Customer Reviews

Into Thin Air [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 1985 TV movie is compelling due more to the path leading to the find of a 19 year old Canadian student who heads off from Ottawa alone in a van to drive to Colorado but goes missing in Nebraska, than the sledgehammer direction of Roger Young. Although this story is said to be true, credit must go to writer George Rubino, particularly in downplaying and omitting most of the cliches of the genre. There is the ubiquitious drama about someone wearing an article of the missing boy's clothes, but thankfully it is skimmed over quickly. As the boy's mother, Ellen Burstyn has 2 good scenes, one where she has an angry outburst at a police station, recalling Shirley MacLaine's hospital scene in Terms of Endearment ("Give her the shot!"), and the second when she emits animal noises on discovery of her son's trashed van. Also good is Sam Robards as her other son, and Robert Prosky as a private investigator Burstyn hires. The treatment comments on the "jurisdictional complexities" which unnecesarily burden missing person investigations, and makes out that the police and FBI were blundering incompetents in this case. There is also a postscript that tells us hundreds of teenagers go missing every year without trace, a bleak and dour note to end on, though perhaps in line with the fate of the boy.

"Into Thin Air" is an excellent drama (based on a true story) of an Ontario, Canada mother and familily's wearing struggle to find thier son, gone missing enroute to a summer college classin Denver, U.S.A.
Frought with difficulties in even getting police to list the boy on missing persons police computers and left to their own drive and devices. Following scant disconnected and confusing partial paper trails of cashed money orders that lead only to more confused mystery, the family finally hires a private dectective who makes the story of their sons disappearance and fate unfolds.
Not a fast-paced nerve ride like most movies today, but a worthy view as the movie's pace while being viewed sets the same frustrating, trudging trying emotions they family goes through in their journey, but not boring. Just don't look for adrenalin here. Look for the realistic emotions, frustration, trying times and exasperation battled through by love-driven drive to find the boy.

Happened to see this made for tv movie when it first aired on tv and I loved it.. When I saw it was on dvd, I had to have it. Very well made with great acting. Ellen Burstyn is great. A must have movie!

I've watched this movie years ago and it still has the same effect on me now.
It's chilling to watch what happened to this young man.
I won't spoil it...but it will keep you watching...waiting to see what happens next and
what this family has to struggle through even after the conclusion.
No family should have to go through what this family did.

Ellen Burstyn shines as a distraught mother searching for her middle son, who mysteriously disappears enroute to Colorado for school. After an exhaustive
family search, she turns to a private detective (Robert Prosky) for help. She and her oldest son, Steven (Sam Robards) refuse to give up trying to find Brian, even after the police derail the investigation and even try to stop Prosky from doing his job. Suspenseful and moving, "Into Thin Air" paints a realistic portrait of one family's struggle against mostly uncooperative law enforcement to get on and stay on the trail of a missing loved one.

This 1985 made-for-television movie holds up extremely well for today's audiences. It's not your average missing person story. Director Roger Young skillfully crafts a suspensful and heartwrenching story through the use of an excellent script and top-flight performances.

Honest, likeable, and repsonsible 19-year-old Brian Walker (Tate Donavan) just "falls off the map" while driving his van to college in Colorado from his home in Ottawa, Ontario.

Despite valiant efforts by his mother and brother (Ellen Burstyn and Sam Robards), no one in the law enforcement community has the time or inclination to thoroughly investigate one of the thousand missing kid cases. This leads to Burstyn and Robards teaming up with a private investigator (Robert Prosky) to finally find Brian's van, and ultimately Brian.

Burstyn, Prosky, Robards, Patricia Smith (as Prosky's wife), and even Donovan (with limited screen time) are all magnificent. John Dennis Johnston is especially creepy as the man who kidnaps Brian.

Although we all know what the ultimate outcome will be, the suspense and heartbreak are still palpable every step of the way - particularly in the last 15 minutes of the film.

This is a top notch TV movie.

I'd seen this film several years ago, and, yes, this is an excellent TV movie; however, my review is also related to the quality of the DVD. Having said that, this is one of the worst film-to-DVD transfer I've ever seen; therefore, I discarded the DVD, as it was not worth watching.