island in the sky

[cheezyflier]

do any of you remember this movie? starring the dc-3, co-starring john wayne, james arness and a slew of others? i just watched it again.
man, john wayne did a better job in that picture than he did in many of his cowboy films. not to mention there are a ton of cool aircraft scenes

[Willy]

Yep, it was finally released on DVD a couple of years ago along with the High and Mighty. Island in the Sky was written by Ernie Gann and based on a real incident during WWII.

[miketull]

When I was a kid my parents took us to the drive in theatre to see it. One of my Uncle' s had seen it and said something about a corsair. Through the whole movie I wanted to see an F4U corsair but was disappointed. When it was finally released on DVD along with the "High and Mighty" I bought both. They are both more interesting for me now than they were years ago. If you watch the special features on Island in the sky, they will mention that the actual search the movie was based on, was a C-87, cargo version of the B-24, minus the turbochargers. In his book "Fate is the Hunter" Ernest K. Gann had some derogatory things to say about the C-87. Anyway, the true story as Gann recounts it in "Fate is the Hunter" is too unbelieveable for a movie.

[Willy]

Can't recommend "Fate is the Hunter" enough and Gann sure didn't like the C-87. One of the things he said about it was that it "couldn't carry enough ice to chill a high ball".

[miketull]

One of the things I forgot to mention is that Alfalfa, who I used to see in "Spanky and our Gang", was a copilot on a DC-3 in "Island in the Sky". He's the guy that said two or three times, "Whatever is customary". He also played a copilot of the B-17H in "The High and Mighty".

[viking3]

Can't recommend "Fate is the Hunter" enough

:amen:

Regards, Rob:ernae:

[cheezyflier]

One of the things I forgot to mention is that Alfalfa, who I used to see in "Spanky and our Gang", was a copilot on a DC-3 in "Island in the Sky". He's the guy that said two or three times, "Whatever is customary". He also played a copilot of the B-17H in "The High and Mighty".


AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! i didn't spot that but now that you say it, he does look like it must be him!!!

[Moparmike]

Yup, I picked that one up on DVD when it was released a while back.
You might still be able to find it in the $5 bin at WalMart if you dig deep enough.
I just watched it again a couple weeks ago. Great film based on (as Willy already mentioned) Ernie Gann's writing.

Another "new" star from that film was a young Mike Conners (Mannix).

[Cazzie]

AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! i didn't spot that but now that you say it, he does look like it must be him!!!

It is him, he was also a professional dog breeder and one of his clients was Jimmy Stewart. He was never able to get anything but cameo roles and his life ended in a tragic shooting death at 31.

Caz