The Flight of the Phoenix is a 1965 American adventure / disaster film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, and starring James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Kruger and Ernest Borgnine.
Robert Aldrich's screen adaptation of Elleston Trevor's novel. After their plane crashes in the middle of the Sahara Desert, the pilot (James Stewart) and navigator (Richard Attenborough) do their best to keep order among the survivors, a group of oil-men not used to the hardships of the desert.
Whilst struggling to survive, the group of men also have to find a way back to civilisation and manage to design and build a new plane from the wreckage of the old one.
Awards
- Golden Globes 1966 – Nominated: Best Motion Picture Drama, Nominated: Best Supporting Actor Hardy Krüger, Nominated: Most Promising Newcomer Ian Bannen
Reviews
“Before he made such tough guy classics as “The Dirty Dozen” and “The Longest Yard,” director Robert Aldrich dropped a bunch of Men’s Men in the middle of Sahara for an adaptation of Elleston Trevor’s novel “The Flight of the Phoenix.” The film is a true Guy Movie classic, something of a disaster flick, something of a survival adventure, all of it packed with a rough and ready cast that includes James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, and Hardy Kruger…A tense, thrilling adventure from a master filmmaker.” efilmcritic.com
" a terrific and underrated action/adventure movie; especially compared to some of today's Summertime blockbuster “thrillers” like Con Air and Armageddon…I thought I knew exactly where this movie was going, but it dodged every cliché. My heart was pounding during the climax, when they're trying to start the newly constructed plane. There were even unexpected sequences, such as a group of Arabs setting up camp nearby, but out of sight of the plane (are they friend or foe?). I actually did not know what was going to happen. The reason the movie works is Aldrich. He attacks it, the way he attacks his other movies, with intelligence and ferocity, as if it were the first and last movie ever made." combustiblecelluloid.com
“…there is a frankness to its storytelling and an honesty to its characters from which a lot of today's movies could take a lesson. Nothing is wasted in The Flight of the Phoenix; it is a lean, mean, and taunt exercise in human frailty and redemption…it is well worth your time.” DVD Verdict
“Robert Aldrich, as director, has fashioned a tense, boys-own-adventure type story from nothing more than dust, great acting and impressive stunt flying. The script is strong enough to gradually build to successive, heart-stopping moments without dawdling or resorting to cliche (particularly impressive when you remember that the film began with a bang).” film.u-net.com