| The UFO Incident | |
|---|---|
 A newspaper clip about the film shortly upon its release. | |
| Genre | Biography Drama History Romance |
| Written by | Hesper Anderson (teleplay) and Jake Justiz (teleplay) John G. Fuller (book) S. Lee Pogostin |
| Directed by | Richard A. Colla |
| Starring | James Earl Jones Estelle Parsons |
| Music by | Billy Goldenberg |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Richard A. Colla |
| Producer | Joe L. Cramer |
| Production locations | Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California |
| Cinematography | Rexford L. Metz |
| Editor | Richard Bracken |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Production company | Universal Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 20, 1975 |
The UFO Incident is a 1975 American made-for-television biographical film starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons based on the alleged 1961 alien abduction of Barney and Betty Hill.[1]
Plot
The film introduces us to Barney and Betty Hill, two ordinary people who have had the most extraordinary experience. She is a social worker and he a postman. They are an interracial couple who are very happy with each other, but they are perplexed by a traumatic experience of which they have no memory.
Two years later, they are still tormented by what happened during a trip where they have a mysterious lapse of memory after seeing a UFO hover over their car. They wake up from a strange daze after hearing a weird beeping sound much farther down the road.
Barney and Betty consult psychiatrist Doctor Benjamin Simon, who tries to help them find the answer. The doctor decides that the best treatment to unlock their case of double amnesia is hypnosis. Doctor Simon mentions that Barney has suffered from a childhood of racial strife and feels deep guilt about his divorce.Barney tells the doctor that he has had physical symptoms after the experience such as strange warts on his groin. Betty is being tormented by mysterious nightmares that she begins to document.
They report the incident to the US Air Force (the US Air Force at the time had a project relating to UFO sightings called Project Blue Book).
Doctor Simon places Barney under hypnosis and he begins to relive the experience. Barney describes him and Betty seeing a strange object in the sky that begins to follow and then to terrify them. Barney begins screaming in horror during the session as he describes seeing grey aliens inside the UFO. Betty also reacts with horror describing their captive experience. She and Barney are subjected to disturbing medical experiments by the aliens, such as Betty having a needle shoved into her navel.
With Doctor Simon's assistance and their strong love for each other, Barney and Betty are able to come to terms with their experience and get on with their lives.
At the end of the film, it is revealed that Barney died of a stroke in 1969 at the age of 46. Betty lived on until 2004.
Main cast
- James Earl Jones as Barney Hill
- Estelle Parsons as Betty Hill
- Barnard Hughes as Dr. Benjamin Simon
- Dick O'Neill as Gen. James Davison
- Beeson Carroll as Lt. Col. Jack MacRainey
- Terrence O'Conner as Lisa MacRainey
- Jeanne Joe as "Examiner"
- Lou Wagner as "The Leader"
Releases
The UFO Incident did not have an official home video release until June 21, 2022 when Kino Lorber Studio Classics released a 2K remaster of the film on Blu-ray (Region A), including bonus features such as a commentary by filmmaker and historian Gary Gerani, a documentary about the film's music composer Billy Goldenberg, and optional English subtitles (SDH).
Possible remake
In 2011, The Huffington Post reported that a more developed and detailed film depicting the events of the Hill couple's alleged encounter and abduction was being pursued as a possible project that could give a better insight to the incident. The film was to be based on the book Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience (2007) by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden.[2]
Historic context
The film aired two weeks before the Travis Walton UFO incident, on November 5, 1975, which led cognitive psychologist Susan Clancy to argue that this film influenced Travis Walton to present his own alleged abduction story.[3]
References
- ↑ Marden, Kathleen; Friedman, Stanton T. (2007). Captured!: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience : the True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction. Career Press. pp. 195–. ISBN 978-1-56414-971-8.
- ↑ Speigel, Lee (2011-09-22). "Betty And Barney Hill's Alien Abduction: New Film To Detail First Widely Reported UFO Kidnapping". The Huffington Post.
- ↑ Clancy, Susan A. (2009-07-01). Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens. Harvard University Press. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-0-674-02957-6.