The Gypsy Moths
Experienced, but amateur skydivers, most with several thousand jumps to their credit, were brought in from California to double for the actors. During one take, an unexpected gust of wind pulled the chute and caused one of the skydivers to be slammed into the ground, breaking his collarbone and dislocating his shoulder. Even though in great pain, he stayed in character and managed to get up and finish the scene. He was retained by Director John Frankenheimer as a consultant.,As the plane flies over the first airfield in the film, the town's name of Bridgeville is clearly painted on the airport's hangar. The skydivers pack up, leave town, drive for what seems half a day or so to the next town, and arrive, again, in Bridgeville.,Allen Brandon: What I don't understand is, why you do this thing at all.
Joe Browdy: To me, it's a business.
Allen Brandon: And you Mr. Rettig? What's it to you? If you don't mind my asking.
Mike Rettig: I had a friend in the Army, a sergeant, a parachutist for about 20 years. He used to say that jumping was not only a way to live, but also a way to die. Damn few things are.,For the film's premier at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, MGM removed a scene of striptease in order for the film to receive an "M" rating (suggested for mature audiences, parental description advised). This was since the Radio City Music Hall at the time would only play movies that carried a "G" or "M" rating. The scene was restored when the film played everywhere else in the United States with the rating changed to "R".,Featured in The Sky Divers (1969),Wild Blue Yonder
("U.S. Air Force Song")(uncredited)
Music and lyrics by Robert Crawford (as Robert MacArthur Crawford)
First two lines sung by Gene Hackman,John Frankenheimer's drama of itinerant skydivers intersecting with small town doldrums is heavy on atmosphere but frustratingly ambiguous in its storytelling.

Not having read James Drought's source novel, it's hard to say just what went wrong here. Perhaps in an attempt to avoid conventional melodramatics, adapter William Hanley's script was kept as low-key and naturalistic as possible, to the extent that all of the silences and unspoken words end up conveying practically nothing of the characters' motivations beyond a kind of inchoate yearning. Usually I'm all for scripts that don't shout and scream, that rather rely on subtlety and restraint, but this one is so elliptical that its own best intentions are undermined. The ending seems flat and pointless. Yes, a death has occurred, but has anyone in the story really changed?

It's particularly frustrating given the talent involved. Stars Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, with support from younger players like Scott Wilson, Gene Hackman, and Bonnie Bedelia, give strong and convincing portrayals. Add to that some remarkable aerial photography of skydiving derring-do -- plus a love scene which features the beautiful Ms. Kerr's bare breasts -- and you probably won't feel you've wasted 2 hours. But if only there were more.

Not a 'lost treasure' of Frankenheimer's, Lancaster's and Kerr's careers, but an intriguing, minor footnote.,