Flight from Ashiya

It is said, during the worse disasters, we see ordinary people, exhibiting extraordinary heroics. Basically that's the core of this film entitled " Flight From Ashiya. " The men of the Air Rescue Service are given a ceremonial tribute and for the most part it's about them. Three men and their lives are personified each offering a segway into their background. The first is Glenn Stevenson (Richard Widmark) the experienced commander who's lingering demons are a deep reminder that his personal bigotry is not only a hindrance to his job, but is itself more of a danger than the black ocean he willingly faces. Next is his second in command, Lt. John Gregg (George Chakiris) who's memories of a mountain accident have become a major obstacle to his courage. Fearing he caused the death of stranded villagers, he doubts he will ever overcome it. The last member of the crew is Tsgt. Mike Takashima. (Yul Brynner) Reaching into his past, he recalls vividly a tragic accident in which a lost love reminds him of his shortcomings and vulnerability. Together the crew receives a summons to fly into raging Pacific storm at night to risk life and limb and rescue a raft load of Japanese survivors on the verge of drowning. The film is a stark reminder of what these courageous men face in their tireless efforts to save lives. Excellent acting from Widmark, Brynner and Chakiris make this a worthy tribute to the profession. Unfortunately the clumsy use of miniatures and models diminishes the visual power of this fine movie. Nevertheless, actual locations and backdrops add to the touching story and contribute to it's success. ****

In 1964 at Ashiya Air Force Rescue station in Japan, another Flight From Ashiya is launched when word of survivors on a raft in the North China Sea is heard. Two planes are given the mission.

While on the way in flashback we see the lives of three of the men on the rescue mission with various incidents from their past. The three are Colonel Richard Widmark, Lieutenant George Chakiris, and Sergeant Yul Brynner.

You're supposed to take only essentials, but in this situation all three men are taking a lot of baggage along. Both Widmark and Brynner met and lost their true loves during World War II and Chakiris blames himself for the deaths of several people during another mission ten years earlier that both Widmark and Brynner were on.

There are some very nice flying and rescue sequences in Flight From Ashiya, aviation buffs will love this film.

Best performance in the film has to be Yul Brynner the half Japanese half Polish American sergeant who decided to make a career of the Armed Services even after World War II. My guess is that Brynner probably served in the 443rd Division of Nisei and served in Italy as well as North Africa where his flashback takes place.

Widmark was a civilian pilot who ran an airline in the Phillipines before World War II where he met Shirley Knight. What happens to both of them after Pearl Harbor and the invasion of the Phillipines shapes Widmark's attitudes.

Last year Dennis Quaid and Ashton Kutcher did a film about the Coast Guard Rescue Force called Swimmer. A lot of Flight From Ashiya was incorporated into that film. That was a worthy successor to Flight From Ashiya.

This is, despite a fairly epic attempt at storytelling and a heavyweight cast, a snoozefest. The pacing is very dry and ultimately predictable and the storyline is trite, contrived and pat. Widmark, Chakiris and Brynner are on a rescue mission and as their plane approaches it's destination, each of them has a flashback to another dramatic time for them. Chakiris' is the most believable as he recalls a tragic rescue attempt of some villagers caught in an icy mountain range. Widmark recalls meeting a photojournalist (Knight) and falling in love against a war-torn backdrop. Brynner remembers meeting a foreign girl (Gaubert) who he can only communicate with visually since they don't speak each others' language. Parker gets the film's most pointless & thankless role as a woman who pines for Brynner back at the base. The film ranges from stodgy to overwrought with many unintentionally amusing moments and some really ripe dialogue. Made at a time when studios were still getting used to a little more freedom with immorality, it wants desperately to be cutting edge and racy, yet is hopelessly old-fashioned and silly. There is NO attempt at period flavor. Knight's story is set in 1941, yet her hair and clothing are early sixties (she even wears a skirt almost identical to Parker's, whose story takes place in 1964!) Her awesome mane of hair could easily have been styled into a neato '40's 'do, but alas, no one did. Widmark and Knight's story tries to cram a two-hour-movie's worth of clichés and dramatics into about 20 minutes. They literally fall hopelessly in love after one plane ride! The same can be said of Brynner's affair. He gives his seat to a girl on a bus and then can't live without her. This whole section of the film is ludicrous, but Gaubert is quite lovely. The ending of this sequence is surreal and jaw-dropping! It must be seen to be believed and is almost worth sitting through the film for. There are worse ways to spend two hours, but this is hardly rewarding entertainment. There is also a hilarious before and after narration by a man who sounds like he did voice-over for army recruitment shorts.

If you want to see this film it helps being not too attentive. This film has a nice surface which promises an entertaining, adventurous film but unfortunately "Flight from Ashiya" instead is full of clichés, stereotypical characters and of often unintentionally funny story lines. "Highlight" is the story of Yul Brynner which takes part in Africa and which involves a super-exotic woman and a doll's house's Africa. The end of this part of the film is ridiculous and at the same time disgusting and a perfect example of the exploitation of a character for a very cheap effect. The most funny is the pathetic narrative voice-over commentary which claims that everything in this film really happened - which indeed would surprise me... All in all "Flight from Ashiya" unfortunately is a perfect argument for all the people who despises classic Hollywood films for being stereotypical and false, which this film surely is.

I had expected lots of action and I got it but it was of the dreary melodramatic romantic type and not of the shooting type. It's no surprise that the release was delayed by two years as the makers must have realised that it was not very good. The few action scenes were impressive and looked expensive to make which perhaps explains why they were so few in number. The large numbers of flashbacks , essential to the plot, further reduced the enjoyment. A waste of acting talent with a way over the top romantic plot and script. Not one for Richard and Yul to be proud of, but it was not their fault of course.