MovieChat Forums > Sole Survivor (1970) Discussion > Not Quite The Film I Remember

Not Quite The Film I Remember

posted 15 years ago by pbar100
30 replies | jump to latest

I too, recall this film from when I was a child in the mid 70's, and it stuck with me ever since, strange how it struck a chord with so many people. I bought Sole Survivor a couple of years ago thinking it to be the one. And although it is very similar, it is not the film I remember. The main difference being that they do not know that they are ghosts, until the end. In Sole Survivor, they are aware that they are ghosts. In the film I am trying to track, at the end the rescue party arrives and the 'ghosts' cheer and jump for joy, and I thnk they line up ready to be honoured by the rescue party. But, they all get ignored and it is at that moment that they realise that they are ghosts. That's the massive twist, and the reason this film stuck with me. So, two things are possible here. Some of us for some reason remember this film this way in error. Or, there is another film very similar to Sole Survivor, and that's the one we saw, but seems amazingly hard to find or re-discover. I hope I get to find out, this film has been on my mind for more than 30 years.

[–] danfcon-13605 10 years ago

Here is what happened. There is nothing wrong with your memory. I have been griping about this problem in the cinema for years. Sole Survivor was made as an ABC Movie of the Week. It's run time was 100 minutes. The only copy that is available is a British Bootleg probably taken from British TV. The bootleg says that its run length is approx. 93 minutes. I seem to remember that the ABC Movies of the week ran from 9-11 or 8-10, sometimes they ran from 8-10:30 or 11 PM, probably depending on how much ad time was sold. The missing seven minutes were cut to fit British TV, and it was those seven minutes that set up the premise. As TV films went, Sole Survivor was big stuff for the time. Shatner was just off Star Trek, Vince Edwards and Richard Basehart were big time (for television) spear carriers. These were low budget films that were sold in large blocks to distributers like Viacom or others. It's all done to make a fast buck and no one cares about the integrity of the original negative.

[–] csos 9 years ago

pbar100. I remember the film ending like you said, where they never realised they were actually dead/ghosts until the end of the film. so it doesn't really make sense if in Sole Survivor they knew in the early part of the movie. The whole twist at the end was this fact. I don't suppose anyone will ever find out because the subject has been going on for years now. Would love to know the answer as to the different endings, whether it's the same film of not.

[–] DracenMantis 9 years ago

You can find out now, it's out on joint dvd/blu-ray double disc 'special edition'.

Is the room ready for Rose?

Ready for Ralph, Godley and Creme

[–] lastofthelees 9 years ago

The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
6.9/10
969
King Nine Will Not Return

Bob Cummings starred in this Twilight Zone episode that is very much like the 'Sole Survivor' TV Movie

DC

[–] Bruce7 8 years ago

Just throwing in this one

"The Flight of the Phoenix" 1965

Can you fly this plane?
Surely u cant be serious
I am serious,and dont call me Shirley

[–] ElRaisuli 8 years ago

Having just watched this, the thing which seems different from the original, 1970, US broadcast is the conclusion.

As I (and apparently others) recall, the flyers disappear one-by-one as their bodies are dug up. However, in the version I just saw, the camera moves in on Lou Antonio as he is holding onto the first flyer to be dug up. When the camera pulls back, Lou Antonio is alone. ALL the other fliers have vanished at once.

I suppose a lot of people could be mis-remembering this, but I think there also might be an alternate version made for theatrical release overseas.

Why change it? Well, it is pretty horrifying as I recall, and it suggests less of a release of the spirit than it does grisly "second death." It's that disturbing nature that made it so memorable.

Some television markets have fairly strict rules concerning the of depiction of "torture," so that might explain why this sequence was truncated.

Or maybe it's just a false memory. The shorter ending was clearly filmed to come off as it does - so, if it's an alternate version, it would have been deliberately made and not just a trick of editing the longer version.