Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

kentucky-05638 As a child 50 years ago ,watching on black and white tv ,I was wowed by this picture ,it was a good film.

evanston_dad "The Flight of the Phoenix" is Robert Aldrich's classic survival story about a group of men who crash land a plane in the desert and must find a way out or die. James Stewart is the pilot and de facto leader of the group; they look to him initially as the most experienced and authoritative. But he eventually butts heads with a young German (Hardy Kruger) who claims to be a designer of airplanes and decides that the only way to survive is to construct a new plane from the undamaged parts of the old one and fly to safety. In Aldrich's hands, this plot becomes a study in generational conflict, with a younger, fresher attitude about things proving to be more valuable than the traditional. The film itself is very traditional in many respects, but it's this attitude about the younger generation that exposes its roots in the counter culture that was only just beginning to make its presence felt in the films of the time. If it had been made a decade earlier, Stewart would have been our hero, no questions asked, just because he was Jimmy Stewart. In the film as it plays out, Stewart's stubborn adherence to an old way of doing things would have resulted in everyone dying if they had followed his advice.Out of a terrific ensemble of male actors, Ian Bannen was inexplicably singled out with an Academy Award nomination for Best ing Actor. He's by no means bad, but if I was going to single out anyone, it would certainly be either Kruger or Richard Attenborough as Stewart's long-time friend and confidante.The film also received an Oscar nomination for Michael Luciano's editing. Luciano was a frequent Aldrich collaborator and received nominations for three other Aldrich films: "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Longest Yard." This is a fun, exciting movie.Grade: A

B. Warren This is a great movie, where plane crashes in desert, and, well, tough to say "spoiler" , since it is almost 50 yrs old and when the movie title says it all. Not to add that 90% of the movie is directed to this one, and ,as movie goes on, only possible outcome.This is like a Shakespeare play or something as sparse as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" Initially one would call it a 'small' movie.... a few characters and a one set stage. But after watching it, seems like a much bigger stage.It's a good story that allows an amazing ensemble of great actors to strut their stuff. Well, maybe a couple didn't get a chance to fully develop, and one or two might have been a bit 'over the top', but the three keys players were outstanding.May catch hell for this, but I think one of Jimmy's best. What I didn't know till quite a bit after watching this movie for first time, was how much a Flyboy Jimmy was. It was in his DNA. When he said in the movie: "Time was you could take real pride, in just getting there, flying used to be fun Lou, it really was..." You knew that character he was playing and he were one and the same.

AaronCapenBanner Jimmy Stewart plays a pilot of a cargo plane which flies into trouble when a sand storm hits, and it crashes in the middle of the Sahara desert, stranding the engers in a life and death struggle for survival as they must deal with a limited water supply(though they have plenty of food...pressed dates!) as some of them succumb to madness or cowardice, all the while trying to make a desperate plan work: to use the one undamaged wing to make a new aircraft.A fine cast that also includes Richard Attenborough, Ian Bannen, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Finch, and Hardy Kruger. Exciting and interesting film is a bit long, but also quite entertaining, and creates a believable atmosphere of desperation that makes the ending all the more satisfying.