This is the true story of Lauren Elder who is the sole survivor of a plane crash in the freezing Sierra Mountains in 1976. The movie holds true to a book published by Lauren.(Which I read).Lauren sets out on a short sight seeing plane trip with two people she doesn't know very well, the pilot Jay and his young girlfriend Jean. Lauren has some premonitions that morning something will go wrong before she steps on the tiny plane. But she ignores her inner voice and boards the plane anyway. The crash happens very quickly and without warning. They crash into the side of the Sierra Mountains.They didn't leave a specific flight plan before taking off & it's hard to locate the downed plane. It seems Jay (the pilot) wasn't very experienced and did not have a lot of flight hours to his credit. After the crash, Lauren has minor injuries compared to the other two passengers, Jean who suffers major head injuries and in a coma, slides down the mountain to her death. Jay who appears OK, has in fact severe internal bleeding which Lauren doesn't realize which makes him act disoriented (they are on a mountain with a high altitude and low oxygen) he doesn't make it through the freezing night.The gas that they are using to keep a fire going on the rocks runs out shortly. Her friends now dead, Lauren believes help isn't coming, and she decides to climb down the mountain to find help for herself. With limited provisions and suffering from shock, injuries and exposer, she suffers hallucinations and she thinks she is seeing people when she isn't. When she does reach civilizations and goes to two motels, people turn her away and won't help her because of her bloody face, odd behavior & disheveled appearance (they think she's on drugs).Eventually someone calls authorities and Lauren is reunited with her father that had been looking for her for 2 days. A remarkable story! Very hard to find this made for TV movie (1978). It has been on the "Superstation" a couple of times.
3 Reviews
Mountains are definitely real. Majestic and dangerous.
mark.waltz5 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Low key and somber, this is probably the most realistic account of whsf happens to someone stranded after a plane crash in the middle of nowhere on a rocky mountain, close to the tallest peak in the United States. Blair Brown, a photographer, is off to a shoot when the plane suddenly crashes, leaving two badly injured and ultimately results in her being alone. The mountain surface isn't as picturesque as it seems from the sky, steep and slick, completely covered in granite, and difficult for even the most experienced of mountain climbers. Her boyfriend is concerned when she doesn't show up and a search proceeds, and one begins to wonder how someone could survive mentally from such an ordeal.
The scene of one of the survivors slowly sliding down the mountain, softly moaning in agony, then disappearing over the edge, is one I'll never forget, and the other injured survivor does slowly go out of their mind afterwards. The film is slow moving but intense with long periods of no dialog. G. D. Spradlin and Vera Miles as Brown's parents have smaller parts with David Ackroyd as her boyfriend and Maggie Cooper and James G. Richardson as the others aboard the small craft. But it's Brown's film which she must have considered challenging work to make interesting, something that doesn't easily occur with stories like this. Uplifting because of her character's determination, and more so since this really happened.
The scene of one of the survivors slowly sliding down the mountain, softly moaning in agony, then disappearing over the edge, is one I'll never forget, and the other injured survivor does slowly go out of their mind afterwards. The film is slow moving but intense with long periods of no dialog. G. D. Spradlin and Vera Miles as Brown's parents have smaller parts with David Ackroyd as her boyfriend and Maggie Cooper and James G. Richardson as the others aboard the small craft. But it's Brown's film which she must have considered challenging work to make interesting, something that doesn't easily occur with stories like this. Uplifting because of her character's determination, and more so since this really happened.
Memorable, low-key telling of a dramatic story of survival
busterm10 November 1998
I have remembered this television movie for 20 years. The story is told mainly through the eyes of a young woman who was the only survivor of a small-plane crash high in the peaks of the Sierras, on a trip from California to Nevada. Although she is injured, she scrambles painfully down the mountain for days, trying to reach help. Her parents, meanwhile, are trying desperately to find out where the plane is, and if anyone is alive. The ending is especially moving, with a surprising twist that has the ring of truth.
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