results. Helen finds herself falling in love with him, endangering the mission, while he is torn between his love for her and his loyalty to Iraq," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. New age artist Yanni provides the soundtrack.

A dull look at 1960s Middle-Eastern politics, seen through the filter of 1980s United States HBO-TV movie-making lenses. In hindsight, the focus on Iraq is interesting - who would have guessed, during the filming of "Steal the Sky", that the US would go to war with Iraq to find "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and make the country a Western-styled democracy? The best part of the story occurs near the end, after the hijacking. For his good work, Mr. Cross was nominated for a Cable ACE "Best Actor" award.

**** Steal the Sky (8/28/88) John Hancock ~ Mariel Hemmingway, Ben Cross, Sasson Gabai, Nicolas Surovy

Loosely based on the true story but

[zzmale · 16 February 2004]

The Iraqi pilot did defect to Israel with his jet, but that is about the only thing this movie and the reality has in common.

The problem is that for a limited budget TV movie like this, most of the money is spent on paying celebrity Mariel Hemingway instead of being spent on making more realistic scenes. As a result, the movie had very serious flaws that is easily recognized by those with limited military and historical background:

For example, all jets used in this movie are two generations earlier than what was in real life: the Iraqi pilot defected with MiG-21 delta-wing supersonic fighters, but in the movie, this was replaced by obsolete subsonic swept wing MiG-17.

For Israeli Air Force, its delta winged supersonic fighter derived from the French Mirage III is replaced by the jet three generations earlier in this movie: the straight winged subsonic USA F-80 jet that first entered service at the end of World War II, more than two decades before the actual defection.

More financial resource should be spent on making this movie more realistic because the story is good enough for any actress, there is no need to hire a celebrity specifically.

A film with an agenda? Definitely.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 8 August 2021]

Not all films with focus on character over action are strong films, and even if based on historical fact, they end up sometimes are best left on the rejected script shelf. Certainly the intentions are honorable, but unless you are really interested in the subject matter or emotionally involved in the subject matter, it's easy to be distracted and somewhat bored by it. This HBO drama has a heroine (Mariel Hemingway) who seemed way too modern to seem like a young woman in the mid 60's, but the flawed hero (Ben Cross, playing an Arab brought up as Catholic) does have the spark that Hemingway lacks. The intrigue over Arab and PLO relations is far too complex to be covered in a less than two hour movie, and unless you go back and read the headlines or history books on the subject, it's easy to be confused or disinterested in a 50 year old subject that should have grabbed you much more than this does.

There's a very erotic love scene between Cross and Hemingway that requires a thermometer to gage, and Cross, in love with both her and his Arab wife (the stunning Etti Ankri), yet consumed with his mission. The background score with Yanni is a plus as is the photography and scenery, but the story is dry and slow, and in spite of the promise of intrigue, there is very little action. It takes well over an hour before things begin to come together, with lots of exposition in the first hour not exciting enough to keep the audience completely interested. In spite of the extreme seriousness of his character, though, Cross is quite striking to look at although the sight of Hemingway walking through the rugged terrain in heels without getting a pebble in them did make me chuckle.

Just another boring production!

[RodrigAndrisan · 1/10 · 29 December 2019]

The granddaughter of the great writer, Mariel Hemingway, is neither a great beauty nor a first-rate actress. She only played in mediocre films, mediocre roles, one exception being Woody Allen's "Manhattan" (1979). Here too she is unconvincing in the role of a Mossad agent. Ben Cross, a decent actor in other films, is just as unconvincing as an Iraqi pilot. Andreas Katsulas, an actor with a sinister face, is much more credible. For a moment, in one scene, I recognized the Romanian actor Dan Nutu, who is not even credited. A very boring movie, actually pure pro-Israel propaganda. Yanni's music, very good in many albums, is not great, on the contrary. One star though for Mariel, because she tried hard.

An exciting movie

[wps-459-881432 · 9/10 · 14 January 2016]

Okay, historical accuracy is only approximate... Mig 15, Mig 17, Mig 21 well, whatever it was, I'm sure it's not important to get this spot on. What I think is important, the big picture, the story as a whole, the drama, the excitement... that really comes through. The tension builds up, and the timing all adds to a tense climax.

I do love this film ; the actors are great and the sense of speed and awesome shots of low level flying (I don't think this is enough to qualify as a spoiler) are thrilling. This is my favourite film about warplanes / fighters... and is much better than Top Gun in my opinion. In fact, writing this I've just got myself all excited about it ... and you know what... maybe I'll go upstairs and watch it one more time!! Do not miss it just because one reviewer says the facts are off (because they are... it's just based on a true story).