Rating: 
Summary: Great movie
Review: As a former model airlcraft enthusiast as a kid (I built and flew the wire-controlled models, not radio control), as an aircraft mechanic for the US Air Force (where I was the primary crew chief for an F-15A and an A-10, plus phase dock supervisor for a crew working on the F-111E, as well as a quality assurance inspector for the F-15A and flight chief for the A-10) with experience with the airframe, hydraulic systems, sheetmetal and engines (and a degree in aircraft maintenance technology), and now currently as a high school science teacher (I've been a science nut all my life and think it relevant:), I found the story believable and compeling. I remembered this movie as a kid and I must say... it is even better than I remembered it (or maybe I just relate to it more today). Yes, the character story is compeling, but what causes me to think about this movie long after I've finished watching it is simply the idea of taking a piece of junk, rebuilding it, and with EVERYTHING riding on the success of your effort using it to escape certain death that excites me. This movie just seems to age well. The acting is excellent, the special effects are down to earth. There is just so much going on that you can watch it again and again without getting bored. The movie explores alot of ground even before the group begins to seriously consider rebuilding the aircraft. The clash between the pilot and engineer underscores their real need for each other.. to build and to fly it they must work together, and each has a piece of the puzzle (read knowledge) necessary for everyones survival. [Additional note: Might I also remind everyone who keeps harping about the engineer being "only" a designer of model aircraft that, for the most part, all aircraft designs start out first as models... whether constructed or computerized. NO high performance aircraft is thrown together on the factory floor directly from the blueprint. The idea of it being a "terrible" secret that the engineering was only designing flying models ignores the fact that he was a trained engineer. I also sense that this character was not only an engineer for the pay, but that learning how things work was his lifelong love. His knowledge of the aerodynamics of aircraft, and his use extensive knowledge of the tools needed to accomplish the "mission" demonstrates this point. That the pilot and navigator were in a state of shock comes across to me as a prejudice on their parts... AS IT PROVED TO BE!!! (Things that may seem unimportant to you, such as model aircraft, may in fact be of great importance... if we keep going the way of the drone, with improvements to this machines situational awareness, most military combat aircraft of the future might turn out to be remote-piloted drones.)]
Rating:
Summary: Watch it over and over again and never get bored
Review: Flight of the Phoenix is Robert Aldrich's magnum opus. With dramatic music by DeVol this is a great 1965 take on the Elliston Trevor novel. Jimmy Stewart is a pilot and Richard Attenborough his navigator as they crash land in a sandstorm. Peter Finch plays the by the book Captain Harris and Ronald Fraser his fed up Sergeant.
The whole film is done brilliantly with an eye toward realism, as well as masterful acting and memorable dialogue. Some aspects that come to mind are Attenborough (who NAILS stuttering speech as Lew) as the mediator between Towns (Stewart) and Dorfman (Hardy Kruger) getting them to work together on the survival plan (building a plane). Kruger is great as the mad engineer and he has some great lines: "Mr. Towns, you behave as if stupidity were a virtue. Why is that?" and "Mr. Towns, a toy plane is something you wind up and it rolls along the ground, a model airplane is something entirely different" and "meters, Mr. Towns, meters". Attenborough, "we can die here, or we can die on that thing" and "you BASTARD".
As Stewart has a great line of comic relief: "I don't know why you humor him like this. If the thing can't fly it can't fly, that's all there is...."
2 die in the plane crash and Gabriel (Tinti) is injured while worrying about his sick wife, but a Connie Francis song comes on Cobb's (Borgnine's) radio to cheer him up. Borgnine is priceless as the oil rigger with "fatigue mentale". It all comes down to a great psychological survival drama. And stunt flyer Paul Mantz was killed during filming (possibly the plane going down at the end) Finally, I just want to say, they don't make films like this anymore. One Phoenix is worth 1000 Spidermans. This is so engrossing you really feel the emotions of the characters from Gabriel's depression to Attenborough's hope to Kruger's "how-dare-you" to Stewart's "pissed-offness".
Rating: 
Summary: True Grit
Review: One of James Stewarts finest performances. My family loved James Stewart and my dad loved airplanes so there was no doubt we would see this when it was released. The whole family enjoyed it. Some scenes were a little rough for my sister so I don't recommend for small children. A movie about survival long before reality TV. Several men are stranded in the desert after their transport plane crashes from engine trouble. They must devise a way to survive the local killer tribesmen, the heat, and escape. Great performances from a veteran cast. If you like films without a great deal of scenery that take a hard look at personalities, like "Twelve Angry Men" you will enjoy this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I was a little kid when this movie first came out, and out of all the James Stewart's films I've seen, this is my favorite. A plane crashes in the Sahara desert, and the only way out is to
tear the plane apart and build a new one. Fortunately, there is a plane designer onboard--sort of. Tense film, with good performances all around, and an ending that will make you cheer.
Rating: 
Summary: Aviation Junkie Rating 4+
Review: I'm a model aviation nut as well as a student pilot for real airplanes. I've heard of this movie through various newsgroups in the model and private aviation message boards.I have to admit, I'm not really a fan of old movies, but this one is very good. Anything with Jimmy Stewart in it is usually great. This one keeps with that tradition. The plot and content of the movie are well developed. The crowd appeal for this movie would typically be more for guys from my experience. In a gathering wtaching the movie, the guys liked it and most of the women weren't interested. It's a movie that will become a permanent resident in my library. I'm glad a group of friends suggested it to me.
Rating:
Summary: An absolute classic
Review: I was 11 yrs old when I began hearing about the grueling work which was the production of this, my absolute favorite adventure film. I will always remember that hollywoods greatest stunt pilot Paul Mantz was actually killed during the production of this film. It was a stroke of pure genius to cast James stewart as the cynical pilot,Frank Townes since stewart himself was an actual WWII veteran bomber pilot. I always believed this to be his finest performance because it was so far removed from stewart's usual good guy roles. The rest of the cast was equally brillant in their performances including the great Dan Dureya The story was both believeable in its concept and extraordinary in its solution. The ending can truly bring a grown man to tears or at least to his feet to give a clap and a cheer to the survivors of a horrible ordeal. I highly recommend this film to everyone of all genders,races and, ages who enjoy a well thought out and acted story with some of the finest detail in character study and development to come out of any motion picture. I heartilly give it 5 out of 5 stars and, Im a hard person to please.
Rating:
Summary: A Project Team under a Microscope
Review: Anyone who has ever worked in a project team and had trouble understanding and relating to people different from themselves will get a lot out of this movie. A small group working on a life or death project work out their conflicts to cooperate and live. The project is to survive and get out of a desert crash. There are one each of every type of person in the group. The confident by nature pilot (who has been struggling with confidence,) the ingenious engineer(who never worked on this big a project before,)the faithless soldier (who will only do what he is forced to do,) the duty bound military officer (who is willing to risk his life to save the others,) the guys who do the labor whether it works or not, the peacemaker (who turns out to be as important as the pilot and engineer when the two stop working together.) Real life usually does not have one each of the various character types. Someone is missing or, just as bad, there are two of the same type who fight with each other. This group plays out the everyday story of conflict and triumph to give us each an insight to someone different from ourselves. It makes the point that different people bring different contributions and that it takes all kinds of people to succeed. If you like this movie; you may want to check out James Stewart in the role of the engineer in "No Highway in the Sky" (which was published under several similar titles. The movie also starred Marlene Diedrich and Glynis Johns.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: I first saw this movie as a teenager when it first came out back in the 1960's and was immediately impressed with it. Part adventure, part character study, I've always thought it was rather underrated. But what a cast! Jimmy Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Ernie Borgnine, George Kennedy, Dan Duryea, Hardy Kruger and Ian Bannen. It doesn't get much better than this. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: How about a restored DVD of this with lots of extras?
Review: This is one of my all time favorite movies. I would love to see someone clean it up and restore it with all the extras for a DVD. How about it Hollywood? I am sure there are many other fans of this movie and the actors in it who are just waiting to see it released on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies. The cast is superb with paricularly great performances by Jimmy Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, and Ernest Borgnine. The movie is extremely well-written. It deals with the variety of human response to desparate conditions (i.e, being stranded in the desert). The characters are varied -- a German engineer, a broken-down pilot, a drunken navigator, a British officer, a medical doctor, a crazy patient, etc. Each of them deals with the crisis in a different fashion -- some are heros -- others are cowards. In the end, the human spirit prevails, but the real beauty of the movie is how each of them confronts the situation and responds to it.
|
