When I was young, I remember watching a movie on TV about a plane crew (I think it was a WWII fighter) that had crashed somewhere in a desert. The movie was all about them trying to get away from the wreck and rescued but they could never manage it. One guy finally managed to get away and it turned out that they were all dead and actually ghosts. For the life of me, I can’t remember the name. It would have been in the 70’s, maybe even the late 60’s.
Anyone else seen/remember this?
Sounds vaguely familiar…like maybe an episode of Twilight Zone or something similar.
I’m pretty sure that was a Twilight Zone episode. Does this sound like it:
Sounds familiar and I immediately thought Twilight Zone too, but some searching turned up Sole Survivor.
Is that it?
Yeah, “Sole Survivor.” Both it and “King Nine” were probably suggested from the real-life story of the Lady Be Good.
I think it might be Sole Survivor as there were definitely other crew members with him in the desert and the Twilight Zone episodes says he was at the wreck by himself.
I love the Dope!
There were other crew members with him in the desert in the King Nine episode, it just turns out that they were products of Embry’s imagination. Or were they? :dubious:
This thread triggered a vague recollection of another story, that might have been a Twilight Zone or just a short story or something, where a guy was marooned on an alien planet with his broken spacecraft. He kept working on fixing it but overnight it would get broken again. He thought it was the aliens, but IIRC in the end it turned out it was himself ruining it unconsiously?
Does this sound familiar to any of you?
I’m sure I’ve seen the movie, and it was a bomber, not a fighter, because the whole crew was agruing about stuff. IIRC they ended up walking in a circle and coming back to the plane and seeing their own bodies and realizing they were ghosts. Something like that, anyway.
Here’s a web page about Sole Survivor. It’s not what I remember but I could be wrong.
You’re right about it being a bomber and I also seem to remember the crew trying to walk away but always ending up back at the plane. But then one guy got further and was staring in a window at his family (maybe?) and they were talking about him being dead (maybe?).
I suppose I could vague that up some more if I really tried…
Take a look at the link I posted. The movie doesn’t seem to be available on video, so there are all these posted recollections, which don’t always agree with one another. Apparently they were always playing baseball, which I don’t remember. But someone posted that they kept walking away from the plane and being “magically” returned, which is similar to what I remember.
Oooh, I vaguely remember baseball (I think or maybe I’m thinking of The Great Escape… ;)). I would love to get my hands on a copy of this movie. Like the people in the link, it’s really stuck with me.
Or, just watch the whole thing here:
You are a GOD!
What he said! Thanks a million!
I’ve watched it, and it was very good, but I’m reasonably sure it’s not the movie I was thinking of. I could swear that the guys didn’t know they were dead until very near the end, and I don’t remember anything about baseball, or an investigation or a cowardly general.
Who knows, maybe I’m conflating a bunch of movies.
Well done!
I found this thread too late to suggest the film, but this is one that I think of from time to time and wish I could see it again.
It could also be the Twilight Zone episode Death Ship. In that ep it’s 3 or 4 guys on the spaceship.
The Flight of the Phoenix(the original was made in the 60’s) could also be a possible source of confusion. It has a plane crash in the desert, but not the same ending of course (spoiler is in the title).