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Family Flight

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Family Flight
GenreDrama
Written byGuerdon Trueblood
Directed byMarvin J. Chomsky
StarringRod Taylor
Dina Merrill
Kristoffer Tabori
Theme music composerFred Steiner
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerHarve Bennett
Production locationsLucerne Valley, California
USS Ranger, San Diego, California
CinematographyEmil Oster
EditorsChuck McClelland
George Ohanian
Running time73 minutes
Production companySilverton Productions (in association with) Universal Television (as A Universal Studios presentation)
Original release
NetworkABC
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]

Plot

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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

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Reception

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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]

References

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  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.
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