gcapp Reviews

The F.B.I. (1965–1974)

A series worthy of DVD

[29 January 2005]

Indeed, yes, I remember this series... and I don't believe I've seen it in reruns myself, although I'm aware of it being rerun on stations I could not receive. I think I tuned into this two to four years before it came to an end in 1974. I am old enough to remember that the show was produced with the cooperation of the director of the FBI, whats-his-name, um, J. Edgar Hoover. The last season or so had different names since Hoover had died.

I really liked the way they set up the episodes, showed the crimes being initiated, the charges being shown on the screen. The oft-repeated scene of showing Erskine listening on the phone at the same time as a crime victim or victim's family. Erskine going under cover, like masquerading as a blind man. The high school boys trapping a friend in an old mine shaft or whatever and discovering, just after they were arrested, that the field had been leveled and buried with fill.

This would be good to see on DVD, but I'd be happy if it was rerun on one of the cable specialty channels.

Hey, I'm Alive (1975 TV Movie)

True story, even if dramatic licence taken - SPOILER

[23 October 2004]

The spoiler does not identify the precise problems that arise in the situation, nor how the two people are ultimately rescued or their condition.

Since in the true incident the movie tells the story of, the stranded flyers are rescued, it is not a spoiler to say the movie ends with that rescue.

This story is based on the true incident circa 1961 in which Ralph Flores and Helen Klaben, flying from Alaska to the Lower 48, crashed east of Watson Lake, Yukon. Their survival made news, and the Whitehorse Star does have, in its commemorative editions of 100 years of publishing, a photo of the real Helen Klaben in hospital in Whitehorse.

The basis of the movie seems to be that Helen has been traveling around the world, and accepts a flight with Ralph Flores from Alaska to points further south. After a night stop in Whitehorse (shown nicely in a shot that shows the recognizable downtown area behind the airport), their next day sees them go down (cause not made clear) somewhere in the Watson Lake Triangle, an area where other planes have gone down over the years.

Dramatic licence may have been taken on the clash between the Mormon Flores and the Jewish Klaben, but Flores early on establishes a hierarchy he hopes will prevent them from committing adultery in their lonely condition. They clash over their beliefs and how it affects their possibility of rescue. The searchers don't hold out much hope as the days go by, and *SPOILER* the stranded flyers are tantalized by a sound they can barely hear through the woods.

Might be a good movie to watch on a searing hot day!