The Kamchatka Incident

This mixture of genres, with some suspense (but not enough to matter) generated, is typical inoffensive TV hokum, hardly up to the standard of quality this series is known for.

Elements of Cold War standoffs, standard disaster film tropes, and much sickly "heartwarming" human interest is congealed in a script that includes some awful, cliched dialogue. Basically, military pilots (and familiar TV heroes) John Forsythe and Roger Perry are piloting a plane that goes off course and is threatened by a Russian fighter for violating Siberian airspace. A high-level Russian defector (Malachi Throne) aboard adds to captain Forsythe's predicament on what to do.

Very far-fetched plot twists lead to a Pollyanna-ish ending that negates the attempt to whip up danger along the way. It all adds up to nothing, utterly phony and strictly a time-waster.

***SPOILERS*** We get the usual suspects or characters the we've seen in the some half dozen "Airport" movies released over the last 40 or so years here. The difference in this one "The Kamchatka Inident" is that it predated the original "Airport" by some seven years! The main characters in here is handsome and a bit unsure of himself, in either making a run for his life or being interned with his crew and passengers by the Soviet military, USAF Major Bill Livingston, John Forsythe, and his on and off again girlfriend Susan King, Leslie Parrish. Livingston is also concerned about one of the passengers on his flight Soviet defector Nickolai, or just plain "Nick" for short, Brovko, Malachi Throne, whom the KGB have as the #1 target on it's nightly Radio Moscow hit-parade.

It's when Livingston's plane is forced off course over the Paciic Ocean by Typhoon Hazel that Nick who thought that he was out of harms way very life became endangered. In the fact that once the plane lands on Soviet territory on the Kamchatka Peninsular Brovko is dead meat or better yet dead on arrival! At first following orders from Soviet ground control to land his plane at the nearest Red Air Force airfield on the peninsular Maj. Livingston makes a sudden brake for it under a cloud cover where the both Red Air Force and Soviet ground radar can't find him!

**** SPOILERS**** Successfully crash landing his plane at the very tip of Kamchatka Penisular it's now up to Maj. Livingston to get help from the USAF and US Navy before the Red Army get their hands on him and especially Nick Brovko whom their really after. If was just plain dumb luck for Livingston and the some 25 passengers and crew that a couple of friendly Japanese fishing boats were blown off course, just like his plane was, and docked at the tip of the almost uninhabited peninsular! And even dumber luck one of Livingston's passengers Mrs.Tano, Tsu Kobayashi, is in fact Japanese and was able to convince the fishermen,in Japanese, to rescue Livingston and Nick together with all the people on the flight before units of the Red Army arrived!

P.S Nice and heart warming movie especially with both Maj.Livingston I presume and his by them about to throw him under the bus or airplane girlfriend Susan kissing and making up after the two were well on their way to splits-ville! In real life there indeed was a real life Kamchatka Incident that didn't quite end as well as the Kraft Suspense Theater episode did! That's the doomed flight KA 007 that was shot down on September 1,1983 by a Russian MIG fighter jet over the Kamchatka Peninsular where it flew off course with with the loss-269 people- of all its passengers and crew members.

When this episode begins, the narration implies that this story is based on a real life event. I have no idea if this is true AND I noticed they worded it in a way to leave some doubt.

The story begins at a US air base in Japan. A bad storm is headed their way but it looks clear enough for the military transport to leave on time. Unfortunately, in addition to a typhoon the plane's compass is out of whack and the plane is NOT where the pilots think. And, as a result, it stumbles into Soviet air space! In other words, by flying over Kamchatka, it runs the risk of being shot down or forced to land. What makes it worse is that a Soviet defector is aboard the transport...and it will mean almost certain death if they are captured.

The tension in this episode is the best thing about it, and the actors and director do a good job of building it as the show progresses. Well done and well worth seeing...and a nice little look into the Cold War.