Based on a True Story
I have a thing about movies that are “based on true story”. The more fantastical the better. Why doesn’t Netflix have genre for this? It adds a whole other dimension to a story line. I am too old to be naive enough to believe that every “true story” is indeed a true story. But the fact the good ones *might* be, or *could* be true, is icing on the entertainment cake for me.
One of the better ones in this genre is Fire in the Sky, an alien abduction story from 1975. Had this not been “based on a true story”, it would be a bit dull in comparison to flicks like ET that have better story lines, better actors, and better special effects.
Brief summary: six guys on their way home from clearing brush in the Arizona mountains, and happen upon a bright light deep in the wilderness. One of the guys, Travis Walton, gets out of the truck to take a closer look at what turns out to be a hovering “saucer”. He is zapped with a beam of light. The other guys panic, and take off in the truck, leaving their friend and co-worker behind. He is reported as a missing person, and disappears for five days. The other five guys are suspected of foul play. Travis later shows up in a phone booth, rattled, and with tales of being examined by creatures from another world. Pretty standard sounding ET type stuff. Their stories are difficult to believe. But eventually, all six people pass polygraph tests and together insist the events are true.
What I did not know was that all these people were still around and have held to this story steadfastly since 1975.
While running errands in the car yesterday, I happened on an NPR story and a fascinating interview with two of the group that were in the truck that night in 1975. And the niece of the skeptical sheriff in the story played by James Garner. They were all going back to the original scene on the anniversary of the “event”, and would be spending the night. One of the guys admitted to feeling guilty for being scared that night. He had a chance to meet beings from another world, and given that opportunity, ran like a scalded dog. He is hoping they, the ETs, were in that place for a reason, and that they will come back some day. And he hopes to be there when they do.
In any case, all these people are sticking to the story. That’s 36 years now, and a long time for six manual laborers to be able to keep a lie like that going. True story?