Family Flight

Last updated
Family Flight
Family Flight.jpg
GenreDrama
Written by Guerdon Trueblood
Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky
Starring Rod Taylor
Dina Merrill
Kristoffer Tabori
Theme music composer Fred Steiner
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producer Harve Bennett
Production locations Lucerne Valley, California
USS Ranger, San Diego, California
Cinematography Emil Oster
Editors Chuck McClelland
George Ohanian
Running time73 minutes
Production company Silverton Productions (in association with) Universal Television (as A Universal Studios presentation)
Release
Original networkABC
Original releaseOctober 25, 1972 (1972-10-25)

Family Flight is an American television movie that originally aired on ABC on October 25, 1972. The film stars Rod Taylor and centers on a family whose plane crash-lands in the Baja California peninsula. The film was one of the first times Taylor was cast to play a father. [1]

Contents

Plot

A family on a small plane gets caught in a storm and crash lands in the desert. Short on food and water they manage to repair the plane. But the attempt is ruined by a family member draining the battery by falling asleep listening to the plane's FM radio the night before takeoff. After admonishing the boy, the father attempts to manually start the plane from spinning the propeller with his arms. The plane starts but the propeller lacerates the father's arm severely. The family takes off with the son at the controls and attempts to land on a nearby aircraft carrier. They fail and have to try again. In the end they are rescued and the father is given emergency surgery in the ship's hospital.

Cast

Reception

Howard Thompson gave Family Flight a positive review in The New York Times , praising Rod Taylor's "fine, gutsy performance" and the "credible precision of the climax." [2] New York Magazine also praised the "strong performances" and labelled it "a good adventure story". [3]

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References

  1. Vagg, Stephen (2010). Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood. Bear Manor Media. p. 175.
  2. Thompson, Howard (October 26, 1972). "TV review". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  3. "Television". New York Magazine. Vol. 19, no. 32. New York Media, LLC. 18 Aug 1986. p. 104. ISSN   0028-7369.