The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Lukas Heller (screenplay)
Trevor Dudley Smith (novel)

Release Date:

15 December 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

One of the most startling twists of fate you have ever experienced in a motion picture!

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Airplane | Sahara | Sandstorm | Cargo Plane | Manic Laughter

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 nominations

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	...	Gabriel
Alex Montoya	...	Carlos
Peter Bravos	...	Tasso
William Aldrich	...	Bill
Barrie Chase	...	Farida
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stanley Ralph Ross	...	Arab Singer (uncredited) (voice)

Directed by
Robert Aldrich

Writing credits
Lukas Heller		(screenplay)
Trevor Dudley Smith		(novel) (as Elleston Trevor)

Produced by
Robert Aldrich	....	producer
Walter Blake	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Frank De Vol		(as DeVol)

Cinematography by
Joseph F. Biroc		(as Joseph Biroc)

Film Editing by
Michael Luciano

Art Direction by
William Glasgow

Set Decoration by
Lucien Hafley

Costume Design by
Norma Koch

Makeup Department
Edwin Butterworth	....	makeup artist (as Ed Butterworth)
Terry Miles	....	makeup artist
Ben Nye	....	makeup supervisor
Jack Stone	....	makeup artist
William Turner	....	makeup artist
Frank Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alan Callow	....	assistant director
Clifford C. Coleman	....	assistant director (as Cliff Coleman)
Oscar Rudolph	....	second unit director
William F. Sheehan	....	assistant director

Art Department
John La Salandra	....	construction coordinator (as John LaSalandra)
John Orlando	....	property master

Special Effects by
L.B. Abbott	....	special photographic effects
Howard Lydecker	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
Ted Mapes	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Homer Plannette	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Ronald Vidor	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Albert Woodbury	....	orchestrator (as Al Woodbury)

Transportation Department
Chris Haynes	....	driver (uncredited)
Frank Khoury	....	driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Adell Aldrich	....	script apprentice (as Adell Aldrich Bravos)
Michael Audley	....	dialogue supervisor
Robert Gary	....	script supervisor
Paul Mantz	....	aerial sequences
Don Niehaus	....	title designer: main titles
Robert Sherman	....	dialogue supervisor

Thanks
Paul Mantz	....	in memory of

Production Companies

• Associates & Aldrich Company, The

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1965) (USA) (theatrical)
• Centfox (1966) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1969) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• CBS/Fox (1985) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Fox Film (1966) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Key Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• National Screen Service  main title

Runtime:

142 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #21017) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-12 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Valley, California, USA

Company:

Associates & Aldrich Company, The

Trivia:

In the Italian version the song "Senza fine" is the original one, sung by the singer Ornella Vanoni.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Captain Towns refers to having cleaned the carburetor jets thoroughly. The Pratt and Whitney R-2800 has a pressure carburetor that could not be disassembled in that desert without contaminating it. Also, it could not have been reassembled correctly without use of a pressure bench to recalibrate all the regulating springs and diaphragms.

Quotes:

Frank Towns: If you hadn't made a career out of being a drunk you might not have been a second-rate navigator in a firth-rate outfit. And if you'd not stayed in your bunk to kill that last bottle, maybe you might have checked that engineer's report on the radio and we might not be here now. All right!

Movie Connections:

Remade as Flight of the Phoenix (2004)

Soundtrack:

Senza Fine

Superb All-Guy Drama

"The Flight of the Phoenix", based on the Elleston Trevor novel, has little more than one set and no costume changes; and the action is confined to the few yards around an airplane crashed in the desert. Yet its story is more gripping than most "action" movies.

An old airplane owned by an oil company crashes at the hands of a crusty old pilot (James Stewart) whose bitterness and fatalism are brought out when he's forced to admit the crash was due to pilot error. His half-alcoholic navigator has insured that the plane was off course, and cannot be discovered by rescue craft (if any); he's a nice guy and becomes the mediator between the rancorous passengers and crew, but he lacks self-confidence (Richard Attenborough in a finely understated performance). The passengers include a company accountant (Dan Duryea); a shell-shocked employee (Ernest Borgnine, by turns touching and silly) sent home in the company of his doctor (Christian Marquand); a straight-laced British officer (Peter Finch) and his mutinous sergeant (Ronald Fraser); several oil company employees, including one who is always making vicious jokes at the expense of the others (Ian Bannen); and a German "designer" (Hardy Kruger) who went to the oil fields to visit his brother.

Stranded in the desert with no hope of rescue, they debate various schemes for salvation, all of which fail, until Kruger tells the others he is an airplane designer and he has discovered a way to build a new plane from the spare parts of the old one. All it needs for a handful of unskilled men, living on a little water and no food but pressed dates, coping with unbearable heat during the day and unbearable cold at night, to transform themselves into aircraft manufacturers before they all succumb.

All performances are good. Some of the actors (George Kennedy, the always interesting Dan Duryea) are woefully underused -- perhaps large segments of their roles wound up on the cutting-room floor. The major tension is the confrontation between Stewart's old-school pilot and Kruger's technologically self-righteous engineer (at one point, Stewart's character makes the incredibly prescient remark that one day the little men with their slide-rules and computers will inherit the earth).

Even when they all decide they'd rather attempt building the new plane with hope than sit around watching each other die, new surprises spring up that compromise the whole thing.

The script and the acting are solid, especially James Stewart in a different and challenging role. The music is sometimes overwhelming, and stings give unnecessary emphasis to some lines. Also of interest is the listing in the credits of "The Love Theme" which seems like a silly thing to call it.

A superlative story of men living on the ragged edge of survival, working together but not necessarily getting along or surrendering their own values.