Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is a very typical Disney family film (the way they used to do it those days) with very few surprises. The film also can't make up its mind if it wants to be a comedy or drama, and wants to appeal to a young or mature demographic. It would work best for a young demographic, as they are not so sensitive to predictability and a plot not taken seriously. The character actions are lackluster to say the least - especially from main character Noah (Elliott Gould). They also seem to through caution to the wind for the sake of a family adventure. Nothing here is credible. If you just want a fun adventure film for a lazy Sunday afternoon, then maybe this is your cup of tea.

Noah Dugan is an unemployed pilot who's in a big jam. Deep in debt and on the run from bookies due to his betting on the horses, he now finds himself having to choose between being physically harmed by mob strong arms or taking a job at a friend's fly by night cargo airline flying a young missionary and a load of farm animals aboard a beat up old B-29 Superfortress to an island in the South Pacific. Against his better judgment, he straps himself into the pilot's seat and takes off. But also aboard are two young stowaways who can't bear to see their animal pets go away, and Noah's not counting on a defective auto-pilot and a compass giving a false direction due to a tape player messing with the magnets. Needless to say, they end up far off course and with the plane's four engines cutting out one by one, they manage to crash land on a small island somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But they are not alone there. Two Japanese soldiers who have been stuck there since WWII initially attack the new visitors thinking the war is still on...but after some introductions, things smooth over and they put their heads together and build a boat out of the downed aircraft. At sea they encounter storms, sharks, and the quest to find land...doing so by sending a duck out to sea with a help note attached. A happy ending is the result with all. A decent Disney film if one can get past the obvious factual errors. A B-29 could never be flown with just one pilot...the control layout requires several crew members. But the story is fun, and the scenery is great....and aviation buffs can take in a wonderful opening credit sequence of a B-29 soaring majestically over a modern day San Francisco Bay.

I had previously written to the IMDB about this film and I wanted to add a few more comments about it because it is one of my favorites of all time. I think it is Disney's best film and I only wish that more people could see it because it has never been shown on TV. Ernest K. Gann who wrote the story for the film also wrote the classic John Wayne film The High And The Mighty. He also wrote another fine film about an airplane disaster called Fate Is the Hunter with Glenn Ford. Elliott Gould gives his finest performance in this film. This man is probably best known as Barbara Striesands husband and I feel that is a great dishonor to him. They gave her the American Film Institute's Lifetime Ahcievement Award and he has been in almost four times as many films as her. Is that justice? Genevieve Bujold is wonderful in this film and the chemistry between her and Gould is wonderful as well. She is an actress who has never been given her just due as well. She made a film a couple years later with Chris Reeve called Monsignor that was such a devastating bomb that it blacklisted her for life basically. Rick Schroder is one of the few child actors who made a successful transition to adult roles. This was his first film after he made The Champ with Jon Voight (people said that he was one of the most appealling child actors to come along) he proves in this film that he can act and I think it is his best performance. There was a biography of Walt Disney called Walt Disney Hollywood's Dark Prince that mentioned that TLFONA was one of the biggest bombs in the history of the studio and I still cannot understand why. This is family film at its very best. This movie is a classic and one of the fondest memories of my childhood is watching it.

In fact, it wasn't Bette Midler who first brought new blood into the heavy-handed 7O's and 80's Disney productions. It was people like Elliott Gould who originally provided the shot in the arm that Disney needed. In this movie he lends his wise-cracking, go-to-hell character to the role of Noah Dugan and it's a joy to watch! The whole cast is great, and the whole movie is a delight from start to finish.