Python Hyena The Flight of the Phoenix (1965): Dir: Robert Aldrich / Cast: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen: Overwhelming disaster suspense about taking courage and obtaining hope. The Phoenix airplane goes down in the Sahara desert within a sand storm stranding several people and injuring others. Director Robert Aldrich avoids clichés by detailing the long hours, hot sun and hopelessness. They are in a manic struggle for survival as a German passenger devises a plan to rebuild the plane out of its own parts leading to a remarkable twist. James Stewart is superb as the flight captain blaming himself for those who died. Richard Attenborough portrays the flight navigator who struggled with booze, and reaches for possible solutions for their situation. Strong supporting cast includes Peter Finch as the captain who wanders off to find help and makes a tragic return. Ernest Borgnine plays a worker who makes the fearful mistake of following the captain and his body is found later. Ian Bannen plays a less than likable crew member who only adds to this great ensemble cast. We know how this will end. Unless viewers are expecting a dead end result then it is obvious that the crew will regain flight but that doesn't detract from any suspense. Great special effects of the wreckage resulting in an excellent example of survival and maintaining union. Score: 10 / 10

SnoopyStyle Frank Towns (James Stewart) is flying a oil drilling crew from Jaghbub to Benghazi in Libya. Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) is the navigator. The plane gets hit with a sandstorm and crash in the middle of the desert. The passengers are British army Capt. Harris (Peter Finch) and Sgt. Watson (Ronald Fraser), Dr. Renaud (Christian Marquand), odd aircraft designer Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Krüger) and from the oil company accountant Mr. Standish, crazy foreman Trucker Cobb (Ernest Borgnine), Ratbags Crow, Carlos with his monkey, Bellamy (George Kennedy) and others. Harris has a plan to walk out. Watson pretends to sprain his leg to avoid the walk and Cobb goes nuts demanding to go along. Dorfmann claims to have a plan to fly out.There are probably way too many characters. Some of the lesser used characters should be left off the plane. Jimmy Stewart's character is way too much of a boy scout. It makes no sense that he goes on a search for Cobb. It puts him completely over the top into unreasonable. As for the plot being unreasonable, that is also a problem but it is a movie after all. With so many great actors, this could be a better character-based thriller.

ducatimatz28 When I see popular films remade and then expect them to be as good or better than the original;then you realize that the original couldn't have been improved on and the remake was forgettable.This is the case of 1965's "Flight of the Phoenix". Simple plot of diverse characters aboard an Oil Company owned airplane caught up in a sandstorm that forces them to crash in the desert.My favorite character is the arrogant German Model Plane designer DORFMANN who comes up with the plan of turning the Twin engine aircraft into a single engine plane that will fly the remaining survivors back home.His arrogance and superior feeling over the other stranded passengers made you have a Love/Hate relationship with him.Even Stewart's character who really couldn't stand the man, knew he was their only real hope of survival so he had to humble himself to the wishes of Dorfmann...The film's cinematography was spectacular despite being just desert and a wrecked airplane.The diverse passenger characters all gave good performances especially the mentally challenged BORGNINE character "Trucker Cobb"...The only disappoint of the film is the ending.Veteran Aerial Stunt Pilot Paul Mantz who had done Aerial stunt work in movies going back to the 30's;was fatally injured toward the end of shooting and crashed the remade Phoenix Airplane. The last shot you see of the plane is in the air after passing over an oil crew below.You never see the plane landing because it had been destroyed upon Mantz's Crash.The final scene is the survivors walking/running to the water spring they had passed over...Although it was never really brought out Mantz was a known Drinker and had flown stunts under the influence more than once.No one really knows if it was pilot error or aircraft malfunction or Mantz may have even had a heart attack. However he still goes down in history as one of the Greatest aviator stunt pilots in Cinema History.EXCELLENT FILM!...s.m.

JasparLamarCrabb Robert Aldrich directed this now classic adventure yarn. A rag tag group of men crash land in the Sahara with little hope of surviving unless they either walk out or build a new airplane & fly out. That's the plot in its entirety. James Stewart is the pilot, a stubborn curmudgeon who thinks making a new plane is idiotic. Hardy Krüger is the engineer who tries to prove him wrong...though his experience at building planes is rather sketchy. Richard Attenborough is Stewart's right hand man and voice of reason. Peter Finch is a by-the-book British captain and Ronald Fraser his not so brave underling. There's enough suspense and angry confrontations to keep this movie moving at a fast clip. The excellent music score by Aldrich regular Frank De Vol is a major asset as is the cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc. The supporting cast includes Ernest Borgnine as an unstable oil rig worker, George Kennedy, Dan Duryea and Christian Marquand as a level headed doctor.