I'm not saying I'm challenging what you say but... it would seem that
a pump or filter problem would result in reduced fuel delivery before
it would result in no fuel delivery.

When the pipes ar erotten and sometimes leak and sometimes do not
depending on various factors you can sometimes have flow of fuel and
sometimes not

It could depend on the heat, the flow of fuel and many other factors so
sometimes the car seemed normal and at others it just choked and went
dead

The way that a fuel filter will show itself is that it will die on the road.
Depending upon how much it's clogged up, it will either pass enough fuel to
immediately start the car, or it will require a short time for fuel to seep
through the clog.  It is easy for a filter that is in the early stages of
being clogged to pass enough fuel to run under low-load demands but not
under moderate or high load.  What the OP posted as a symptom would in fact
be consistent with the warnings that you are looking for.  Further down the
road it's possible the car won't even start.

Dirty fuel filters very often result in other performance issues as well.
Sometimes there's some misfire, some bucking, lag, etc.  They can be quite
intermittent and a lot of drivers just don't notice it.  The symptoms creap
up and it's easy for a lot of drivers not to notice them since they don't
just happen all at once - until it hits the stage of not passing enough fuel
for the car to run.

A classic sign of a dirty fuel filter - whether it seems logical or not, is
a car that will run, stall, run, stall.  Certainly it's not the only cause
of this type of problem, but it's one that merits a look early on.