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:

Theirs was the triumph - yours, the excitement!

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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

Hardy Krüger and Peter Finch appeared in The Red Tent (1969), a similar film about an airship that crash-lands in the Arctic, this time co-starring Sir Sean Connery.

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Goofs

In the scene where the 'Phoenix' is rolling along the ground and trying to get aloft, you can see small buildings on the horizon.

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Quotes

Lew Moran: Maybe Frank Towns, who's flown every crate they've ever built and could fly in and out of a tennis court if he had to, maybe that great hell-for-leather trailblazer's nothing more than a back number now. And maybe men like Dorfmann can build machines that can do Frank Towns's job for him, and do it better

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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

Featured in PROFILE: Hardy Kruger (1978)

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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

One of the best survival films ever

I use snippets from this film in a project management class. It is hard to imagine how the casting could have been any better. Jimmy Stewart plays the part of the aging pilot with an adventurous past so well not only because he was a terrific actor, but because he really was an aging pilot with a an adventurous past. Richart Attenborrow (spelling?) is wonderful as the diplomatic copilot that stands between Stewart and the engineer played by Kruger.

The dialogue was some of the best I've ever heard. "Mr. Townes you behave as though stupidity were a virtue..." You have to love it.

I'm almost sorry to see this movie being remade since it was done so well, but I'll still line up for the new one just to see if the magic can be made to work twice.