Background Questions on "Fate is the Hunter"

According to a Fate is the Hunter film poster I have hanging in my garage, someone else wrote the screenplay, the only mention of Gann on the poster and in the film credits is “Based on the Book by..”

The film High and the Mighty was well received when released.
But to modern audiences it’s very dated and “Airplane!” didn’t help.

In his autobio it is clear that EKG was very unhappy that Wellman had kept him out of the production team on High and Mighty,especially because he had been closely connected with the ‘Island’ movie.He said that the movie was advertised as ‘William Wellmans the High and the Mighty’

According to a Fate is the Hunter film poster I have hanging in my garage, someone else wrote the screenplay, the only mention of Gann on the poster and in the film credits is “Based on the Book by..”

The film High and the Mighty was well received when released.
But to modern audiences it’s very dated and “Airplane!” didn’t help.

Not really.
Band of Brothers was published in the early 70s…the film titled “Fate is the Hunter” came out in December of 1964.
I’m no Hollywood producer, but I’d guess it would be hard to make a film based on a book almost a decade before a book is written.:D

You are absolutely correct John…. oops 😮
Although I hope you might agree that the film ‘fate’ perhaps is more akin to the book ‘Band of Brothers’ than to the original ‘Fate’ book.
Ernie Gann did not seem to have much luck with movies.
I waited years to see ‘High and Mighty’ (great book) but didnt really think it was a good film(one can see where ‘Airplane’ got some ideas 😀 )
‘Island in the Sky’ I thought quite enjoyable and also a great book(based on a true story I think)

And remember if you watch the movie ‘fate is the hunter’ it is actually based on a different E K Gann book… ‘Band of Brothers’..

Not really.
Band of Brothers was published in the early 70s…the film titled “Fate is the Hunter” came out in December of 1964.
I’m no Hollywood producer, but I’d guess it would be hard to make a film based on a book almost a decade before a book is written.:D

The film has very little…aside from the title and it’s message…with the book.
Gann wrote the first screenplay drafts but for some reason stepped away from the project.
Gann was not happy with the final film. In his autobiography he wished he’d stayed with it to improve the film and to make more money from it.

To answer one of Bluerobin’s questions…
the “Steamship airline” was “Matson Air Lines” owned by the west coast shipping firm.

And yes, Pan AM did have a pretty tight monopoly on overseas routes…but there were some exceptions…Northwest flying to the far east and TWA flying to Europe.
More information can be found in R.E.G. Davies splendid work Airlines of the United States Since 1914 published by Putnam.
I believe “Nelson’s” airline in mentioned there too.

Wiki can at least answer some of those:

I’m reading his bio right, now “A Hostage to Fortune”. If you like Fate then you’ll like this too.

I enjoyed Hostage as well but I always thought ‘Fate’ really was ‘unputdownable’

And remember if you watch the movie ‘fate is the hunter’ it is actually based on a different E K Gann book… ‘Band of Brothers’..

Wiki can at least answer some of those:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_K._Gann

I’m reading his bio right, now “A Hostage to Fortune”. If you like Fate then you’ll like this too.