The UFO Incident

First of all, even though I'm a "UFO buff" (depending on how you use that term), I'm tired of many sides of the whole subject, because it's been such a huge, huge pop culture subject for such a long while, and between the believers and the disbelievers (especially the latter, really), you can't get away from it. But, you don't have to like the subject A BIT (either as a believer or a disbeliever) to like this movie. You can watch it as a "docu-drama" (one that came along before the whole docu-drama craze), about how this couple dealt with the whole situation (regardless of what you believe that was). Or you can watch it as a regular "scary story" (it works entirely well as that). And of course, you CAN watch it for the UFO subject itself, especially since it's one of the most famous stories. One of the great things about the Betty and Barney story is that it sticks a pin in the whole "abducted hillbilly" idea (which, even if it weren't such a huge generalization, is such really, really overworked joke). Here's a "mixed marriage," in New England, both people intellectuals. And of course it has three very great actors (one a little less well-known by name than the other two). Estelle Parsons and James Earl Jones draw you completely into the whole thing, especially during the "regressions." And Barnard Hughes as the doctor (he'd played a few doctors already by then), was just right also.

This movie caught my eye because I remember reading about Betty and Barney Hill as a young UFO freak. They were the first famous case of alleged UFO abduction. This film is very well done, really effectively resting on the performances of the two leads. They believably portray real people under very unreal circumstances. I'd love to see it again if I could ever find it!

I saw this on TV when it came out- It was one of those stories that really affected me because somehow, I could feel the truth of it. This was probably the very first abduction story that I felt had any validity. Compared to other UFO stories I have read or seen movies of. I highly enjoyed "fire in the sky", but that movie was more Hollywood than actual. And, it has been partially remade in the recent movie "The Recall", which has a scene inside of the UFO craft which mirrors what was done for fire in the sky. there were other movies, "communion", but that story did not affect me as much as this one.

20 years after I watched that TV movie in 1975, I was in a halfway house. With nothing much to do, I rummaged through a library of old books and I came across something that was called "the interrupted journey". And when I touched that book- before I even opened it, I knew that this must be the book that told that original story. I had never heard of it before even though I had seen a film based upon it.

I think "the interrupted journey" is a much better name than "the UFO incident"

The film is your basic made-for-television fare, kind of the same quality as those NBC (was it NBC?) "movies of the week", or anything else that fits into the approximate One hour and 32 minutes allotted for a "two hour" television movie.

And even though it had been 20 years since I had seen this movie, I had remembered all of the details of the movie and I was very surprised that the book had been honored and that they kept to the basic story.

The book had documents and images so I was able to get a real face for the Hills. And there were things that Betty Hill had drawn and I was able to look at those.

I have not seen this movie since 1975, I hope that I am able to find it somewhere.

This was an amazing piece of work for the 1970's. James Earl Jones added such authentic terror to the role of a person discovering forgotten incidents in this life experience, that anyone who has ever forgotten ( and then remembered, realizing they had forgotten) will find this portrayal chilling and unforgettable. His description of the bunny is particularly remarkable...innocent enough to the mind of a child, or an impatient listener. The wife in the story, is played with such stamina and confidence that you could wish to be her in a time of crisis. the natural bravery and assuredness brings a sense of order to the story. Someone please report that this will be distributed for sale sometime somewhere!

This movie is very closely based on the true story. I can attest to this, because I have a unique relationship to it. I was 9 years old in October, 1965, when our 4th grade math teacher rolled in the 21" TV to our classroom abruptly one afternoon, and displayed a live interview on local Boston TV with the Hills. Betty Hill described, verbatim, what the movie depicts, except she was much more detailed in the TV interview, which lasted nearly an hour. What she said was so impressive, I never forgot it for the rest of my life. She is the rarest of abductees, in the sense that she had a lucid conversation with her abductors. I believed every word she said then, and I have believed it for 45 years since, without the slightest modicum of doubt. As to the movie itself, I cannot imagine more perfect casting than Estelle Parsons and James Earl Jones. They were made for these parts. If you have ever seen the real Hills in an interview, the resemblance is uncanny. The film pays strict attention to detail and is well made. It took guts for these people to go public, and even more to make a movie that didn't distort the story to the tastes of greedy Hollywood execs. For a low budgeted TV movie, this is more like a superb documentary.