When I saw that Harrison Ford was in Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), and that it is billed as an action/comedy, I was a little intrigued.  My assumption was that it would end up being a romantic comedy, which tempered my anticipation.  That I turned out to be correct did not become a disappointment.  There are disappointing elements to the story, but overall, it is predictably acceptable.  As always, I will try to find some semblance of Catholic thought in this blandness.

One could say that Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) in Six Days, Seven Nights leads a bland life.  She is a bit of a workaholic, employed at a New York fashion agency.  Though she is busy, she does have a relationship with Frank Martin (David Schwimmer).  They have been together for a few years, but this night he has a surprise for her.  Taking her out to dinner, he tells her that in two weeks they are departing for the title amount of time to the South Pacific getaway of Makatea in French Polynesia.  He has made all the arrangements, including conferring with Marjorie (Allison Janney), Robin’s boss, about getting the time off.  Once they have completed the first leg of the trek, they are to take a charter to their destination.  This is when they meet Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford).  He is not what the couple are expecting, but his cheerful but gruff personality convinces them that he can get them to where they want to go despite the age of his plane.  They are also accompanied by Angelica (Jacqueline Obradors), a fetching young woman who dances at the resort and is a friend to Quinn.  During Frank and Robin’s first night on the island, he proposes and she accepts.  Following some dancing, she takes a break at the bar where an inebriated Quinn makes a pass at her.  She refuses and retires with Frank.  In the morning, though, she gets a call from Marjorie begging Robin to travel to Tahiti.  The agency needs somebody to oversee a shoot there, and Robin is the closest person to handle the gig.  Marjorie promises it will only take fifteen hours, but it means asking Quinn for a ride.  Once Frank is mollified, Robin gives Quinn enough money to agree to the trip.  Though there are storm clouds on the horizon, Quinn assures Robin that he can get them to Tahiti.  Unfortunately, the tempest builds quicker than anticipated.  A lightning bolt hits the plane, knocking out their instruments and forcing them to crash land on the nearest deserted island.  As they skid along the beach, one of the wheel struts hits a rock, nearly tearing it off.  Between an inoperable radio and an inability to get airborne again, they are stuck where they came to a stop.  Robin’s first idea is to use their life raft, but Quinn advises against wandering around the ocean in an inflatable.  They also only have one flare, but she wastes it when she sees a commercial flight overhead, not realizing it is too high to see the signal.  Their only hope for rescue is for somebody to come to their island.  Still, even that becomes less likely when he mistakes their location for another atoll, one with a tower beacon atop a mountain.  He has a fit when he realizes his mistake.  In the midst of his despair, she spots a boat making its way closer to shore.  Yet, when they paddle their way out to where they saw it, he notices that it is a band of pirates raiding a luxury yacht, killing the passengers.  Quinn and Robin try to flee but are spotted as they do so.  They are able to evade their pursuers for a little bit by jumping off a cliff into the sea.  It is upon making it back to land that they kiss for the first time.  In case you are wondering what Frank has been doing during all this, he has been going out with search and rescue to look for some sign of life.  Pointedly, he is joined in this endeavor by Angelica.  With each day that passes without his fiancée or Quinn being found, Frank grows more depressed.  The person with whom he finds solace is Angelica.  She comes unto him, and while he initially resists temptation, he wakes up in her bed in the morning full of regret.  As for Quinn and Robin, they, too, are getting closer, but nothing like what Angelica and Frank do.  Even so, there is intimacy between them as they huddle in the jungle while keeping away from the pirates.  As they do so, Quinn notices the pontoons of a World War II era Japanese float plane above them.  He figures this will be their way off the island, and they manage to get them to their own vehicle.  Just as they finish attaching the pontoons to Quinn’s plane, the pirate ship comes into view and starts firing at them.  In the chaos, he is wounded.  Before going unconscious, he gives Robin a quick flying lesson, preparing her to land at Makatea.  They get there as Angelica and Frank are holding a memorial service for Quinn and Robin.  As if they are an answer to a prayer, the two lost people have returned.  Frank is outwardly happy to have Robin back, but she is not convinced.  In order to figure things out, she visits Quinn.  He admits they have something, but he does not want to complicate her life.  With that, Frank and Robin go to the airport for their flight, but she tells him that they cannot get married.  This is good timing because Quinn has had a change of heart and tries to stop her plane before it takes off.  Instead, he finds Robin waiting on the tarmac and ready for complicated.

Then again, there is little complicated about Six Days, Seven Nights.  If you did not realize what is going to happen as soon as Angelica, Frank, Quinn, and Robin got into a plane together, then I suggest watching more movies.  At the same time, as I have already hinted at, there is nothing too objectionable about the film.  I could quibble from a Christian perspective about Frank and Robin’s behavior.  Entering into an engagement is a serious commitment.  The film offers the barest of explanations when Robin comments to Frank in the airport that if they truly loved one another, they would have remained faithful despite the dire circumstances.  I hope that is true for all of us, particularly when it comes to our relationship with God.  A life with Christ is never going to be perfect.  What the saints endured through the centuries is a testament to that fact.  At the same time, if Frank and Robin should not be together, then what happens is for the best.  What takes away from this aspect of the plot is that there is little reason for Quinn and Robin to be together.  Purely speaking, Frank and Robin make more sense if for no other reason than they have been together longer.  This is not to say that God can do nothing with two people who have only known each other for a few days.  There are plenty of stories, fictional and real, of this working out well.  Most of the time, though, to use aviation parlance, successful relationships need a longer runway.  While the Church does not demand potential husbands and wives undergo anything for a proscribed amount of time, it does have some built in steps.  Courtship, engagement, and pre-Cana are all part of a process designed to not only make for healthy marriages and families, but to ensure that God remains a part of people’s lives.  Of course, none of that is possible when you are marooned on a desert island being chased by pirates, but that is Hollywood for you.

Indeed, the only time God is mentioned in Six Days, Seven Nights is when Frank is begging for forgiveness for his sins.  It may be desperate, but I can at least appreciate being aware of having done wrong, something so many struggle with in their faith and personal lives.  In the meantime, you could do worse than watch this movie.