A Couple Of Movie Questions

[Elvensmith 165]

With the passing of the years I occasionally have flashbacks to movies I watched in my youth (or books I read) but can't for the life of me remember what they were called. The three airline related ones are as follows:

1. The Infamous plane crash in the desert where all the flight crew are dead. The ghosts amuse themselves by playing baseball then towards the end of the movie one by one start to vanish as a recovery team finds and buries their remains, save for one who's body is away from the wreckage. I say infamous because this one comes up quite a bit. Other forums I've looked on like to suggest this is the 1970's TV movie Sole Survivor, starring William Shatner. But it's not. No one survived, this was about the panic of the last ghost that his remains wouldn't be found and he would be stuck on his own in the desert forever. And Bill Shatner wasn't in it.

2. A movie with a plane test flight/crash about half way through with the infamous line, "We're going in." The airline manufacturer blames pilot error until late on in the film a similar aircraft is found with vegetation remains around the landing gear indicating the design of the aircraft made it too heavy.

3. This one probably a TV movie/play. An ex RAF pilot now flying commercial airliners is haunted by his past. At the end of the film he mistakenly lands at his old disused RAF field killing himself and all on board. Not to be confused with the James Herbert book or film adaptation "The Survivor". I don't think it was either a Roald Dahl Tale Of The Unexpected or similar. More likely a BBC or ITV "Play of the Month" type production which were popular back in the 70's and early 80's.

Any attempt to put me out my misery will be greatly appreciated.

[cmpbellsjc 2,960]

Couldn't find anything on number 2 or 3 but your right about number 1. There are a ton of threads on the net about it and some swear it's the one with William Shatner, but many people swear he wasn't in it. I spent about 1/2 hour reading a bunch of threads about it but it seems that no one can figure it out. Maybe the Mandela Effect coming into play on that one.

[iwebber 207]

Disregard...

[Guest]

Damn you Sir!

No, 3 has put the hook in me as I can vaguely remember seeing something like that. Armchair Thriller, Hammer House of Horror TV series...something along those lines.

Well, that's my day planned - I'll have an answer for you by tea time.

[Elvensmith 165]

Well I think I might have stumbled on No.2 entirely by accident:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_of_Silence_(film)

Rings all the bells, just need to track it down on DVD or Netflix.

As regards the "ghosts in the desert", yes that Guardian discussion is probably the most comprehensive discussion of the topic on line but ultimately frustrating as every other post comes back to suggest Sole Survivor (which it's not). Catch 22 and Flight Of The Phoenix also ruled out.

[thejoe 0]

is #1 "Ghost Bomber:Lady Be Good" ?

[Elvensmith 165]

1 hour ago, thejoe said:

is #1 "Ghost Bomber:Lady Be Good" ?

I think that has also been discounted in the Guardian discussion, as the movie we are trying to remember was not documentary style.

[jdwgraf 52]

This movie was mentioned some time ago and a simple search on You Tube found this :

It is just a you described .

 

John

[lownslo 592]

About #1, I remember watching that "show" many years ago, but if I recollect it was a TV show.  Are you sure what you saw was a movie?

Greg

[HighBypass 2,339]

At face value, Sole Survivor does seem to fit, but Bill Shatner is clearly in it, and it's not about an airliner/airline.

[B7X7-900 10]

On #1, did 'The Twilight Zone' or 'Outer Limits' take on this subject?

[Guest]

7 hours ago, B7X7-900 said:

On #1, did 'The Twilight Zone' or 'Outer Limits' take on this subject?

They did.

 

No.1: could be "King Nine Will Not Return" - Twilight Zone, 1960

The World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber King Nine has crashed in the desert. Captain James Embry finds himself stranded, alone except for the wreckage and the mystery of what happened to his crew, all of whom have disappeared. The movement of the plane in the wind and his visions of the missing men serve to heighten Embry's disorientation.

 

However, after pouring over that Guardian discussion I deduce that we're talking about Sole Survivor here for No.1.

I know the OP states black and white but it was not unusual for colour to be printed to B & W for cheaper distribution costs. It's likely this is what he saw. For the discrepancies with plot he mentions I can only opine that it's possible it was edited a couple of times post initial distribution. It is even possible that Shatner was edited out due to contractual problems and that the Worldwide distribution edit reflects this. The plot is loose enough to support dropping a character out.

I'm not saying mystery solved but as Holmes says;

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."