Nothing by Chance

Nothing by Chance (1975)

A Barnstorming Summer in Middle America

One summer in Cook, Nebraska, a group of part-time pilots decide to recreate a 1920s-style "barnstorming" flying tour. Calling themselves the "Great Flying Circus," they travel the American Midwest giving rides for three dollars and talking to the small-town characters they encounter. During their travels they meet an old man who is convinced that tornadoes are being generated because the astronauts landed on the moon, and a small boy who is willing to spend an entire day washing the planes for a few minutes of flying. Along the way, the men rediscover small-town America.

Date of release
1975-01-31
TMDB
10.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Documentary
Director
William H. Barnett

Casting

Interesting facts

Nothing by Chance is a 1975 American documentary film based on the 1969 book by Richard Bach, Nothing by Chance: A Gypsy Pilot's Adventures in Modern America. The film centers on modern barnstorming around the United States in the 1970s. One of the driving forces behind the production, star Richard Bach, is a pilot in real life, and recruited a group of his friends who were also pilots to recreate the era of the barnstormer.

Production

Richard Bach has a lifelong love affair with flying, from his earliest flight as a teenager. As an adult, Bach served in the United States Navy Reserve, then in the New Jersey Air National Guard's 108th Fighter Wing, 141st Fighter Squadron (USAF) as a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak fighter pilot.

Bach became a barnstormer, and his next two books, Biplane (1966) and Nothing by Chance (1969) celebrated the joy of flying as a barnstormer. In Nothing by Chance, he set out on an adventure one summer, flying an antique biplane, sleeping under the wing, taking passengers for a joyride and meeting people who, in many cases, remembered the golden age of flight.

Filming took place in 1973 in Midwestern locales, with a documentary-style of "as it happened" that incorporated spectators with actors to recreate the era. The aircraft used included a Parks P-2 and Travel Air 4000.

The song "Life Song", written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, was performed by Denny Doherty and is featured in the title credits. The soundtrack also included "Flying On" with music by Lee Holdridge and lyrics by director William H. Barnett.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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