Disappearance of Flight 412, The |
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USA • 1974 • 72m •
   • Directed by: Jud Taylor. • Starring: Glenn Ford, Bradford Dillman, David Soul, Robert F. Lyons, Guy Stockwell, Greg Mullavey, Stanley Bennett Clay, Jonathan Goldsmith, Jack Ging, Ken Kercheval, Edward Winter, Simon Scott, Kent Smith. • Music by: Morton Stevens.    Colonel Pete Moore is commander of the Whitney Radar Test Group, which has been experiencing electrical difficulties aboard its aircraft. To ferret out the problem, he sends a four-man crew on Flight 412. Shortly into the test, the jet picks up three blips on radar, and subsequently, two fighters scramble and mysteriously disappear. At this point, Flight 412 is monitored and forced to land by Digger Control, a top-level, military intelligence group that debunks UFO information. The intrepid colonel, kept in the dark about his crew, decides to investigate the matter himself.
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Review:
While this is indeed a relic of the 70's Television Movie of The Week, it explores a phenomena which would later gain notoriety, the idea that we are not alone and that our government would do whatever it took to keep an informative lid on the prospect of UFOs or possible alien life patrolling the skies. I found this little movie a rather affective parable on the treatment towards those whom our government believes pose a threat to National Security, a crew who noticed two Marine bombers vanish without a trace, blips on the screen which are there one moment, gone the next. Also spotted were three dots representing UFOs, and once they disappear, so does the Marine bombers. A shady military organization called SID interrogate and question the flight crew of what they witnessed while in the sky, hour by hour attempting to weaken these men into silence, slowly penetrating their resolve in order to hush their voices regarding the Marine bombers and how they supposedly vanished.
Colonel Pete Moore(Glenn Ford)and his lieutenant Major Mike Dunning(Bradford Dillman)are pursuing the whereabouts of their men, and soon uncover the SID base located in the middle of a desert, an abandoned area just proper for a quiet investigation without disruption. Moore's persistence to find them and his vocal outrage at the treatment of the men in order to distort the truth of what they saw will cost him. I think Ford brings a forceful presence and his intensity well registers with the audience regarding the integrity to tell the truth regardless of the consequences for such actions. This film, like THE X FILES later explored, shows that if you speak out and do not bend, a price will be paid, and that corruption, no matter what it means in regards to the brave men who fly in the skies for their country, will prevail despite the valiant efforts of a small few who resist the urge to remain silent.
Good cast, maybe why I liked this TV movie as much as I did, includes an excellent David Soul(..as Captain Roy Bishop, the pilot of Flight 412 who realizes something isn't right in regards to those who are interrogating his crew), Robert F Lyons (..as co-pilot Cliff Riggs, who loses his patience with the interrogator, ready to punch his lights out), Kent Smith(..as General Enright, military head who is an important figurehead in the cover-up), Guy Stockwell(..as Colonel Trottman, the leader of the SID team interrogating the crew, perfectly embodying the sneaky government bureaucrat), among others.
The film utilizes narration to add importance to the issue of possible UFO activity and the crooked methods behind silencing those who could lend credence to it. Director Jud Taylor doesn't use any fancy techniques, from a photographic standpoint, opting instead to focus on the story and characters without focus on style. I'm sure many might find the material(..and it's presentation)a bit static and heavy-handed, but I rather enjoyed it..maybe because I love these "government conspiracy" kind of movies(..also explaining why I like the THE X FILES so much). Those sci-fi fans looking for a movie with UFOs and aliens will find this movie extremely disappointing.
Review by Scarecrow-88 from the Internet Movie Database.
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