Fate Is the Hunter

source: 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.

Fate is the Hunter (1964) A melodrama with a failed airplane at the center of things, and so many implausible aspects it's hard to really follow it through without a groan. Glenn Ford is a terrific actor but he depends on his grimness to such a uniform extreme here it's oppressive. And idea of defending an old war buddy is great, and of duplicating the events leading to a plane crash, too, but it is taken to great extremes. Not that it isn't interesting, for sure, in ways. But coincidences mount, and then that darned coffee cup spilling into the electronics. Gosh, no one thought that might be a problem? Check out the shot of the airplane with sandbags with all their seatbelts on for passengers. A funny moment. There are war flashbacks, a pair of stewardesses who catch the pilot's eye, and the alcoholic buddy who comes through in the end. It's a simple idea stretched into a barely tolerable two hours. Nicely made and nicely shot, and with decent acting all around, but trapped in a strange narrative.

This movie was one of the most thrilling movies that I've ever seen. It says something that I last saw it as a child in the 1960's and that I not only remember it (as do my family), but that I remember details. Very few movies held my attention like that back then. Fate is the Hunter, as other users have said, is intelligent and well thought out. Only one other (older) disaster movie equals it for thrill and that is The Last Voyage (the final minutes in particular). It should be released on DVD, fully remastered picture and sound. For that matter, it would probably attract viewers at the cinema if a remastered version was released. I don't think that a modern remake would have the same atmosphere. They would probably focus on nothing but the graphic violence of the deaths in the crash and miss out on the values such as friendship and loyalty. I give it 10/10.

Glenn Ford stars in "Fate is the Hunter," a 1964 film directed by Ralph Nelson. The film also stars Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Nancy Kwan, Wally Cox, Nehemiah Persoff, Mark Stevens, Constance Towers, and Max Showalter. Ford is Sam McBane, who is called in to determine the cause of a plane crash; a flight attendant, Martha Webster (Pleshette) is the sole survivor of the flight, piloted by Jack Savage (Rod Taylor). The airline is content to call the cause pilot error, but Ford refuses to accept that. He talks to Savage's friends, the women in his life, and finally actually reconstructs the flight in order to find the answer. Ford shows more emotion than usual and gives a strong performance - he actually dominates the film. The other characters have smaller roles. Jane Russell plays herself, and is all glamor as she sings "No Love, No Nothing'"; Wally Cox has a nice role, as does Mark Stevens, who plays an alcoholic friend of Savage's. Pleshette is excellent as the survivor. Good cast, good direction, and you, too, will wonder what actually caused this crash. Was it, as Nancy Kwan, who plays Savage's girlfriend says, fate? A perfect storm? Or something else? Engrossing.

Had this movie been titled "Airline Investigator" or "Cause and Effect" or even "How Did It Happen?", I would not have been quite so disappointed. Unfortunately, the title of the movie is "Fate Is The Hunter," supposedly based on Ernest K. Gann's grand and sweeping autobiographical work. The book is Gann's masterpiece, chronicling the career of an airline pilot from his first solo flight to his retirement, featuring wonderful accounts of many of the events that occur during a life spent in the air. The movie retains only the title; the rest of it was written as a basically original screenplay, not even close to Gann's work. It's not a bad movie, but it's not "Fate Is The Hunter!"

Good performances but it turned me off from the very beginning when the writers thought that it was OK to introduce us to the African American child flying alone and then kill her off with the rest of the unknown passengers. I guess they thought the audience of 1964 wouldn't be overly disturbed by this incident. This really bothered me; that cute little girl with her doll. The cameo of Dorothy Malone was fun to see, although her character was not particularly interesting. I guess you really have to be a Glen Ford fan. It was interesting at the beginning when we thought that we had missed the beginning of the movie where the opening credits roll past. From reading other comments, I'd like to check out the book that shares the title of this movie.

I'm thinking they didn't get any support from the FAA, or what ever it was called in these days. This is a silly story about the investigation of airliner crash. Glen Ford would be the worst crash investigator ever if this character was real investigator. The crash its self is the only thing that's believable in this film. Fords portrayal is of a man who can't make a coherent statement at the crash site. And all through the film his character is so over wrought as to be nearly incapable of completing his job. And the screen play is twisted around to allow for roles for women, pretty to make it into the story in ways that leave you scratching your head. The author of the book that this movie was based on was very dissatisfied with the way this movie turned out and I can see why. All in all this wasn't a very good movie. It was nice to see Suzanne Pleshette, Nancy Kwan, and Jane Russell, but they were just stuck into the movie. Russell and Kwan's parts were just window dressing, and Pleshette's character is I'm sorry to say ridiculous. The level of her involvement in this investigation is beyond belief. A hour and half I'll never get back, and was totally wasted.

I'm afraid that I am not as enthusiastic about this film as so many other reviewers seem, bewilderingly, to be. The writing is dreadful, painting comic-book characters with no depth or subtlety. Glenn Ford does his best to make his central character interesting but nearly all of the main characters in the film are middle-aged men who spend most of their screen time shouting and snarling at each other. This is especially true of Rod Taylor's character who is absolutely ridiculous and as likable as a sticky doorknob. The basic premise of the story is silly, too. While commercial air crash investigations have certainly become more systematic and sophisticated since the 1960's, they were never such shallow, personal journeys as this story would depict. One man's journey to vindicate an old war buddy...who he really didn't even like. Oh please. And what the heck is with that utterly irrelevant cameo by Jane Russell?! If you're on a mission to see every Glenn Ford film and you've missed this one, then by all means sit in front of it once. But I really doubt you'll want to sit through it a second time. It's just too painful.

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.