Amazing Stories (TV Series) You Gotta Believe Me (1986) User Reviews

Excellent...

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 23 June 2015]

This show begins with Earl (Charles Durning) awakening from a horrible dream. In very vivid detail, he sees a plane crash and bodies everywhere. It's SO realistic that he's convinced that it's a premonition but naturally no one believes him. With only one more late night flight scheduled, Earl heads to the airport--determined to do everything he can to prevent the flight from taking off. Naturally they assume he's a nut and he's soon escorted away by the police--presumably to take him to the hospital. However, Earl is REALLY determined and when he sees what appears to be the cause of the crash, he springs into action like a hero.

This is a very tense episode and it's handled very well. Durning is an old pro--and it shows by his performance. Without his excellent acting, the very simple idea might not have worked.

An opportunity missed

[el_monty_BCN · 7/10 · 6 September 2006]

I usually remember this episode as one of the best of Amazing Stories. The atmosphere in it was really eerie, the setup got you hooked and glued to the screen, and Charles Durning was great in it.

THE BIG SPOILER STARTS HERE

But this story was gagging for a final twist and it's just a pity it didn't get one. And it was obvious what the twist had to be. Earl Sweet himself, driving the van in the middle of the runway, and not the small plane, should have been the cause of the accident, which was predestined to happen all along. It would would have been a sort of vicious circle of a story: Did he dream it because he caused it, or did he cause it because he dreamed it? Anyway, it could have been so much more interesting and memorable... Pity!

Where Have I Seen This Before

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 26 May 2014]

Charles Durning is awakened by a terrible plane crash. When he investigates, he sees the ghosts of the crash victims, including the pilot. The house is on fire and there is devastation everywhere. The pilot keeps saying, "I had to take off. It was in the way." Shortly thereafter, he awakens in his bed. He investigates and there is no sign that anything ever took place. But he is convinced that he has been given a sign and it is his job to stop the flight. Of course, all the predictable stuff happens. He terrifies the departing flyers and ultimately gets himself arrested. It has a satisfying conclusion although I'm sure it's been used numerous times before. Nevertheless, Durning is a believable character. One has to look at this from a 1986 perspective because things have changed so dramatically.

Do they have to believe him?

[sonnyschlaegel · 9/10 · 29 April 2007]

Earl has a nightmare: a plane has crashed near his home (which is near an airport). He sees the dead passengers' ghosts. The pilot's ghost says that there was something on the runway, so he had to take off (too early). Earl drives to the airport to try to prevent the lift-off. When nobody believes him, he becomes more and more desperate in his efforts to convince the crew and the passengers of the danger, so he's arrested eventually. What will happen to the plane?

I liked this episode very much. I think Charles Durning is really good as Earl. The story has a slow pacing. I think the pacing is right because it helps to create an eerie atmosphere. The setting also helps to create this atmosphere; the story is set at night, and there are only a few people at the airport. The basic idea - premonition of a plane crash - might have been the inspiration for the beginning of 'Final Destination' (part 1) (which I think I can recommend (if you haven't seen it yet), especially if you like this episode and the horror genre in general). The best part - in my opinion - is the ending, because it was a surprise for me; I had expected something different.

I usually follow IMDb's advice not to refer to other comments (because they are subject to change or even deletion by the author). But there's another comment (currently) up here that is very interesting in my opinion, under the heading 'An opportunity missed'. I suggest you read that comment, too, but only if you have already seen this episode (it gives away most of the ending). Its author suggests the ending should have been different, and I think the change he (or she) suggests is really interesting. But, as I've said before, I think the ending is very good as it is. (In fact, I had expected the ending to be similar to what the other reviewer suggests. The surprise (or twist) for me was that it was different from that.)

All in all, one of my favourite episodes in this series. If the above sounds interesting to you, see for yourself if you like it, too.

It was fine the way it ended!

[mvpx7 · 9/10 · 28 January 2007]

I respectfully disagree with the idea that Durning's character should have caused the accident, and for a good reason. "No Time Like the Past," an hour-long episode of "The Twilight Zone" from the 1960s, covered that territory first.

In that classic 1963 episode, written by the great Rod Serling, Dana Andrews played a scientist who goes back in time to try and prevent some of history's great tragedies. He fails to persuade Japanese officials to evacuate Hiroshima just before the first atomic bomb is dropped. He also strikes out in attempts to assassinate Hitler and foil the sinking of the Lusitania.

Weary of the state of the world in the Cold War era, the scientist decides to travel back in time once more so that he can quietly live the rest of his life in a small Indiana town in 1881. He remembers that the town was the site of a tragic school fire in which many children were killed and injured. But in his noble attempt to prevent the tragedy, he actually winds up causing it!

As a result, I find the "Amazing Stories" episode to be quite satisfying, though chilling!

Ordinary Heroism

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 27 June 2022]

If you knew something awful was about to happen, what would you do to prevent it and can it be prevented. That is a question that is pondered throughout this tale, this is another of my favorite tales from the show, I really like the plotline which uncannily predates part of the plot of the horror film "Final Destination" which came out many years' latter.

The whole episode is basically a psychic thriller, which I always love because it's mainly a way to put ordinary people in extraordinary situations by having something extraordinary inside they never knew they had. It's also a ticking clock thriller from beginning to end we're routing for the protagonist to somehow find a way to win before it's too late.

The late Charles Durning is great as Earl, his character you really sympathize with but also empathize with because he never asked to be given the premonition he received. Sure, like in any suspense thriller the protagonist sometimes can walk away or simply not do anything when the dilemma is no longer theirs. However, in good conscious and the good person they are, they never can and nor can we. It's true by doing this we'd be gambling/risking our lives for certain death, however by doing nothing at all we'd be dooming ourselves to a fate worse than death, which is to live in disgrace and dishonor; to die slowly forever with that poisonous memory.

The story is also about true heroism and who a hero really is. Earl is a person with no superpowers and any special abilities just an ordinary joe like anyone else willing to go to great lengths to do the right thing. In a way that's really what the superheroes themselves are as well, like with Superman in the TV show "Superman and Lois" sure he has all those great powers, but he flies back home to Lois and has a lot of the regular responsibilities like any other person from chores and parenting his two sons.

Can Earl find a way to prevent the worst from happening, you'll have to wait and find out.

Rating: 4 stars.

Well, i didn't like this show but Stephen King did (web)

[leplatypus · 4/10 · 27 April 2020]

Unlike a movie that is one shot, take or leave, a show asks for fidelity. and that's the thing that makes it great: if you fall for it, it's amazing but otherwise, it's a long, painful, endless drag!

And a show being an anthology is the most difficult task ever because you lose the recurring characters and the opportunity to have great, original ideas at each episode is thin!

This 2nd season of AS is like this: a few good episodes but a lot of bad ones, stupid or just boring. It's true in fact that this season is a bit more dynamic than the first one, with more 80s fun and less 30-40s nostalgia but it's also just flat, just OK. This year no crazy funny episode like Mummy, no scary one like Scorcese Mirror, No Spielberg episode and Dante with its voracious gentle monster has not his usual energy. A lot of episodes about Hollywood inside life are just useless... So honestly i'm happy now that I'm done with that show.

I pick this episode as the best (even if the cop one E14 is a good match too): the story is real fantastic and a great thriller until the last frame, the acting is wnderful with veteran insomniac Durning and the plane crash looks exactly like Spielberg in War of the World!

At last, i say that SK liked it because it can't be just luck: a moving plant; a little girl who got lost in the woods.. Does it rings to you like it rings to me? and for sure E7-life on Death row: a criminal waiting death penalty with unbelievable curing powers! Even helping the director's family who is ill! And in spite of all his miracles and goodness, he can't escape the chair! Well all the heart of his famous Green Mile is over there!