Nightmare at 20,000 Feet story
A salesman recovering from a nervous breakdown sees a creature on the wing of the airplane he is on, but no one believes him. Directed by: Richard Donner. Story by: Richard Matheson.
9 total · 6 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| acute anxiety | major | Bob nearly had a nervous breakdown on the plane. |
| fear of flying | major | Bob had a pathological fear of flying. |
| gremlin | major | There was a mythological creature of a sort that caused engines to fail, planes to crash, it was suggested. |
| husband and wife | major | Bob and Julia Wilson. |
| what if I told the truth and nobody would believe me | major | Bob tried to convince people that a gremlin was tampering with the engine. |
| what it is like on a passenger flight | major | We saw an idea of what it might be like to fly commercially in the early sixties. |
| folk belief | minor | Something was said about pilots used to think engine problem were caused by gremlins. |
| overcoming an inhibition | minor | Bob had been in therapy to cope with his fear of flying. |
| questioning one's sanity | minor | Bob briefly entertained the idea that the gremlin he saw on the plane's wing was just a manifestation of his fear of flying. |