they do not get medical treatment soon. Stryker makes a rough landing, but none of the passengers are injured. He has conquered his demons and regained the respect of both Ellen and Captain Treleaven. Cast Dana Andrews as Squadron Leader Ted Stryker Linda Darnell as Ellen Stryker Sterling Hayden as Captain Martin Treleaven Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch as Captain Bill Wilson, Pilot Geoffrey Toone as Dr. Baird Jerry Paris as Tony Decker Peggy King as Stewardess Janet Turner Charles Quinlivan as Harry Burdick Production Writing Zero Hour! was an adaptation of Hailey's original 1956 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation teleplay Flight into Danger, starring James Doohan as George Spencer, the original name for the Stryker character. Hailey also co-wrote a novel with John Castle based on the same plot titled Flight Into Danger: Runway Zero-Eight (1958), although this is based more closely on the television version than on the film. Filming Principal photography took place from May 8–28, 1957, with retakes on July 23–24, 1957. The primary filming location was Santa Ana, California. Nightclub and television performer Peggy King made her feature film debut in Zero Hour!, recording the song "Zero Hour" for Columbia Records to coincide with the film's release. John Ashley has a small role appearing on television as a pop star, although the vocals were provided by Duke Mitchell. Reception The New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther called Zero Hour! an "exciting contemplation of a frightening adventure in the skies" based on a "good terse script ... Dana Andrews as the hero and Sterling Hayden as the captain are first-rate in these roles, keeping them hard and unrelenting." Time magazine, however, called the script a "bloopy inflation of a 1956 television show" and said its "moral struggle comes off fairly well, but the general situation is as patently contrived as one of Walter Mitty's daydreams." In 1971, the film was remade as a made-for-television movie, Terror in the Sky, a Movie of the Week special with Doug McClure in the Ted Stryker role (renamed George Spencer, as in the original). Zero Hour! was also used as the basis for the parody film Airplane! (1980). Because Zero Hour! was owned at the time by Paramount Pictures, the makers of Airplane!, also a Paramount feature, were able to use the screenplay almost verbatim, including the hero again being named Ted Striker. Screenplay writer Hailey went on to write the popular 1968 novel