 Jake's best friend, Bill Gorton, takes an airplane, goes up on a daredevil flight and crashes to his death.Screenwriter Robert L. Joseph defends the addition of mortally wounded characters as necessary for dramatic depiction.While the 1957 film starred a 43-year-old Tyrone Power and 34-year-old Ava Gardner, the 1984 adaptation starred a 27-year-old Bochner and 33-year-old Seymour, who the filmmakers thought could better depict the youthful characters of the source novel.