# Does anyone know what movie this is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788 "2010-01-13T16:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/1 "2010-01-13T16:02:24Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/2 "2010-01-13T16:08:15Z")
Sounds vaguely familiar…like maybe an episode of Twilight Zone or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/3 "2010-01-13T16:11:46Z")
I’m pretty sure that was a Twilight Zone episode. Does this sound like it: > **[King Nine Will Not Return](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Nine_Will_Not_Return)** > > "King Nine Will Not Return" is the season two premiere episode, and 37th overall, of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on September 30, 1960 on CBS. > This was the first episode where Rod Serling appeared on camera at the beginning, rather than introducing the episode in a voice-over narration. > This is Africa, 1943. War spits out its violence overhead, and the sandy graveyard swallows it up. Her name is King Nine, B-25, medium bomber, Twelfth Air Forc... ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/4 "2010-01-13T16:12:40Z")
Sounds familiar and I immediately thought Twilight Zone too, but some searching turned up [Sole Survivor](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065007/). Is that it? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/5 "2010-01-13T16:15:15Z")
Yeah, “Sole Survivor.” Both it and “King Nine” were probably suggested from the real-life story of the [Lady Be Good](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Be_Good_(aircraft)). ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/6 "2010-01-13T16:35:56Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/7 "2010-01-13T21:46:20Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > 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: ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/8 "2010-01-13T22:04:25Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/9 "2010-01-13T22:20:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/10 "2010-01-13T22:25:26Z")
Here’s a web page about [Sole Survivor](http://www.nndb.com/films/916/000083667/). It’s not what I remember but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/11 "2010-01-14T00:49:03Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > 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. 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… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/12 "2010-01-14T01:00:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/13 "2010-01-14T01:13:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Flang\_Dang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@Flang\_Dang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flang_Dang)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/14 "2010-01-14T01:51:52Z")
Or, just watch the whole thing here: [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&ei=B8C9SvXEEqfuqAPByrWNBg&q=sole+survivor+1970&hl=en&client=firefox-a#](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&ei=B8C9SvXEEqfuqAPByrWNBg&q=sole+survivor+1970&hl=en&client=firefox-a#) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/15 "2010-01-14T02:16:02Z")
> [@Flang\_Dang](#): > > Or, just watch the whole thing here: > > [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&ei=B8C9SvXEEqfuqAPByrWNBg&q=sole+survivor+1970&hl=en&client=firefox-a#](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&ei=B8C9SvXEEqfuqAPByrWNBg&q=sole+survivor+1970&hl=en&client=firefox-a#) You are a GOD! ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/16 "2010-01-14T02:22:04Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > You are a GOD! What he said! Thanks a million! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/17 "2010-01-14T03:40:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/18 "2010-01-14T04:54:34Z")
> [@Flang\_Dang](#): > > Or, just watch the whole thing here: > > [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&ei=B8C9SvXEEqfuqAPByrWNBg&q=sole+survivor+1970&hl=en&client=firefox-a#](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7574338161920794843&ei=B8C9SvXEEqfuqAPByrWNBg&q=sole+survivor+1970&hl=en&client=firefox-a#) 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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/19 "2010-01-14T18:28:13Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Sounds vaguely familiar…like maybe an episode of Twilight Zone or something similar. It could also be the Twilight Zone episode [Death Ship](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734562/). In that ep it’s 3 or 4 guys on the spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788/20 "2010-01-14T20:32:39Z")
_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). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-what-movie-this-is/524788.md?page=2)