While The X-Files captured the zeitgeist, the “true” story of a 1975 close encounter beat them to the punch by six months.
On November 5, 1975, logger Travis Walton was abducted by aliens.
Well, probably not, on balance. But he swears he was, and so did all his mates, although they’ve wavered in recent years. It was probably a hoax, possibly a cash grab – Walton sold his story to the National Inquirer for $5000, and one of the stronger theories going around is that it was a scheme for him and his co-workers to get out from under a contract to thin the trees in Turkey Springs, part of Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, the job having proved beyond them.
But he did disappear for five days, and when he returned he came with stories of being experimented on by aliens.
Walton’s story may be so much swamp gas, but it became a touchstone for ufologists, especially those of the “I want to believe” stripe. In 1978 Walton published a book on his alleged experiences, The Walton Experience, and in 1993 that formed the basis of the film, Fire in the Sky.
Perhaps Lightning in a Bottle would have been a better title. Written by Tracy Tormé, a veteran of Saturday Night Live and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and directed by TV veteran Robert Lieberman, Fire in the Sky hit cinemas on March 12, 1993 – six months before The X-Files premiered on Fox on September 10.
Tormé was on an alien abduction roll, it seems; the previous year saw the release of the miniseries Intruders, which Tormé adapted from the book by ufologist Bud Hopkins. There was definitely something in the air, though; interest in aliens, particularly of the small, grey, and black-eyed variety, had been on an upswing, especially since the publication of Communion, genre author Whitley Strieber’s account of his own alleged abduction, in 1987. But while The X-Files managed to capture the paranormal zeitgeist, Fire in the Sky came and went, attracting middling reviews and barely making back its meagre US $15 million budget at the box office.
Which is a shame, really, because it’s a fine little chiller, and one worthy of reappraisal. Unsurprisingly, Fire in the Sky chooses to print the legend, taking Walton at his word and shaving off any real world details that might cast any doubt on his story. It’s not a documentary, is what I’m saying. But taken as a work of fiction, it’s a quietly unsettling tale of the uncanny, focusing on a group of everyday working joes grappling with the aftermath of something none of them can wrap their heads around.
Those guys are played by a murderer’s row of character actors, including Robert Patrick, years before he’d play John Doggett in the last couple of seasons of The X-Files, as logging crew boss Mike Rogers. D.B. Sweeney brings a tortured vulnerability to the role of Walton, while Nightbreed‘s Craig Sheffer is bad boy Allan Dallis. Peter Berg, who’d later direct studio fare like Deepwater Horizon and Lone Survivor, is David Whitlock, while Henry Thomas has much less friendly close encounter than the one he had in E.T. a decade previous as Greg Hayes. Bradley Gregg rounds out the logging crew as Bobby Cogdill. All give grounded, understated performances, which suits the material perfectly. The great James Garner shows up as skeptical investigator Lt. Frank Watters, while veteran character actor Noble Willingham brings homespun charm to the role of Sheriff Blake Davis.
While Fire in the Sky is technically a science fiction film – depending, I guess, on whether you think it’s fiction – Tormé and Lieber smartly keep the narrative focus on the aftermath of the abduction, dealing with the search for Walton after his disappearance, and the loggers’ fear and increasing frustration as they tell their story to unbelieving authorities, bristling at their doubt and struggling to comprehend their brush with the unknown. It’s a character drama, more than anything else, never trying to explain the inexplicable, but choosing instead to focus on the fallout. Lieber’s subdued, arguably workmanlike direction is an asset here, anchoring us in the film’s reality, and so too is the low budget. While we do eventually see the abduction from Walton’s point of view, and it’s the showpiece of the film, presented as a genuinely unsettling experience, we only see just enough to put us off kilter; any more and the seams would show.
There’s a quiet power to Fire in the Sky; a slowly building sense of dread. If you’re a fan of The X-Files – or just wanting to brush up on your UFO lore before Ryan Coogler‘s reboot – it’s a must see. Pair it with The Mothman Prophecies for a perfect paranormal double feature.
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