Fate Is the Hunter

First off, I am one of the rare pilots who loves this movie. I'm a 737 captain for a major airline in the USA. Also a flight instructor, an instrument instructor and multi engine instructor.

I've read the book and am glad the book and movie are so different. IN this way I get two amazing stories, but with that special flavor expressed in the title.

I won't describe the movie, others have done that. But if you are a pilot and don't "GET" this movie, you better take some more flying lessons.

I mean it. If you don't like the fictional airliner, well that' s fine.

Get over that part of it.

Here is a movie that actually talks about a rudder power switch!

I can also say that the cinematography is wonderful and the opening 12 minutes and last 10 minutes is the most amazing stuff I've seen. (short of reality).

So, see this movie. And shut off the damn bell.

One of the best "if only" this had happened, or this didn't happen the outcome would be totally different. I have seen this movie only once, and that was in 1964! It's a great old movie, with well know actors. If you ever get a chance to see it....DO !!

Fate Is The Hunter casts Glenn Ford as an airline executive and former pilot who is investigating the crash of an airline at his airport where a former Korean war buddy Rod Taylor was the pilot. Most on the flight were killed, one of the survivors was stewardess Susanne Pleshette.

Ford has a vested interest both professional and personal, he hired Taylor as a pilot and his judgment is called in question as well. And Taylor was a roguish sort of guy who bent the rules considerably. But Ford knew Taylor as a man cool in combat and we see Taylor after the initial crash in all sides of his character in flashback.

The film is based on an Ernest K. Gann novel who also gave us Island In The Sky and The High And The Mighty. The film keeps the attention throughout with its documentary like approach. Ford is a man with a disagreeable task and he's praying his faith in Taylor will not be in vain.

The airline is more interested in covering itself in case of potential lawsuits than at getting at the truth. Pilot error is the easiest explanation all around and Taylor's past doesn't help any.

There are a couple of noteworthy supporting performances first being Dorothy Malone who was not billed oddly enough as a party girl who Taylor was involved with and dumped. It's a chip off the performance Malone gave as Marilee Hadley in Written On The Wind. Also noteworthy is Wally Cox who was a fellow crewman on Taylor and Ford's ship in Korea who provides an insight into an incident in Korea that Ford does not remember fondly.

What does cause the crash? It's something quite trivial, but Taylor's posthumous reputation owes a debt of gratitude to Susanne Pleshette surviving the crash and to the black box recording even then, standard on commercial flights. It was kind of quaint seeing the airline investigators playing the black box recording on those old fashioned reel to reel tapes.

For aviation fans and fans of the principal players and many others. A really good piece of work that all the cast could take pride in.

This is a great movie. I only saw it once, and that was in 1964, when it first came out. I wish it were available in VHS format, but it is not. If only some cable station would air it, I would love to record it! It is a great story of what life is, not what we want it to be. It illustrates the many zany and unusual things that can happen to change our lives forever. It goes to show you, when it's your time to leave this world, not matter WHAT you do, it is your time.

A terrific movie, Glenn Ford, Rod Tayler, and Suzanne Pleshette give wonderful performances. Not only a suspenseful movie, but it also one which makes a person think. Maybe some things are just meant to be. I just wish it was available on Video or DVD.