This is a great classic. I would consider this one of Steven Spielberg's best short ever. The pace is typically slow for a 80's production compared to nowadays. If you watch this for the first time you should keep this in mind. If you are familiar to the movie Poltergeist you can expect much the same screen writing pace. What stands out is the excellent performance of all actors (including some nice morse coding skills from Sutherland). A very young Casey Siemaszko lays down an astonishing performance too. His expressiveness brilliantly captures the despair and emotion of the strong scenario and everything after the line "I'm not gonna die father..." simply's outstanding and also mixes very well with the score.
I think this episode is by far one of the best of the whole "Amazing Stories" series and captures the American spirit beautifully; from the different attempts to rescue a comrade, to acrobatic landing maneuvering of an airplane, to the miracle itself. The contained message's that everything is made possible if you believe in it. It goes to portray the ever important aspect of American culture that individualism mixed with strong beliefs are the very embodiment of the American dream. The heavy usage of symbolism is leaving its distinct marks allover - from Airforce to IIWW freedom, from superstition in numbers to the supernatural ending with the burned drawing at the closing scene - a real masterpiece.
I think this episode is by far one of the best of the whole "Amazing Stories" series and captures the American spirit beautifully; from the different attempts to rescue a comrade, to acrobatic landing maneuvering of an airplane, to the miracle itself. The contained message's that everything is made possible if you believe in it. It goes to portray the ever important aspect of American culture that individualism mixed with strong beliefs are the very embodiment of the American dream. The heavy usage of symbolism is leaving its distinct marks allover - from Airforce to IIWW freedom, from superstition in numbers to the supernatural ending with the burned drawing at the closing scene - a real masterpiece.