History Film / FireInTheSky

* UncannyValley: The Aliens.

* HiddenDepths: [[spoiler: Lt. Walters initially addresses him self as from the Arizona Criminal Investigation Division. However at the end it's revealed he's actually from Montana. Montana was the alleged location of the Air Force's Project Bluebook, a catch all term for its investigative efforts related to UFO's. In other words the movie is suggesting that Lt. Walters was one of The Men in Black, sent to oversee and shift public attention away from the abduction story.]]

* DecoyProtagonist: The film initially focuses on Watters before he interrogates the loggers, at which point Mike becomes the protagonist until Travis is returned by the aliens.

** [[spoiler: This is actually referenced throughout when he suppress the polygraph test results, and continued to present the theory The Loggers killed Travis, even though the polygraph exonerated the loggers. Additionally, you can see a look of pure frustration on Walters face when Cy discusses the results of the test. [[note]] [[DatedHistory Granted the polygraph test is just a glorified heat monitor real life.]] However, at the time and within the movie it is treated as infallible. [[/note]] It also explains why Sheriff Davis is so intimidated by Walters, refusing to stick up for the group when Walters was questioning them; even though he does so against everyone else in the film. Thankfully for all parties, everyone buys the hoax theory so he decides cover-up isn't necessary and simply leaves, vowing to return in they slip up.]]

* InspectorJavert: Watters is convinced that the loggers murdered Travis, and refuses to consider that they're telling the truth. After Travis is returned, [[spoiler:Watters instead decides, against all possible evidence, that they must have faked the whole thing for publicity and vows to return should they ever slip up.]]

* HiddenDepths: [[spoiler: Lt. Walters initially addresses him self as from the Arizona Criminal Investigation Division. However at the end it's revealed he's actually from Montana. Montana was the alleged location of the Air Forces Project Bluebook, a catch all term for its investigative efforts related to UFO's. In other words the movie is suggesting that Lt. Walters was one of The Men in Black, sent to oversee and shift public attention away from the abduction story.]]
** [[spoiler: This is actually referenced throughout when he suppress the polygraph test results, and continued to present the theory The Loggers killed Travis, even though the polygraph exonerated the loggers. Additionally, you can see a look of pure frustration on Walters face when Cy discusses the results of the test. [[note]] [[DatedHistory Granted the polygraph test is meaningless in real life.]] However, at the time and within the movie it is treated as infalable. [[/note]] It also explains why Sheriff Davis is so intimidated by Walters, refusing to stick up for the group when Walters was questioning them; even though he does so against everyone else in the film.]]

The film is based on the alleged 1975 abduction of Travis Walton (played by Creator/DBSweeney), a logger from Snowflake, Arizona who went missing for five days after his co-workers claimed he was zapped by a flying saucer. The plot of the film centers mainly around the ensuing investigation and manhunt that took place, headed on-screen by the fictional Detective Frank Watters (Creator/JamesGarner), as well as the drama in which Walton's co-workers, including his best friend Mike Rogers (Creator/RobertPatrick), are accused of murder by their families and neighbors. Only the climax of the film (which was dramatically changed from the real Walton's story) focuses on Walton's experiences onboard the UFO.

The film is based on the alleged 1975 abduction of Travis Walton (played by D. B. Sweeney), a logger from Snowflake, Arizona who went missing for five days after his co-workers claimed he was zapped by a flying saucer. The plot of the film centers mainly around the ensuing investigation and manhunt that took place, headed on-screen by the fictional Detective Frank Watters (Creator/JamesGarner), as well as the drama in which Walton's co-workers, including his best friend Mike Rogers (Creator/RobertPatrick), are accused of murder by their families and neighbors. Only the climax of the film (which was dramatically changed from the real Walton's story) focuses on Walton's experiences onboard the UFO.

** Additionally, the mutilated man he finds in the other cocoon [[AmbiguousSituation seems]] barely sentient and it's hard to tell if he's being moved by Travis' panicking trashing or is actually trying to lean towards him.

* IncriminatingIndifference: The biggest reason Allan Dallas was suspected for murder was because of his indifferent attitude toward Travis.

* StrappedToTheOperatingTable: At one point the aliens bind Travis to a surface with a vacuum-sealed material, force open his mouth, and put a nasty tool up close to his eye.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The real Travis Walton believes that the aliens were actually healing him after he had been severely injured by their craft's engines. In the movie they just torture him some more with experimentation.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The real Travis Walton believes that the aliens were actually healing him after he had been severely injured by their craft's engines.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The last few scenes are set 2-3 years after the abduction. The movie also ends with the note of what happened to the RealLife versions of Travis and Mike, and notes that they and Dallis later took another lie detector test and all passed.

* PeekABooCorpse: [[spoiler:After Travis escapes from his cocoon aboard the alien ship, he ends up entering another cocoon and finds a badly decomposed ([[AndIMustScream and still conscious]]) human inside, much to his visible terror]].