Flight from Ashiya

Flight from Ashiya is a 1964 American-Japanese co-production directed by Michael Anderson, blending adventure, drama and romance. Written by Waldo Salt, it adapts Elliott Arnold's 1956 novel Rescue!, which was reissued under the film's title in 1959. Harold Hecht produced the picture, with music composed by Frank Cordell.

Set in the early 1960s, the story follows a U.S. Air Force Air Rescue Service crew flying out of Ashiya Air Base in Japan on a mission to save Japanese civilians stranded on a liferaft in rough seas. The cast includes Yul Brynner, Richard Widmark, George Chakiris, Suzy Parker and Shirley Knight. The film was released in Japan as Ashiya Kara no hiko, and the U.S. Air Force supplied two Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibious planes for the production.