Fate is the Hunter

Fate Is the Hunter is a 1964 American black-and-white aviation disaster film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Aaron Rosenberg, directed by Ralph Nelson, that stars Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, Suzanne Pleshette and Rod Taylor. Fate Is the Hunter also features Jane Russell (playing herself entertaining for the USO in a flashback sequence), Nehemiah Persoff, Wally Cox, and Mark Stevens. Dorothy Malone also makes an uncredited appearance. The film features an early film score by composer Jerry Goldsmith. The film's storyline concerns the crash of a commercial airliner that killed all aboard except for one of the crew, a stewardess. Civil Aeronautics Board investigators blame pilot error, but the airline’s Director of Flight Operations, himself a pilot, refuses to accept that conclusion and demands that the inquiry probe deeper into all the circumstances that contributed to the disaster. The film explores the lives of passengers and crew as well as the technical operations of aircraft, the process of investigation, and the pressures brought to bear by relentless news media and industry politics. Plot After the failure of both engines of his passenger jet during take-off, pilot Jack Savage (Rod Taylor) successfully belly lands the plane along what initially appears to be an open stretch of beach. However, it uncontrollably skids into a pier, exploding and killing all but one aboard, stewardess Martha Webster (Susanne Pleshette). Early in the investigation, it is discovered that one engine failed after ingesting a seagull, while the other is mysteriously mechanically sound. Focus turns to pilot-error, as Savage was seen in a bar as little as an hour before the flight. The captain's wartime buddy, airline executive Sam C. McBane (Glenn Ford), is convinced of his friend's innocence and doggedly investigates. Flashbacks deal with both Jack's past and Sam meeting him, plus others they used to know, as well as Savage's ex-fiancee and his current girlfriend Sally Fraser (Nancy Kwan). Sally introduces the idea of fate to McBane, who rejects it. During the investigation, it is revealed that the pier structure had been scheduled for demolition but the project had been delayed a few days; had the pier been dismantled on time the plane would have made a successful belly-landing. Finally McBane learns that Savage had accompanied another war buddy to the bar and had not been drinking himself.