Donner Pass: The Road to Survival is a 1978 American historical drama television film about the Donner Party, directed by James L. Conway, written by S. S. Schweitzer, and produced by Schick Sunn Classic Pictures as a part of their Classics Illustrated series. It aired on NBC on October 24, 1978.
A grim incident from American pioneer history is recreated as a determined group of settlers, facing almost insurmountable odds, struggles to reach California in 1846.
Donner Pass: The Road to Survival was shown on prime time television on NBC on October 24, 1978. The film was released on VHS on October 20, 1992, by Anchor Bay Entertainment.[1]
Film critic Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "gruelling to watch".[2]