The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

After a plane crash in the Sahara, one of the survivors says he's an airplane designer and they can make a flyable plane from the wreckage.

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Lukas Heller (screenplay), Trevor Dudley Smith (novel) (as Elleston Trevor)

Stars:

James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Stewart	...	Frank Towns
Richard Attenborough	...	Lew Moran
Peter Finch	...	Captain Harris
Hardy Krüger	...	Heinrich Dorfmann (as Hardy Kruger)
Ernest Borgnine	...	Trucker Cobb
Ian Bannen	...	Crow
Ronald Fraser	...	Sergeant Watson
Christian Marquand	...	Dr. Renaud
Dan Duryea	...	Standish
George Kennedy	...	Bellamy
Gabriele Tinti	...	Gabriele
Alex Montoya	...	Carlos
Peter Bravos	...	Tasso
William Aldrich	...	Bill
Barrie Chase	...	Farida

Storyline

A cargo plane goes down in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for an airplane they will build to escape before their food and water run out.

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Plot Keywords:

sahara desert | crash landing | pilot | engineer | airplane accident | 

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Taglines:

Its excitement is headed straight for you!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Arabic

Release Date:

15 December 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Flug des Phoenix

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,355,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Associates & Aldrich Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

142 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sir Richard Attenborough (Lew Moran) directed Hardy Krüger (Heinrich Dorfmann) in A Bridge Too Far (1977). He also directed Ian Bannen (Crow) in Gandhi (1982).

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Goofs

After the injured Gabriele cuts his wrists, Towns uses a stick to dip in the tanks. In close-up, he removes the stick to examine it. In the next wide shot as Dorfmann says "come along, it is quite essential to maintain our schedule", Towns has the stick back inside the tank and is taking it out again.

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Quotes

Lew Moran: It may not be the best possible advertisement. but Frank Towns is probably one of the few really great pilots left in this push-button world of yours.
Heinrich Dorfmann: Oh, really?
Lew Moran: [angrily] Yes, 'Oh, really!' He was flying by the seat of his pants in planes that were nothing more than bits and pieces before you even went to school!
Heinrich Dorfmann: That's precisely what is wrong - he has remembered everything and learned nothing!

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Crazy Credits

Closing credits epilogue: IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED...

THAT PAUL MANTZ, A FINE MAN AND A BRILLIANT FLYER GAVE HIS LIFE IN THE MAKING OF THIS FILM...

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Connections

Referenced in Ghost Ship (2002)

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Soundtracks

The Phoenix Love Theme
Senza Fine"
Sung by Connie Francis
Music & Italian Lyrics by Gino Paoli
English Lyrics by Alec Wilder

User Reviews

A masterpiece from the good old days

I agree with most of the people here that this movie is an overlooked gem. It always comes to mind when I think of movie classics, but most people I've known have never seen it. If it comes on TV or you get the chance to rent it, definitely give it a look.

While the movie stands alone as a great suspense and survival movie with great dialogue and a greater cast, it also has some aspects that give it deeper significance. A couple of people have commented on the "old school seat-of-the-pants flying" vs. "mathematical engineering" conflict in the movie, and this is certainly a big part of it.

Another conflict, subtler but just as important, has gone completely unmentioned here. That's the issue of the crew's mistrust of Kruger for being German. This movie is pretty important for the way it excellently touches on the tension many people still felt by the sixties on working side by side with the former enemy in the new postwar world. It's not an accident that the three main characters that have to come together to survive are American, English and German. "Flight of the Phoenix" is one movie that is timeless in its direct appeal but should be taken in context of the time in which it was produced in order to be fully appreciated.

Taking these conflicts together, the overall message is clear. In the brave new world, unless we put aside old divisions and value input from everyone, no one gets out alive.