Fate Is the Hunter

"He played with death to prove a theory"

1964 1h 46m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 41

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An airline executive refuses to believe that pilot error, by his friend, caused a fatal crash and persists in looking for another reason.

“He played with death to prove a theory”

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Cast

Glenn Ford
Sam McBane
Jane Russell
Self
Rod Taylor
Captain Jack Savage
Suzanne Pleshette
Martha Webster
Nancy Kwan
Sally Fraser
Wally Cox
Ralph Bundy
Nehemiah Persoff
Ben Sawyer
Mark Stevens
Mickey Doolan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ralph Nelson
Writers: Harold Medford
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

62 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ralph Nelson, shot by Milton Krasner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert L. Simpson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Glenn Ford and Jane Russell and Rod Taylor carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He played with death to prove a theory".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0058091 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 41 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ralph Nelson directs. Milton Krasner behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Robert L. Simpson cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

162 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Ralph Nelson, shot by Milton Krasner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Robert L. Simpson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Glenn Ford and Jane Russell and Rod Taylor carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "He played with death to prove a theory".
7IMDB entry: tt0058091 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 41 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "airplane", "based on novel or book", "stewardess", "investigation".

The technical file

Cinematography: Milton Krasner
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Robert L. Simpson
Costume design: Moss Mabry
Makeup / hair: Ben Nye
Runtime: 106 min · 1h 46m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Fate Is the Hunter (1964)

Also by

Ralph Nelson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-02-17
★ 6/10
When an airline tragedy kills fifty-seven people, it falls to investigator "McBane" (Glenn Ford) to get to the bottom of things. He has precious little to go on save for a report from the pilot claiming an engine fire before silence then the plane hit the ground. One of the survivors, the stewardess "Sally" (Nancy Kwan) has slightly conflicting information about the crash so "McBane" assembles the wreckage and he can't make either story work - something's not right! The absence of any clear technical fault suggests to all the it's his wartime friend "Savage" (Rod Taylor) who was at fault - but he's not buying that. In an effort to clear the man and get to the truth, he puts his own reputation on the line and makes quite a few unsavoury discoveries along the way before he concludes another flight might be the only solution. Ford is quite good here - there's a decent one-two at the inquiry with Bert Freed's opposing counsel "Dillon" but for a movie about planes, we have remarkably little action going on. A bit of simulation now and again, but otherwise this is a rather dry story that unfolds in a pretty pedestrian fashion, with loads of chat and not so much substance to the plot. The pretty wooden Taylor doesn't really feature very often and by the conclusion, we were on a flightpath of inevitability that really underwhelmed.

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