The Disappearance of Flight 412 (1974 TV Movie) User Reviews

" If a flying saucer is sighted, shouldn't we investigate, not pretend it isn't there? "

[thinker1691 · 5/10 · 3 November 2013]

Glen Ford has always been a consummate actor. When in any role, he becomes the character and thus is very believable. Ocassionaly however the role is one which lacked substance and thus even the best actor can only do his best, despite it's limitations. Such is the film " The Disappearance of Flight 412. " The story was written by George Simpson and directed by Jud Taylor. What should have been an exciting subject, namely U.F.O.'s and should have garnered a much wider audience, proved the opposite. Glenn Ford, plays Col. Pete Moore a highly experience Base Commander of a modern Flight Wing. While under his command a special flight takes off to study strange electrical interference over his base. However flight 412 suddenly encounters three objects over the skies of the base which turn out to be three genuine U.F.O.'s. Surprised by their speed and maneuverability, two additional Marine Phantom jets are scrambled to intercept them. However, as quickly they appeared, they disappear. However, the flight of the air force Lockheed is abruptly ordered to divert to a clandestine base for 'Special Debriefing.' From that point on, things which were strange before, now become an incident in Classified circles. No one is allowed to know what happened over the skies and the crew are subjected to Brain washing as they learn what they saw, NEVER happened at all. Further, since no information is forthcoming, Col. Pete More (Glenn Ford) has to investigate himself. This movie does a good job of creating interest, but fails to bring closure to the story. Although, the information is gathered, NOTHING is allowed to be known to those who already known it. The cast for this film is superb as such superior actors as Bradford Dillman, David Soul, Robert F. Lyons and Guy Stockwell from Digger Control give deep interest to the movie. What exactly goes on behind close door in Goverenment, is never discussed, instead Americans are convinced that Lies are what the Air Force expect of it's personal. All the characters who accepted the lies, were promoted, they others were not. Interesting. ****

Slightly Entertaining But Not That Informative or Factual

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 30 August 2014]

Glenn Ford stars as an Air Force colonel by the name of "Pete Moore" who has just sent a four-man crew on a flight to test some electrical equipment. As Flight 412 nears its destination they are informed by a nearby Marine Corps air base that there are three strange blips on their radar screen and Flight 412 is requested to confirm it. After confirming it the Marine Corps sends two Phantom jets to intercept these unidentified flying objects only to have them mysteriously disappear. At this point the Marine Corps air base turns control of Flight 412 over to NORAD which then diverts it to another heading and orders them to maintain radio silence until they land at an undisclosed location. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was an interesting movie for the most part. Although it begins in a semi-documentary style which opens and closes with a narrative it doesn't really reveal anything out of the ordinary. In essence, it's slightly entertaining but not that informative or factual. All things considered I rate it as average.

Look, up in the sky, it's not a UFO

[Chase_Witherspoon · 4/10 · 10 March 2012]

Occasionally tense, but ultimately disappointing tale of a routine test mission that witnesses the disappearance of two fighter jets who are scrambled to intercept a suspected UFO. No-nonsense Colonel (Ford) and his Major (Dillman) delve into the mystery when their plane is diverted to a remote, de-commissioned air base in the desert, its crew (Soul, Lyons, Mullavey and Clay) interrogated by Special Investigations Detachment to ascertain what they actually saw, and prevent a national security breach.

All the players acquit their roles with professionalism and competence - Stockwell as the burly, sunglasses wearing head interrogator casts an ominous aura, but his passive threats have no substance (the worst outcome suggested is demotion or demobbing). Familiar actors Jack Ging, Ken Kercheval, Ed Winter, Kent Smith, Morris Buchanan and Jesse Vint have supporting roles of varying proportions, and Soul in particular is dominant in his role as the airmen's fearless leader (the scene in which he stages a daring escape attempt should have been a suspense highlight, alas, it fails to ignite the fading embers).

But despite the capable cast, the tele-movie is really just an introduction to the UFO phenomenon, with little actual substance or depth. A couple of tense moments during the multitude of interrogations, despite the bark, there's no bite.

And The Point?

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 28 July 2011]

The Disappearance of Flight 412 is a rather cheaply made TV movie with really bad sound that doesn't seem to make any point. If there are indeed UFOs visiting our fair planet we can't seem to ever get a handle on it with anything definitive. If they are and the government has documentation they are covering it up. Hardly anything revelatory.

Air Force Colonel Glenn Ford is in charge of a flight group in which one of his flight crews is making some radar equipment checks. They see a strange object in the sky, some Marine jets are scrambled and they disappear off the radar scope. Ford's crew is diverted to a secret base nearby his base that he does not know anything about. But with a little sleuthing he tracks down where his men are gets them out.

Quite frankly he should have dropped it right there, but he pursues it and gets himself in a ringer with General Kent Smith. The conclusion, there really isn't any.

Robert F. Lyons does the best acting job as the colonel in charge of the top secret installation, a really smarmy type. Ford does his usual professional job. But in the final analysis the only people who this film might appeal to are aviation buffs.

A UFO Movie With No UFOs

[Scott_Mercer · 3/10 · 1 August 2005]

Those looking for exploitation thrills or Saturday Matinée style adventure should avoid this picture in droves. There's some action here, with endless footage of planes taking off and landing, but a lot of the film is just talking heads.

There's nothing wrong with straight science fiction, almost verging on straight thriller/drama. But this made for TV film didn't do it too well at all. I could see a series like The Twlight Zone handling this with a lot more panache.

The acting from Glenn Ford is dependable, but not exciting. It's the writing that kicks the movie to the curb. But, on the other hand, if you have a desperate need to see David "Hutch" Soul in full overacting mode, this might be your cup of cheese. But remember, we never see the UFOs, other than as a blip on a radar screen, and some "authentic" footage of a totally unrelated UFO sighting somewhere else in the country. I'd give it a pass.

X-Files without the drama, special effects, and interesting characters

[mstomaso · 2/10 · 28 February 2007]

An Air Force training mission is lost shortly after take off and a small squadron of UFOs are spotted on the radar screen as the planes disappear. Glenn Ford plays the concerned base commander, desperately trying to track down the crew he sent along for flight control. This crew has been abducted to a seemingly abandoned military facility in the desert by a special intelligence division, where the men are being brainwashed and otherwise coerced to participate in an enormous, and largely unexplained UFO cover-up.

The film succeeds in developing a military feel, but the characterizations are not consistent in this regard, and several absurdities and military stereotypes occur. It falls far short of creating the 'documentary feel' it strives to achieve, and - even worse - provides no motive or even a fleck of believability for the silly conspiracy theory that forms its basis.

Most of the acting is OK, and the script and plot are, though inconsistent, OK. The cinematography is tedious standard 1970s TV movie fare - the camera generally does not move except for a few pans. Fortunately, the lack of inspirations is fairly consistent from the subject matter itself to the production values, so there is no need to be very concerned if you haven't managed to see this one.

"We Want To Know Everything You Thought You Saw!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 22 September 2022]

It's very interesting to watch a movie like THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT 412, especially in light of what has recently -as of this writing- been divulged by the Pentagon concerning the UFO phenomenon.

When the titular aircraft detects unexplained objects on radar, the crew, led by Capt. Bishop (David Soul), is taken to a top secret location by the "Sunglasses Squad" (aka: NORAD / SID) for "debriefing". As is common in this sort of film, the government types are far more mysterious and creepy than any unknown, extraterrestrial encounter!

The way that SID handles the situation seems extreme, and more like something one might expect from a KGB reeducation operation!

Glenn Ford and Bradford Dillman are superb as the Air Force officers trying to get to the bottom of what happened to their men and their plane. Ford plays one of his best later career roles. Soul proves that he can portray far more serious characters than Hutch. He's very convincing here.

A solid piece of 1970's made-for-TV science fiction...

You Don't Need to Know.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 24 July 2013]

You don't really expect too much in the way of sensitivity or poetry from a television movie. You expect flat lighting, lurid color, and a message that a rhesus monkey could understand.

You get all that here. And, as a kind of lagniappe, you get clumsy editing, a confused screenplay, stiff and amateurish acting, and direction that plumbs the abyssal depths of skill. It's really too bad, because the subject is such an important one.

And Air Force crew is testing a radar site, flying from their base to a Marine Corps Air Station, when both the on-board radar officer and the Marine Corps base notice three unaccounted-for blips on their screens. Neither Norad nor anyone else has any traffic in the area, so two Marine jets are scrambled and ordered to intercept. The Air Force crew, including pilot David Soul, watch the Phantoms climb into a cloud and disappear. At the time time, the radar anomalies disappear.

Glenn Ford is the Air Force colonel in charge of the test but, back at headquarters, he learns that the incident and his airplane have been taken in hand by the Security Intelligence Division or some other secret ops organization.

Browned off at his airplane having been confiscated and at being put out of the loop, Ford pushes his investigation and finds that the aircraft is now at a deserted old field and his men are being held prisoner during a "debriefing" by the SID. Ford gets his men released but his career is at an end. The case gets buried.

It's really frustrating. The film does not show us events clearly as they happen. It's not until the movie is half over that we learn the Air Force crew had visual contact with the Marine Phantoms. And it's not until still LATER that we discover the strange blips made a right-angle turn and accelerated at once from 500 miles per hour to 5,000 miles per hour. That's bad writing.

The pace set by the story is glacial. The SID men all look sinister. There's no question about it. They scowl and smirk and wear Ray-Ban shades. And when one of them shouts at the imprisoned aircraft crew, there is a long pause, with no cut, before a crew member shouts a reply. And that pause is long. Eons come and go. Dynasties rise and fall, while the two men stare at each other and everyone waits for the next shout. That's direction at an amateur level, prompting acting that one would expect from a community college stage somewhere in rural New Jersey. The dialog is repetitious and sometimes without point. Glenn Ford is the most convincing character.

I wish I could recommend it because I'm compelled to believe that there really is an attempt by the US government to keep this entire UFO business under wraps. I can only guess at the motives. (1) Preventing a public panic. (2) What military officer wants to admit that there are "things" flying around that we know nothing about and can't defend ourselves against, should they turn out to be hostile. (3) There's nothing to investigate because there is no physical evidence -- none of them ever dropped a faulty landing gear or a toilet Popsicle, so that the disbelievers hold the witnesses in the same contempt, and for the same reason, that engineers feel superior to physicists. (4) Denial, or, in technical terms, "whistling in the dark." Too bad.

"This is a UFO - an Unidentified Flying Object."

[bensonmum2 · 4/10 · 10 August 2009]

A radar plane (the titular Flight 412) on a routine training mission out of Whitney AFB suddenly spots three unidentified objects on its radar. The objects are confirmed by ground radar. Marine fighters are scrambled. But just as the jet fighters get close , the planes suddenly disappear from the radar – followed shortly by the three unidentified objects. Afterwards, Flight 412 is rerouted to a secret facility where its four man crew are subjected to an interrogation about what they've seen. Or as the men are continually told, what they "think" thy might have seen. Colonel Pete Moore (Glenn Ford) sets out to find his men and bring them back home.

As hard as The Disappearance of Flight 412 strives to have the look and feel of a documentary, it never pulls it off. Instead, the movie comes across as exactly what it is – a movie of the week masquerading as a serious look at the U.S. government's cover-up of UFOs. For example, the movie makes it seem like the men on Flight 412 crack in one night with a minimum of hardship or discomfort. Good thing these guys weren't in combat. They'd have given away every secret the U.S. had in a week's time. It's not a very realistic portrayal of these well trained men.

In addition to the problems with the plot, The Disappearance of Flight 412 is never able to shake its made-for-TV origins. The sets look cheap, there is absolutely no originality as far as the cinematography goes, no special effects of any kind (the UFOs appear only as bleeps on a radar screen), and, other than Glenn Ford, most of the rest of the cast will be familiar to anyone who watched TV in the 70s. Not that the actors do a bad job – quite the opposite in fact. The acting is one of the movie's highlights. David Soul, in particular, gives a really nice performance. Other familiar faces in the cast include Guy Stockwell and Bradford Dillman.

In the end, I'll call The Disappearance of Flight 412 a slightly below average experience. As such, a 4/10 seems about right.

Was It A UFO?

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 8 July 2014]

Jud Taylor directed this TV movie that stars Glenn Ford as Colonel Pete Moore, in charge of the Whitney Radar Test Group that has sent a four-man crew on flight 412 to investigate electrical difficulties, but instead encounters what may either be a blip, or a UFO, but after they are interrogated by a mysterious military intelligence team(led by Guy Stockwell) that does not want to hear about "science fiction", the men find themselves uncomfortably at odds with their own government. Can Col. Moore get to the bottom of this matter, save his crew and all their careers? Reasonably good film defies its low budget and brief running time to tell a well-acted and tense narrative that doesn't provide easy answers, but instead unfolds in a matter-of-fact way, which is most effective. Also stars Bradford Dillman, David Soul, Robert F. Lyons, and Kent Smith.

I wish the movie disappeared with the flight.

[ChuckStraub · 4/10 · 3 April 2005]

"The Disappearance of Flight 412" has the look and feel of a documentary based on a real UFO encounter and the aftermath. I'm sure some people will see this movie and from then on remember it as fact. In fact, no one ever says that it is based on reality. It is fictional, pure and simple. It's just another movie trying to cash in on the UFO craze. At the end of the film there is a statement saying that it is fictional and is not based on anything, anybody or anyplace living or dead. As a semi documentary based on reality it would at least have been interesting. As a sci-fi movie, which is what it is, it is just plain boring. There is no action and very little drama. You never see an alien, or a UFO. All you get out of this movie is that the government is hiding knowledge about the existence of UFOs. The plot is slow, boring, very predictable and goes nowhere. When it ends you wonder what was the point of this movie. Very strange. I wish the movie disappeared with the flight.

UFO Cover-ups are old hat.

[kibeteen · 9/10 · 14 January 2001]

Long before flying saucer buffs were accusing the government of hiding the facts behind the Roswell UFO crash, this movie explored the possibility that military sightings were handled in a covert and serious way.

Presented in a straightforward, semi-documentary style, The Disappearance of Flight 412 is directed with economy and tight pacing. This is an absorbing and convincing TV movie [a rarity] that could be classified as science fiction or straight drama.

If you can find it playing somewhere on cable, don't miss it.

The Disappearance of Flight 412

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 15 August 2009]

I think you can look at THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT 412 as a precursor to THE X FILES certainly in the themes explored regarding a covert operation to systematically dismantle the truth because of our country's government's fear of creating a public panic, removing true evidence of UFO activity as a serious threat to our people.

While this is indeed a relic of the 70's Television Movie of The Week, it explores a phenomena which would later gain notoriety, the idea that we are not alone and that our government would do whatever it took to keep an informative lid on the prospect of UFOs or possible alien life patrolling the skies. I found this little movie a rather affective parable on the treatment towards those whom our government believes pose a threat to National Security, a crew who noticed two Marine bombers vanish without a trace, blips on the screen which are there one moment, gone the next. Also spotted were three dots representing UFOs, and once they disappear, so does the Marine bombers. A shady military organization called SID interrogate and question the flight crew of what they witnessed while in the sky, hour by hour attempting to weaken these men into silence, slowly penetrating their resolve in order to hush their voices regarding the Marine bombers and how they supposedly vanished.

Colonel Pete Moore(Glenn Ford)and his lieutenant Major Mike Dunning(Bradford Dillman)are pursuing the whereabouts of their men, and soon uncover the SID base located in the middle of a desert, an abandoned area just proper for a quiet investigation without disruption. Moore's persistence to find them and his vocal outrage at the treatment of the men in order to distort the truth of what they saw will cost him. I think Ford brings a forceful presence and his intensity well registers with the audience regarding the integrity to tell the truth regardless of the consequences for such actions. This film, like THE X FILES later explored, shows that if you speak out and do not bend, a price will be paid, and that corruption, no matter what it means in regards to the brave men who fly in the skies for their country, will prevail despite the valiant efforts of a small few who resist the urge to remain silent.

Good cast, maybe why I liked this TV movie as much as I did, includes an excellent David Soul(..as Captain Roy Bishop, the pilot of Flight 412 who realizes something isn't right in regards to those who are interrogating his crew), Robert F Lyons (..as co-pilot Cliff Riggs, who loses his patience with the interrogator, ready to punch his lights out), Kent Smith(..as General Enright, military head who is an important figurehead in the cover-up), Guy Stockwell(..as Colonel Trottman, the leader of the SID team interrogating the crew, perfectly embodying the sneaky government bureaucrat), among others.

The film utilizes narration to add importance to the issue of possible UFO activity and the crooked methods behind silencing those who could lend credence to it. Director Jud Taylor doesn't use any fancy techniques, from a photographic standpoint, opting instead to focus on the story and characters without focus on style. I'm sure many might find the material(..and it's presentation)a bit static and heavy-handed, but I rather enjoyed it..maybe because I love these "government conspiracy" kind of movies(..also explaining why I like the THE X FILES so much). Those sci-fi fans looking for a movie with UFOs and aliens will find this movie extremely disappointing.

A Dull Movie With No Resolution

[sddavis63 · 2/10 · 21 January 2010]

"The Disappearance of Flight 412" was obviously put out to try to cash in on the UFO craze of the 1970's. I remember the era well. UFO sightings were all over the place. This type of movie would have been watched and it probably garnered pretty good ratings for NBC - the network that broadcast it. In the end, it would also have left pretty much everyone who watched it disappointed. It really isn't that interesting to watch 4 guys get "debriefed," but that's basically what we do for a good part of the movie. These 4 were the crew of an Air Force plane on some sort of routine assignment. 3 strange blips come up on radar, a couple of Marine fighters are scrambled to intercept them and those planes vanish. The Air Force crew then get interrogated about it over about a 24 hour period. This really doesn't lead anywhere. The interrogation ends and the guys are released to their commanding officer, played by Glenn Ford. Ford was decent enough. He was probably the best part of a weak movie, and the entire cast seemed to take this seriously enough. It's just that there's no resolution to anything. In the end all we're left with is that there's some sort of massive government cover-up about UFOs. Honestly, I saw no point to this movie at all. 2/10

Glad I watched it, despite my rating.

[bombersflyup · 5/10 · 13 October 2018]

The Disappearance of Flight 412 is a watchable film, lacking a bit of pizzazz and exploration.

I love the opening line - If in one thousand reported sightings, one tenth of one percent could be fact, then that's one real UFO. - Sold me.

Has funny escalated music as people walk with clipboards, ha. It's an interesting topic, if people with authority don't choose to listen to your story and want to disregard what you have seen, then you might as well. They can't explain it or do anything about it and all that will happen is you will end up in an asylum and someone will take your place. It's weak by the Colonel once he got to the debunk operation, to just accept being sent to a room to sit and wait without even seeing the men. He might as well have not been there, you would surely want an overview, for all he knows they're not even there. A good ending to have the Colonel's boss be the one organizing the debunk operation, but it really needed more to be an engaging film. Definitely a precursor to "The X-Files" and specifically the episodes "Tempus Fugit' and "Max," where it's taken above and beyond.

UFO No Show

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 20 June 2008]

"A flight wing of the Air Force has been experiencing difficulties with some of its aircraft so as a test they send aloft a jet with a four man crew. Once airborne, the jet picks up three mysterious objects on radar and when two interceptors are sent to investigate, they mysteriously disappear," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

While Air Force Col. Glenn Ford (as Pete Moore) and his men try to investigate events surrounding the UFO sighting, US government officials move to cover-up the incident. Mustached David Soul (as Roy Bishop) heads a cast of familiar and likable TV actors, in a TV movie. One is not as familiar as the rest: "Dark Shadows" star James Storm is partially obscured by a dark cap; he is manning the "Digger Control" that diverts Mr. Soul's plane.

A Little Too Pat

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 16 March 2007]

My issue with this film is that in order to get everything to happen in a couple of days, a lot of believability goes out the window. First of all these are military men. They are Air Force. For them to be broken in a 24 hour span without any torture or brainwashing is ridiculous. These guys would stand up to a little interrogation much better than these guys do. One actually has a full blown fit. Had this gone on for a month; had they been kept in isolation and their minds played with, it would have been a different story. Also, what the heck. Couldn't military orders simply conceal the findings? Make them seem ridiculous? To take four good guys and do this interrogation room nonsense seems awfully silly. I remember when I saw the movie version of "Catch 22." When Yossarian is visited by Colonels Corn and Cathcart. They ask him for a favor. They want him to "like" them. They don't say why. He doesn't understand. But that's what they want. I think these guys are supposed to think they were incompetent and believe the CIS guys. I did notice one of them was Colonel Flag from MASH. Maybe that says it all.

How much you like this will depend a lot on whether or not you believe in UFOs.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 27 January 2016]

The logic of the prologue to this film is astounding. The narrator says that there have been a huge number of UFO sightings and if only 1/2 of 1% are true, then them's A LOT of aliens out there. Huh?! Unassailable logic, right?!

The film is done in a semi-documentary style. This makes it look rather official and real. The story is about an Airforce flight that claims it saw flying saucers. Glenn Ford and Bradford Dillman are in it but don't have a heck of a lot to do. You also get to see a pre- "Starsky and Hutch" David Soul. It lost my interest after a while...and even if I believed in UFOs, the film was extremely high on talk and light on action. Pretty dull, actually and not a film for Ford fans. Let's just pretend he didn't make this one...

This film is a cheat! No UFOS involved.

[oscar-35 · 10 June 2008]

A crew of four are sent off on Flight 412 and pick up three mysterious images on their radar. Star: Glen Ford, David Soul.

A film supposedly dealing with the UFO phenomena in the prologue. This film could have been much more interesting but the film's ending is lack luster and unsatisfying. This is because of bad script or directing? Who knows. The dramatic build up of the Air Force base, UFOs on radar, and missing Marine interceptors was fascinating. Casting and acting was believable.

The over all review of this film was that the script was too bland and needed a 'punch' or colorful finish.

Pointless

[movingwater · 2/10 · 26 January 2019]

A colour version of b/w '50s era creature feature, without the creatures. With a young David Soul and an old Glenn Ford, both with acting range from confused thru frustrated. Both get to pound a desk.

I watched to see Ford, but it was just pathetic.

Brought the whole concept of an official cover up out in the open

[danzeisen · 7/10 · 14 September 2011]

Once upon a time movies used to be made for TV, and this was one of the better ones. Others have done a good job of encapsulating the plot and cast of characters, so I won't rehash that. For those looking for exciting chases and special effects, this is not your movie. Rather it is a character study, and a good one at that. The crux is openness and truthfulness versus secrecy and obfuscation. Do the people have a right to know the truth about what our government is doing? Under what circumstances is secrecy acceptable? Who watchers the watchers? Serious questions, and just as valid today, if not more so than in 1974, when this movie was made.

Operation cover up of UFO sighted and missing US's Marines Jets!!

[elo-equipamentos · 5/10 · 5 May 2023]

Look here, some movies that we had watched in the past whereby we aware that never we found again as official release, well it wasn't an absolute truth, at Youtube we can find these missing pictures in bad shape of course, therefore you kill the longing so to speak, this is my case with "The disappearance of the flight 412" a low budge TV movie that I'd watched in the far-off 1975 when I was so young, for a long time I've have sought this one for years.

Glenn Ford already aged had make tight budge TV movies on the seventies due the cinema industry passed through hard times, in this he plays an Air Force Col Pete Moore at Whitney where they are testing a newest radar under his order helped by his sidekick Major Mike Dunning (Bradford Dillman), to certificate they used to make many flying test to asses its reliance, during a routine flight 412 with four crew members, they perceive a three points in radar which were unknown and henceforth asking helping for a US's Marine base nearby, that send two Jets toward this mysterious flying objects, reaching there the both Jets disappears without a trace.

After that all communication with Whitney are cut-off and the secret department self-called S. I. D. Took over the odd case, sending the flight 412 toward an abandoned base, there they arrest the whole crew and split them in two groups, all them were pushed with the aim to convincing them that such flying objects caught by radar actually is a glitch of new system and all missing Marine Jets didn't disappears at all, they are looking for them nearby, in the meantime Col. Moore and Major Dunning locate the whereabouts of the 412's crew and they headed there to certified what's going on.

The picture displays an usual operation of cover up concerning UFO's on America, exposing to the public that have a secret agency to avoid such sightings didn't reach on the newspaper aiming for startle or spread panic over the population, the casting is enough good featuring Guy Stockwell, David Soul, Robert F. Lyons and Kent Smith, for 72 minutes I went back to 1975 likewise a time machine.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1975 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.5.

Covering up the Truth for our own good

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 7 January 2005]

**SPOILERS** Four years before the 1947 Roswell Incident was made public in 1978 a film came out about a fictitious UFO cover up that had all the hallmarks of what was really going on in the US military, notably the US Air Force, for some twenty years.

On a sunny summer day a radar plane took off from the Whitney AFB and got caught up with what the US Government has been keeping under the rug since the end of WWII: Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's). Are they or are they not real? from another solar system do they come from? and are a danger to the national security of the United States?

The crew of the radar plane spots by sight and their radar system as well as it being confirmed by ground radar an eerie and frighting sight. Three unidentified flying objects moving threateningly towards their plane! Two marine jet fighters are scrambled to confront them or, if necessary, shoot them down. As the fighter jets come within cannon fire of the strange objects they either disappear or are themselves shot down by the UFO's who then make an incredible right angle turn, almost at a standing position, and shoot out of sight at speeds, clocked by the radar equipment on the plane and ground control, of up to 5,000 MPH. What happens next is what we've learned over the years since the movie was made. The radar plane is diverted to an obscure and abandoned air field, the old Digger air base, and the pilots debriefed by members of the SID, Special Intellengence Detatchment. And made to see things the the way the military wants things to be seen, and have the entire incident filed away and forgotten.

Four months later the same kind of UFO incident happens again at the same Whitney AFB and those who suffered through the first one at the start of the film had by then learned their lesson and said of the incident what they were told to say from their higher ups. Not what their eyes and brains told them what they saw and what they knew to be the truth.

Even though UFO's are still considered by many in the news media as mass hysteria at worse or the results of an overworked imagination at best they are real enough for the US military to have covered up and stamped Top Secret and Eyes Only thousands of documents about these elusive objects since at least back to 1947, which shows what those who are in the know really think about them.

The incident that happened in the movie "The Disaperance of Flight 412" is not unique to those who served in the USAF over the last fifty or so years. With intelligently flown aircraft being spotted all over the USA, as well as the entire planet, unopposed with those responsible for the safety of the people not being able to stop them or shoot them down It's no wonder that the government doesn't want this information, if true, to become public.

The disappearance of anything entertaining.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 3 November 2021]

It's much ado about nothing TV movie style, a drab military drama about issues concerning two marine jets which disappear and suspicions about what caused it. Veteran actors Glenn Ford, Bradford Dillman and David Soul get totally unexciting material as they deal with the situation and that results in lots of shots of the friendly skies combined with a lot of technical talk and a hypothesis of what the upper brass of marines suspect, leading to all sorts of dull arguments and not much else. It's tedious from start to finish and even at just 72 minutes this is extremely painful to try to get through.

Disinfo?

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 30 November 2022]

Oh man, 1970s TV movies and UFOs go together like blood and half-naked teenage camp counselors.

U. S. Air Force Colonel Pete Moore (Glenn Ford), the commander of the Whitney Air Force Base 458th Radar Test Group, has sent a crew made up of Captain Bishop (David Soul), Capt. Riggs (Robert F. Lyons), Lt. Ferguson (Stanley Bennett Clay) and Lt. Podryski (Greg Mullavey) out on flight 412, which the title tells us is of course going to, you got it, disappear. Well, the UFO doesn't cause that, but government spooks sure do. And that means that Moore and Major Mike Dunning (Bradford Dillman) have to find out what happened.

Shot like a documentary, this movie has some major issues when it comes to accuracy. When the first scenes of the jets are shown, they're U. S. Marine McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II fighters. Later, Grumman F9F Panther fighter aircraft are shown, planes that didn't fly after the 50s. Maybe that was the government doing that, adding disinformation to a movie that is supposed to give us the real info on aliens.

Director Jud Taylor mainly worked in TV and is known for TV movies like Revenge!, Weekend of Terror, Search for the Gods, Act of Love and the TV miniseries of The Old Man and the Sea. It was written by George Simpson (who mainly worked in sound for movies) and Neal R. Burger. They also wrote the 1990 TV movie Ghostboat together as well as the novel it was based on and the books Thin Air, Fair Warning, Severed Ties and Blackbone.