# Need help identifying a movie from the 70's **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507 "2009-02-05T01:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Splat\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Splat\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splat_1)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507/1 "2009-02-05T01:41:29Z")
I’m trying to find a movie, and Google/IMDB are failing me. So, Dopers, time to flex your memories, and see if anyone can help me find it. All I can remember is that it was about a boy who survived a plane crash (maybe a small plane) in the desert somewhere, maybe Africa (I seem to remember lions getting in on the act)? The movie was mostly about his survival in the desert, all on his own. He gets rescued at the very end, possibly by some tribal people. Most of the movie had no dialog, or very little, since it was all about this boy on his own. I remember watching it as a kid, so it must have been from the 70’s, early 80’s at the very latest. Could have been late 60s. It seemed like a made-for-TV movie, but I’m not sure. It’s been bugging me for years and years and years what this movie was. I remember it freaking me out, seeing this small boy having to survive all the harsh conditions in the desert all by himself. If anyone can point me in the right direction, you will have my undying gratitude! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507/2 "2009-02-05T02:25:31Z")
This is vaguely similar to the 1979 film _The Black Stallion_. A boy is shipwrecked on a desert island. Much of the film has no dialogue. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507/3 "2009-02-05T02:32:31Z")
I took the liberty of posting your question on the IMDB board, and one of the experts posited that your movie might be [Dirkie (1969)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151392/). ---
**Author:** ![Splat\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Splat\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splat_1)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507/4 "2009-02-05T02:44:27Z")
Thanks **Earl Snake-Hips Tucker** , that might be it! I’ll have to check it out a bit further to see if that’s the one I remember, but the outline on IMDB looks like it might be right. Hmmmm, next (somewhat rhetorical) question, why didn’t that come up in my IMDB search when I searched on “boy desert plane crash africa” and many variants on those terms!!! And thanks too **Wendall Wagner**. However, as a typical horse crazy girl, I read the Black Stallion books & watched the Black Stallion movies more times than should be humanly possible, so I knew it wasn’t that one! 🙂 ---
**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:** [February 5, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507/5 "2009-02-05T02:49:16Z")
> [@Splat\_1](#): > > Hmmmm, next (somewhat rhetorical) question, why didn’t that come up in my IMDB search when I searched on “boy desert plane crash africa” and many variants on those terms!!! Probably because currently, the only keywords assigned to it are: Scorpion Airplane Accident Desert Dog Kalahari Lost ---
**Author:** ![Splat\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Splat\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splat_1)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-identifying-a-movie-from-the-70s/484507/6 "2009-02-05T02:58:11Z")
Yes, I did try a whole bunch of different keywords, although “Airplane Accident” instead of “Plane Crash”? I wouldn’t have picked that combination of keywords :). And I tried searching in keywords, plots, etc. I guess I must not have hit on the magic combination! But thank you again, a little further googling seems to confirm that this is the movie I was thinking of, and that lots of other people had been trying to remember it too. Finally, can put this annoying little “What \*\*was \*\*that movie?” to rest.