Measurements of the direction of propagation of 29 coronal mass ejection events observed during the Skylab epoch (1973--1974) and 19 events observed during the SMM epoch (1980) reveal that the former undergo an average 2.2¿ equatorward deflection, while the latter do not deviate signficantly from radial motion. No differences between eruptive prominence-associated or flare-associated events can be detected for either epoch. The results suggest that coronal mass ejection events are influenced by the background coronal magnetic and flow patterns; the nonradial forces affecting the Skylab epoch mass ejections arise from the large-scale dipolar magnetic field and flow configuration present at that time.