The Flight of the Phoenix

The story of a plane down in the desert. A cargo aircraft loses an engine in a sandstorm and comes down in the middle of the Sahara. Twelve men survive. The radio is dead, nobody knows their position and the water is limited. Waiting achieves nothing. Then one of the passengers makes a proposal: a small single-engine aircraft can be built from the sound parts of the wreck. He is an aircraft designer. The captain refuses. Then he agrees and the group starts work, in the heat, without tools, with water running out. There is also this: the aircraft the designer has built before are model aeroplanes. He says so late, and the group argues about what to do. What the film is interested in is not engineering but how people behave under pressure. Who works, who gives up, who commands. James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger and Ernest Borgnine are in the cast. Robert Aldrich directed. The stunt pilot Paul Mantz was killed during a flying sequence and the film is dedicated to him. A strong example of its genre for anyone who likes survival stories and group drama. For a viewer expecting pace, the film is long and most of it is waiting.