This film is one of my all-time favourites, because, like so many other great movies, it has the three magical ingredients; 1) a great story, 2) interesting, appealing, and (more importantly) plausible characters, and 3) a talented production crew.
(BTW - if my condensation of film-making sounds overly simplistic, compare the original with the 2004 remake, and you'll see what I mean.)
Why do I think it's so good?
1 Story-wise, I think it's as unique as you can get.
A disparate group of (ordinary) men oil workers, engineers, a couple of soldiers, the plane's ageing crew crash-land in the Sahara, so far off course as to make rescue a pipe-dream. They're doomed, until one of the passengers, a young German engineer, suggests making a (smaller) plane from the crashed hulk and simply flying themselves to safety.
His idea is met with derision by the pilot Frank Towns (Stewart), an alcoholic veteran relegated to ferrying men and machinery across Africa in his old rustbucket and sparks start to fly.
Towns' stutteringly diplomatic co-pilot, Lew Moran (Attenborough) coerces him into compliance if only to give these doomed men something to do to stave off the inevitable. And so begins the tense, ego-fuelled battle between Towns and Dorfmann alongside the survivors' battle against time, the desert, and forlorn hope.
2 Characters?
I think the Stewart/Attenborough pairing was a masterstroke. Stewart is embarrassing as the alcoholic, has-been pilot, and Attenborough is sublime as his emotional punch-bag. Kruger is as cold and calculating as his slide rule. Then there's Ian Bannen cocky but fractious lad-about-town. Peter Finch's honour and the gringeworthy Donald Fraser's lack of it...
I'll stop there.
Wonderful!
Mick, UK.
PS My advice if you haven't seen either version: buy the original (VHS, £1, scallop-edged tape, sale-no-return, local boot fair) and the 2004 remake (DVD, £20, hologram security tag, high street outlet) the same day. Then place the 2004 version on the ground and stamp on it. Very hard. Heave a (deserved) sigh of relief. Then go home, drag your old VCR out of the loft, wrestle the clumsy old VHS into that clanky old VHS letterbox, cross your fingers that the previous owner took care of it, open the beverage of your choice, sit back, and enjoy.
(BTW - if my condensation of film-making sounds overly simplistic, compare the original with the 2004 remake, and you'll see what I mean.)
Why do I think it's so good?
1 Story-wise, I think it's as unique as you can get.
A disparate group of (ordinary) men oil workers, engineers, a couple of soldiers, the plane's ageing crew crash-land in the Sahara, so far off course as to make rescue a pipe-dream. They're doomed, until one of the passengers, a young German engineer, suggests making a (smaller) plane from the crashed hulk and simply flying themselves to safety.
His idea is met with derision by the pilot Frank Towns (Stewart), an alcoholic veteran relegated to ferrying men and machinery across Africa in his old rustbucket and sparks start to fly.
Towns' stutteringly diplomatic co-pilot, Lew Moran (Attenborough) coerces him into compliance if only to give these doomed men something to do to stave off the inevitable. And so begins the tense, ego-fuelled battle between Towns and Dorfmann alongside the survivors' battle against time, the desert, and forlorn hope.
2 Characters?
I think the Stewart/Attenborough pairing was a masterstroke. Stewart is embarrassing as the alcoholic, has-been pilot, and Attenborough is sublime as his emotional punch-bag. Kruger is as cold and calculating as his slide rule. Then there's Ian Bannen cocky but fractious lad-about-town. Peter Finch's honour and the gringeworthy Donald Fraser's lack of it...
I'll stop there.
Wonderful!
Mick, UK.
PS My advice if you haven't seen either version: buy the original (VHS, £1, scallop-edged tape, sale-no-return, local boot fair) and the 2004 remake (DVD, £20, hologram security tag, high street outlet) the same day. Then place the 2004 version on the ground and stamp on it. Very hard. Heave a (deserved) sigh of relief. Then go home, drag your old VCR out of the loft, wrestle the clumsy old VHS into that clanky old VHS letterbox, cross your fingers that the previous owner took care of it, open the beverage of your choice, sit back, and enjoy.