Sole Survivor

Not a new review as such, but just a retrospective comment.

This movie's impact simply does not diminish with time. I just watched it again a few days ago, and I still find it as haunting and gripping as ever.

It is with great disappointment therefore, that I note that many years have passed and Warner continues to ignore the significant demand for an official DVD release. As complete, and watch-able, as the "DIY" release is (thank you Nick) it is nonetheless only an off-air copy, and suffers the inevitable loss of quality as a result.

A movie of this stature demands a complete reworking for DVD release, including digital remastering and interviews, etc. I see many lesser and more obscure titles being shovelled out of the archives and onto the shelves every month, so what exactly is the problem with providing a proper release of this great movie?

Like the characters in the film, Sole Survivor seems to be stuck in a void; forgotten by those who left it there to die.

Will somebody *please* excavate its bones and set its soul free?

This made for TV movie seems to have fallen into obscurity, which is a shame; the creativity and entertainment value of it is top notch.

It's the story of a lost airplane after a crash landing out in the desert in World War II. When I first saw this, it looked like a vintage war movie, filmed in traditional black-and-white, almost with a Twilight Zone type aura to it. The crew is discussing their situation, but as the story unfolds you realize this is much more than just a WW2 war story, or a survival drama. The fate of these men is only the first of several twists this phenomenal story surprises you with.

The wreckage of the airplane is discovered years later, and a team of investigators journey to the scene, to uncover the mystery of what caused it to crash land, and to learn the fate of the crew. Richard Basehart is an air force general, who had been on the plane on its fateful flight, and had been the only survivor. He too goes to the crash site in order to assist in the investigation.

Drama, intrigue, mystery, para-normal communication; this movie delivers all these elements in exemplary fashion as it sorts out the truth for you bit by bit in an interesting story filled with unexpected twists.

I hope this movie is released on DVD or video, if it hasn't been already. This is fine story-telling, an amazing and involving movie which holds your interest to its emotional outcome.

Like everyone else, I first saw this movie only one time on TV as a kid and have been haunted by it ever since (at least 25 years). The ending, of course, is the big magnet that pulls so strongly even decades later, but the guys' dialog as they played baseball must've also struck a chord during the post-Vietnam age when political sentiments were still intense. Like so many others here I've tried searching all kinds of keywords on web searches, with no luck, before finally hitting the right combination today and landing the title in a discussion somewhere - which I immediately double-checked on IMDb. Having confirmed that this is the right film, now I've even found a place in Canada, Lear Media, that has the movie on DVD. I just hope it's not one of the "edited to death" versions that's under so much discussion. (I also hope the rumors about Richard Donnor bringing this back via an Iraq War remake hold true, because that would put the story in very good hands.) My DVD order's in. Ten days from now I'll be watching this excellent movie for the second time in my life!

After a B-24 heavy bomber was discovered in the Libyan desert years ago, it inspired this interesting little film. It's about a B-25 (a much smaller bomber) that is discovered in the same desert and it presents an odd sort of mystery...as the surviving crew member was picked up near Sicily...yet the plane crashed into the desert on the other side of the Mediterranean. This makes the story that the survivor (now a General) a complete lie. How could the man have jumped out of a burning plane...yet it continued on its way for hundreds and hundreds of miles?

The way this mystery is presented it VERY novel. For much of the early portion of the film, you see it from the viewpoint of the crew...all alive and huddled around their crashed plane. Soon you realize what's happened...these men are really dead and the men are but ghosts! So, when the plane is discovered and Air Force folks come to investigate, the ghosts are cheering them on--pushing them to uncover the truth. One officer (William Shatner) is in favor of just sweeping everything under the rug, so to speak. The other is anxious to get to the truth (Vince Edwards)...regardless of the consequences. Weird...but very unusual and worth seeing, as I really appreciate innovative film work...and this is very unusual to say the least! Plus, it's very well made and the acting is superb.

I agree completely with the others here who can't forget this film. Made for TV in 1969, never released on video, probably last seen by some 30 years ago, and almost never mentioned in any movie guide -- you'd think it would long ago have been consigned to the rubbish heap of TV history. But it won't be, because it was simply such a powerful story, excellently portrayed and well acted. Indeed, with the current boom in everything pertaining to WWII, the timing is perfect for whoever owns the film to release it on video, or to a cable network who will give it some air time. I remember very clearly seeing it when it came on in 1969...and I'm pretty sure I saw it again a year or so later. This sounds strange, I know, but I'll bet a month doesn't go by that I don't think about the movie for at least a moment -- it was that good. And if you ever read about the B-24 "Lady Be Good" or see the LBG exhibit at the US Air Force Museum, you'll definitely think about this film a long time.

To the studio who owns this film: BRING THIS ONE OUT OF THE VAULT!!