The Ghost of Flight 401

This movie was based on the true story of an airline pilot who was killed in a crash due to faulty parts in the plane. His ghost was reportedly seen by flight attendants and passengers on other flights after his death. It's a very creepy film, much in the style of "The Entity" and "Amityville Horror". If you like true ghost stories, you should like this made for television movie.

Based on a true story, about the ghost of an airplane disaster.

I just bumped into this movie on YouTube thinking I was getting one of those 1970s airplane disaster movies, I got a totally different sort of disaster movie: one said to be based on fact!

I have not done the required research on this story to state if I think the whole event is real or not. But, I must admit, it strikes me as a bit strange that I am finding out about this "famous story" now in 2016. I am a middle aged man who usually knows about these sort of strange events in the USA. Yes, I know the airline involved kept a lid on it, but still, why did it take nearly 40 years for me to find out about this "famous story"??

I am not sure why Ernest Borgnine was cast in this film? Maybe he looks like the the real guy this happened to? If so, that is a good reason for casting him in the role. The problem I find is that he is such a big Hollywood name, sometimes a comical name, and seeing him pop in and out of the movie like Barbera Eden in I Dream Of Jeannie takes from the dramatic impact we are meant to feel.

But all in all, The Ghost Of Flight 401 is great to see on YouTube...I hope they don't take it down.

...and that's make a quality film just for the small screen with a good cast that people have in their fondest memories decades later. I watched the original broadcast of this film in early 1978 when I was still in college and it really moved me, this friendly ghost of the good natured middle-aged flight officer that got the family he thought he'd never have in mid-life only to have that life taken from him in a crash.

This movie was televised several years later in the late 80's and I watched it again and I was surprised at what I did not notice the first time around in 1978 that I did notice ten years later. So many of the people who initially see the ghost are what we now call flight attendants, but in 1978 they were called stewardesses, and they were all female. Initially the reports of Don Repo's ghost were discounted not only because it was bad for business but because it was the stewardesses - or "stews" as they call them in the film - that were seeing the ghost. There were many comments in the film that would be considered very sexist today about hysterical females, and nobody bats an eye at these statements. Only after some of the male members of the crew see the ghost does anyone start to take this phenomenon seriously. It's just funny how standards evolve over time - in this case attitudes towards women - and you don't really notice until you're plunged back into a time capsule and see how much things have changed.

I'd strongly recommend this one if it ever airs again. It's in the same boat as films like "J.T." (1969), "The Great Houdini" (1976), "Coffee Tea or Me"(1973), "The Ballad of Lizzy Borden" (1975), "The Neon Ceiling" (1970), and "Legend in Granite" (1973), also starring Ernest Borgnine. These are all made for TV films that were popular at the networks after studio films became too expensive to televise and before cable fractured TV audiences. They are as good as or better in quality than many feature films that are released today. Sure, some of them are quite dated in many ways, but that is part of the nostalgia for many of us who remember the original broadcast.

This very intriguing story about Eastern Airlines flight 401 which crashed in the everglades, is a really good movie that deserves a look for any who have not seen it. I taped it many years ago and occasionally take another look at it, as I did last evening. Apparently this was a made for TV movie, and is not available on DVD. I wish it was! The movie really gives one pause to think about all the things we really don't realize or understand about life and death. It contains a good cast and is acted well. Among the familiar faces are Ernest Borgnine and Russell Johnson of Gilligan's Island fame. If anyone hears of it becoming available, please let me know.

Love these Movies from the 70's and the 80's. You can feel the Love and Joy what they puttet into their Work. Nice Movie. Really nice to watch and worth to watch it.