In 1960, the ruins of an American bomber were found in the Libyan desert, but the remains of the crew were never located. In Guerdon Trueblood's teleplay, the ghosts of a bomber crew hang around their derelict plane, awaiting the day that their bones will be recovered and given a decent burial. The sole survivor, navigator Russell Hamner, has in the intervening 25 years become a General. He joins an investigation team that has come across the wreckage, while the ghosts, headed by Major Devlin, plot to expose Hamner as a coward who deserted his post and left his crew mates to die.
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I just saw an HD copy on You Tube, but it's wide screen. The aspect ratio must be at least 185. It seems to be 16 by 9 compatible. I don't have the link, but it's easily found as long as it lasts. I may try to change the aspect ration on my download, since their heads are a little squashed, but it is odd that someone would do that to a film. It's definitely top quality images.
Dear reader, if you are like me, you saw this a long time ago once, maybe twice and were hooked for life thereafter. But if you're not, if you have only ever sat on the edges of the discussion about this film or frankly have never heard of it till now ... you must watch this film. It does what so few stories have achieved before and since, it keeps you watching even if you've seen it before.Sole Survivor is not about the sole survivor of a plane crash come to identify the wreck as IMDb and so many others say, it's about the desire for closure, for a return home as expressed by the 5 crewmen stranded in the dessert for the last 17 years. They are the centre around all else revolves and they are the reason you will never forget this film once you've watched it.Fairly quickly if you're smart, and maybe not so fast if you're not paying attention, you figure out they're dead and have been waiting around for somebody, anybody to find their corpses and take them home, but when the man who ditched into sea leaving them to their fates shows up with investigators, they want to make sure the truth comes out.Several scenes that have stuck with me over the years centre around how the world had changed in 17 short years, and if your family are among those that still think the Dodgers are traitors for going west, you'll be hard pressed not to smile at one point. These men display the same curiosity and awe they held in life and that is why I suspect so many feel so strongly about Sole Survivor. The cast and the writer have contributed to making these guys come to life in what could have easily been a one set, three act play doomed to put people to sleep by "What do you miss most about home".Featured strongly outside of the dead airmen are the performances of the General and that of those of the investigators come to draw a line under the whole thing. Fans of Star Trek will look forward to the familiar acting style of William Shatner who only lapses into Shat speak maybe once or twice.I can't and won't ruin the ending for you as the ending is entirely up to your interpretation of what happens next, I on the balance of evidence think the last soul, the sole survivor if you like, goes home too. But even if he doesn't, if you have a heart, if you have ever come that close to something but had to wait just a bit longer and wondered if you could stand it.... you too will not soon forget this film.
Lately I've been listening to an audio book called "Great Military Blunders of the 20th Century" and during the huge section on WWII a brief chapter came up describing the fate of "Lady be Good." As I got to talking with my wife about the incident, I realized there had to be a connection with the haunting TV movie I'd seen decades ago. I still remember watching it on the B&W TV in my family's basement - with no one else around & believe me it stuck with me. I didn't see any comments on one of the conversations of the ghost crew when one of the members is amazed & fairly disappointed/upset that the Brooklyn Dodgers are no longer in Brooklyn but out in LA. That little bit stuck with me over the years, maybe because I'm from the NYC area. Today all that pathos, pain, relief & a whole bunch of emotions that the young guys felt as they suddenly started their journey to their final resting place, came flooding back as if I'd just watched the movie. Though Learmedia has the film for a whopping 27 dollars and change, I AM absolutely going to buy this film. Now that I think about it, the ideas about death in this film, clearly influenced my own writing in a book - a novel - I am about to release called "The Rest is Silence" ," where the person telling the story, the main character's first wife, has died & is trying to work out/figure out the confusion and anger she feels toward her husband. As others have pointed out, they just don't make them like this anymore. In fact, but for the exception of this film, TV movie or not, and a few like it, maybe they never did. For years I'd mixed this one up with Flight of the Phoenix. Now I realize, except for the desert, they have very little in common. Thanks!
I must have seen this as a young child in the 70's and as an adult I have searched many times for this film, not knowing it's name. I've spent hours pouring over lists of movies, from 'war' to 'ghost' categories and maybe never found it as it was made for TV. i would never have guessed it wasn't a cinema release such was it's impact.I found it funnily enough by looking up 'sole survivor' the name of a book on a little boy who strangely enough is the reincarnated sole of a second world war pilot (check out his story, his name is James Leiningerand they are making his story into a film)This 1970 film is excellent and left a deep impression on me, the final scenes in particular. I'd love to get hold of a copy as I only saw it once over 30 years ago. The details of the plot in my mind are pretty sketchy now but the mood and drama of it created a very strong impression on me.
