John Travolta’s “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” – A Short-Haul Delight

John Travolta’s directorial debut, “Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” is a charmingly quirky and distinctly peculiar novella-sized bedtime story. This 60-minute adaptation of his own short story, commissioned by Apple TV, features lovingly detailed but innocent 1960s period production design, reminiscent of Mad Men. Travolta himself narrates the entire piece, an indulgence that takes some getting used to, but if Alec Baldwin were narrating, one might almost mistake it for a Wes Anderson film. The film is based on Travolta’s children’s book, an autobiographical tale centered on Jeff, an eight-year-old boy who uncannily resembles the child in the classic spoof “Airplane!”. Jeff gets to overhear some rather adult conversations in the plane cockpit.