''Fate Is the Hunter'' is a 1964 American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

aviation disaster film from

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, produced by

Aaron Rosenberg Aaron "Rosy" Rosenberg (August 26, 1912 – September 1, 1979) was a two-time " All-American" college football player, and a film and television producer with more than 60 credits.Robert Slater (2000)''Great Jews in Sports''/ref> He received a ...

, directed by

Ralph Nelson Ralph Nelson (August 12, 1916 – December 21, 1987) was an American film and television director, producer, writer, and actor. He was best known for directing '' Lilies of the Field'' (1963), '' Father Goose'' (1964), and '' Charly'' (1968 ...

, that stars

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

Nancy Kwan Nancy Kwan Ka-shen (; born May 19, 1939) is a Chinese-American actress, philanthropist, and former dancer. In addition to her personality and looks, her career was benefited by Hollywood's casting of more Asian roles in the 1960s, especially in ...

, Suzanne Pleshette and Rod Taylor. ''Fate Is the Hunter'' also features

Jane Russell Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films. Russell moved from th ...

(playing herself entertaining for the USO in a flashback sequence),

Nehemiah Persoff Nehemiah Persoff (August 2, 1919 – April 5, 2022) was an American character actor and painter. He appeared in more than 200 television series, films, and theatre productions and also performed as a voice artist in a career spanning 55 years, be ...

Wally Cox Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He began his career as a standup comedian and then became the title character of the popular early U.S. television series ''Mister Peepers'' from 1952 to 19 ...

, and Mark Stevens.

Dorothy Malone Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role ...

also makes an uncredited appearance. The film features an early film score by composer

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franch ...

. The film's storyline concerns the crash of a commercial airliner that killed all aboard except for one of the crew, a stewardess.

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1938 and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services including scheduled passenger airline serviceStringer, David H."Non-Skeds: T ...

investigators blame pilot error, but the airline’s Director of Flight Operations, himself a pilot, refuses to accept that conclusion and demands that the inquiry probe deeper into all the circumstances that contributed to the disaster. The film explores the lives of passengers and crew as well as the technical operations of aircraft, the process of investigation, and the pressures brought to bear by relentless news media and industry politics.

Plot

After the failure of both engines of his passenger jet during take-off, pilot Jack Savage (Rod Taylor) successfully belly lands the plane along what initially appears to be an open stretch of beach. However, it uncontrollably skids into a pier, exploding and killing all but one aboard, with stewardess Martha Webster (Susanne Pleshette) the sole survivor. Early in the investigation, it is discovered that one engine failed after ingesting a seagull, while the other is mysteriously mechanically sound. Focus turns to pilot-error, as Savage was seen in a bar as little as an hour before the flight. The captain's wartime buddy, airline executive Sam C. McBane (Glenn Ford), is convinced of his friend's innocence and doggedly investigates. Flashbacks deal with both Jack's past and Sam meeting him, plus others they used to know, as well as Savage's ex-fiancee and his current girlfriend Sally Fraser (Nancy Kwan). Sally introduces the idea of fate to McBane, who rejects it. During the investigation, it is revealed that the pier structure had been scheduled for demolition but the project had been delayed a few days; had the pier been dismantled on time the plane would have made a successful belly-landing. Finally McBane learns that Savage had accompanied another war buddy to the bar and had not been drinking himself. During a press conference, McBane struggles with the concept of fate and coincidence as the possible cause of the tragedy. Meanwhile, Webster, when interviewed in the hospital, insists that she witnessed fault warnings and alarm bells for both engines. Eventually, a re-enactment test flight is organized as part of the investigation. Piloted by McBane, its purpose is to exactly recreate the flight of the ill-fated airliner. Every detail both physical (the use of sandbags on seats to simulate the weight of the passengers) and sequential (chain of temporal events) is replicated. McBane tries to convince Webster to board the test flight, as she is the only remaining eyewitness to the cockpit procedures. She struggles through her post-traumatic reaction and boards the flight at the last moment. After take-off, Webster performs all of her normal duties and brings McBane coffee, just as she had done for the original flight crew. He sets the cup on a center console just as Savage had. McBane then shuts down an engine, simulating its incapacitation. He orders the craft to not be immediately trimmed, as it was not during the original event. A short time later, the second engine warning light and alarm indicates there is a serious engine fire in the remaining good engine, exactly as Webster had reported, and the radio fails. To maintain flight, McBane orders the first engine restarted. Then he notices that the coffee cup on the console spilled during the turbulence of the first engine shut-down. He opens the console's access panel and finds that coffee seeped in, short-circuiting the wiring and causing both the radio failure and a false fire warning. In reality both the original and test flights still had a fully functioning second engine, enough to prevent the crash. McBane orders the second engine restarted, disregarding its fire warning, and the plane returns safely to the airfield. Savage is therefore exonerated of pilot error as the chain of circumstances caused the accident.

Cast

as Sam McBane *

as Sally Fraser * Rod Taylor as Jack Savage * Suzanne Pleshette as Martha Webster *

as Guest Star *

Constance Towers Constance Mary Towers (born May 20, 1933) is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer. She gained prominence for her appearances in several mainstream 1950s films before transitioning to theater, starring in numerous Broadway ...

as Peg Burke *

as Ralph Bundy *

as Ben Sawyer * Mark Stevens as Mickey Doolan *

Max Showalter Max Gordon Showalter (June 2, 1917 – July 30, 2000), sometimes credited as Casey Adams, was an American film, television, and stage actor, as well as a composer, pianist, and singer. He appeared on more than 1,000 television programs. One ...

as Dan Crawford *

as Lisa Bond (uncredited) *

Howard St. John Howard St. John (October 9, 1905 – March 13, 1974) was a Chicago-born character actor who specialized in unsympathetic roles. His work spanned Broadway, film and television. Among his best-remembered roles are the bombastic General Bullmoose i ...

as Mark Hutchins * Robert J. Wilke as Stillman * Bert Freed as Charles J. Dillon * Dort Clark as Ted Wilson *

Mary Wickes Mary Wickes (born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser; June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American actress. She often played supporting roles as prim, professional women, secretaries, nurses, nuns, therapists, teachers and housekeepers, who made ...

as Mrs. Llewlyn *

Robert F. Simon Robert Frank Simon (December 2, 1908 – November 29, 1992) was an American character actor. Earlier years Simon began acting with Mansfield's Community Players organization when he worked as a clerk in a meat market. Following that experience ...

as Proctor

Production

''Fate Is the Hunter'' was nominally based on the bestselling 1961 memoir of the same name by Ernest K. Gann, but the author was so disappointed with the film, which bore no relation to the book about Gann's own early flying career, that he asked to have his name removed from the credits. In his autobiography, ''A Hostage to Fortune'', Gann wrote, "They obliged and, as a result, I deprived myself of the TV residuals, a medium in which the film played interminably". (Some prints of the film were released with Gann's name still in the opening credits immediately before that of Harold Medford, author of the screenplay.) The "Consolidated Airways" jet aircraft used in the film, called "Blue Ribbon", was one of two fabricated from DC-7(B) donors, the second used to create the crash scene on the beach. The wings were reportedly removed and reversed, and a Boeing 707 nose cone along with " supersonic spike" were also added in order to achieve the appearance of a modern

jet airliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly clas ...

. Modifications to the rear section of the aircraft included the addition of two nacelles to accommodate the simulated jet engines. A rear-mounted Boeing 707 spike-styled HF antenna isolator and antenna were added to the tail section. Screen Shot Fate is the Hunter (1964)

An area of the Twentieth Century Fox back lot was converted into the tarmac, taxiway, and runway seen in the film. Because of the fear of litigation, it was reported that no airframe manufacturer or airline was willing to cooperate in the production of the film, making these steps necessary. The "Fate" aircraft was later used in the filming of an episode of the ABC television series ''

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, M ...

'' (1964–1968), and remained parked for several years on an overpass used for movie prop storage by the adjacent 20th Century Fox Studios.Santoir, Christian
"Fate Is the Hunter."
''Aeromovies''. Retrieved: July 3, 2015.

Reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' gave the movie a strongly negative review, writing that it would surely not be shown as in-flight entertainment and that "it might be better for airline travelers if they never see it anyplace." He called it "a stupid, annoying film". Tony Mastroianni of the ''Cleveland Press'' reviewed the movie as "generally well-acted" and "melodramatic and sometimes suspenseful," while noting that its "series of minor situations that are important in revealing character are also very trivial and lacking in drama."

Box Office

According to Fox records, ''Fate Is the Hunter'' needed to earn $4,800,000 to break even and made $2,210,000.

Awards and honors

''Fate Is the Hunter'' was nominated for a 1964 Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Similar Airbus A350 incidents

On November 9, 2019 and January 21, 2020, two

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 ...

jetliners experienced in-flight engine shutdowns due to beverage spills on the cockpit center console in the area of the control panel for engine-start and aircraft monitor functions.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Beck, Simon D. ''The Aircraft-Spotter's Film and Television Companion''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2016. . * Gann, Ernest Kellogg. ''A Hostage to Fortune''. New York: Knoff, 1978. . * Silverman, Stephen M. ''Fox That Got Away: The Last Days of the Zanuck Dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox''. New York: Lyle Stuart, 1988. . * Solomon, Aubrey. ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History'' (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. . * Vagg, Stephen. ''Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood.'' Duncan, Oklahoma: BearManor Media, 2010. .

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fate Is The Hunter (Film) 1964 films 1964 drama films CinemaScope films 20th Century Fox films American disaster films American aviation films American black-and-white films Films directed by Ralph Nelson Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith 1960s English-language films 1960s American films