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Fate Is the Hunter (film)

Fate Is the Hunter
Fate Is the Hunter FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Ralph Nelson
Produced by Aaron Rosenberg
Written by Harold Medford (screenplay)
Based on Fate Is the Hunter (memoir) by Ernest K. Gann
Starring Glenn Ford
Nancy Kwan
Rod Taylor
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Milton R. Krasner
Edited by Robert L. Simpson
Production
company
Arcola Pictures Corp.
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 8, 1964 (1964-11-08)
Running time
106 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2,525,000
Box office $2.2million

Fate Is the Hunter is a 1964 black-and-white aviation disaster film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Aaron Rosenberg, directed by Ralph Nelson, that stars Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, and Rod Taylor. Fate is the Hunter also features Jane Russell (playing herself entertaining for the USO in a flashback sequence), Nehemiah Persoff, Wally Cox, and Mark Stevens. Dorothy Malone also makes an uncredited appearance. The film features an early film score by composer Jerry Goldsmith.

The film's storyline concerns the crash of a passenger airliner that killed all its passengers, with only one of its crew surviving. Pilot error seems to be the cause, until an airliner executive ramps up the investigation, refusing to believe that conclusion.

A bird strike on one of its two engines shortly after takeoff downs a Consolidated Airlines passenger jet, killing all 53 passengers aboard and all but one of the crew. Pilot Jack Savage (Rod Taylor) is suspected of drinking and causing the crash that leaves flight attendant Martha Webster (Susanne Pleshette) the sole survivor of the flight.

Early in the investigation, it is found that the Captain shut down the aircraft’s one good engine for no apparent reason, and that he may have been drinking 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.

Eventually, a test flight is organized as part of the investigation. Piloted by McBane, its purpose is to exactly recreate in every detail the flight of the ill-fated airliner. Every detail is replicated in sequence. After take off, flight attendant Webster brings McBane coffee, just as she did to the original flight crew. He shuts down an engine, simulating the bird strike, and the coffee cup tips over from sudden the loss of power, spilling it contents.


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