Conference bookie::movies

139.0. "The Flight of the Phoenix" by DSSDEV::RUST () Tue Apr 13 1993 14:23

    One of the best treatments I've seen of airplane-disaster and/or
    survival epics, "Flight of the Phoenix" ('66) is based on the book of
    the same title (author's name escapes me), and is a very faithful (if a
    wee bit less gruesome) treatment of the story.

    We come in on Jimmy Stewart piloting a beat-up twin-engine transport
    plane across the Sahara, with lots of heavy oil-field equipment and a
    dozen or so passengers, ranging from oil-field workers going on leave
    to a nervous company accountant (Dan Duryea being meek). Stewart's
    co-pilot is played by Richard Attenborough as a stammering dipsomaniac,
    affable but not terribly useful; in this case, he's overlooked a few
    small but significant details, and before we know it the plane is in
    trouble, forced down in the middle of the desert well off course and
    far out of reach of water.

    The spate of "Airport" movies introduced us to motley collections of
    passengers, most of them nice people, some with quirks, one or two
    sufficiently obnoxious that the audience would cheer when someone got
    fed up and slapped them.  "Phoenix," on the other hand, has an equally
    motley crew, but the odds are much more in favor of the obnoxious
    types; even the most well-intentioned of the gang are not particularly
    easy to get along with. Personalities clash, communication flounders,
    tempers flare, disaster ensues.

    Peter Finch plays a British officer who's studiously trying to do the
    right thing, even when the consequences will clearly be disastrous; the
    Charge of the Light Brigade was probably his favorite bedtime reading.
    His sergeant (played by an actor with a very round face that, together
    with his official-desert-uniform short pants, made him look like
    Pugsley Addams  in the Boy Scouts) has a more pragmatic view of life,
    and attempts by hook or by crook to avoid having to accompany his
    superior officer on these death-or-glory adventures.

    Ernest Borgnine does a fine turn as an oil-field worker who's been in 
    the sun a little too long; it takes a scene or three to figure out that
    he's really around the bend, and the growing realization is very
    disturbing - as is the feeling that it would be easier on everybody if
    someone just knocked this guy over the head. [This story quickly brings
    out one's atavistic instincts; it's possibly cathartic, but not alwyas
    pleasant.]

    Hardy Kruger is the odd man out, neither working on the oil rigs nor
    for the oil company; he was just out to visit his brother, and at
    first deals with  the crash by staying as far away from the others as
    he can. But, after a few days have passed and it becomes clear that no
    rescue is in sight, he comes up with an idea: they could construct a
    usable airplane from the wreckage of the original, and fly themselves
    out of there. 

    Everyone else agrees that it's a crazy plan, but after all, what else
    is there to do? So they set out to do it, using this particular
    insanity as a sort of back-fire against the larger insanity they face
    if they just lie there watching each other die...

    The movie builds suspense very well, the characters are well-drawn, and
    their interactions, growing frustrations, self-doubts and mistrust of
    each other are all deftly presented. As the days pass and they grow
    weaker and more decrepit, it's clear that every move they make costs
    them dearly. [Even with all this growing agony, the movie does pull a
    few punches over the book - which had the advantage that it could
    simply tell the reader how awful things were, without having to back it
    up with makeup and special effects. As it was, I think the "blister
    continuity team" did a very good job under the circumstances!]

    Oh, one word of warning. There's a big secret that gets revealed
    towards the end, and while the movie's still enjoyable if you know
    about it ahead of time, it's much more fun to be surprised. So be vewy,
    vewy quiet. ;-)
    
    If one were to put on a "survival epic" film festival, this one might
    fit in very well with "Flight of the Eagle" or "The Red Tent" in the
    "best-laid plans" category, or perhaps it could be paired with "Alive!"
    for a sort of compare-and-contrast lesson. Anyway, it's worth catching.
    (I saw it on AMC - haven't found it in the video stores, fwiw.)
    
    -b

    I have noticed this in video stores in years past, so I know it has at
    least been released to tape.
    
    Does AMC publish a schedule of their movies?  Their films are not
    listed among the alphabetized "cable films" section in the back of the
    TV Guide, and trying to search through the whole damned magazine on a
    weekly basis to find where the good stuff is on AMC becomes a bit 
    gruesome.
    
    - Dave

    I don't know whether AMC publishes a listing - it'd come in handy,
    though, wouldn't it? (The only consolation is that, once they air
    something, they tend to repeat it - though at odd hours, sometimes -
    for the next several weeks...)
    
    The TV supplement in the Sunday "Telegraph" includes a "non-premium-
    cable-movies" section (in addition to their alphabetized list of
    premium-channel movies), and I _think_ the AMC films are listed there;
    you still have to scan through it, but it's a lot easier scanning seven
    days' worth of movies than seven days' worth of everything. 
    
    If the movie in question has a four-star rating, the 'Guide will list
    it in their "4-star section" up front, but if it only gets 3.5 stars,
    you're out of luck. ;-)
    
    -b

RE AMC listings: Yes, AMC publishes a guide that you can subscribe to for,
I think, $11.95 a year.  I recently decided to get it.  If you watch AMC enough,
you'll come across blurbs for their guide.  I'll try to check it at home and
post the relevant info.

							-- Nina

    RE: .0
    
    The book's author is Elleston Trevor, one of the pseudynoms of Adam
    Hall, who wrote the Quiller books.  He is one of my more favourite
    authors.
    
    I rented this movie just last week (watching it for the fifth? sixth?
    time), and, much as I would be able to write a review like that in .0,
    I don't have that descriptive style.  All I can say is, I agree!
    
    cheers
    
    ..klaas..

I remember seeing this in the movie theater as a youngster.  Yes, the
surprise secret is quite a kicker...  Especially the reactions of all
concerned.  Regardless, a solid movie of this sort.

    From Halliwell's Film Guide...
    
    A cargo passenger plane crashes in the desert, and the survivors try to
    avert disaster. Achingly slow character adventure: an all-star cast
    works desperately hard but the final flight of the rebuilt plane seems
    almost an anticlimax after the surfeit of personal melodramatics.
    
    w Lukas Heller, novel Ellerston Trevor  d Robert Aldrich  ph Joseph
    Biroc  m Frank de Vol
    
    James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Kruger, Peter Finch, Dan
    Duryea, Ernest Borgnine, Ronald Fraser (the seargeant), Christian
    Marquand, George Kennedy.
    
    US 1965 149m De Luxe - TCF Associates and Aldrich  AAN: Ian Bannen
    
                                  --oOo--
    
    The credits mention the tragic death of a pilot during the making of
    the film...Presumably an accident during shooting the final scenes.
    
    Another interesting feature is the absence of female characters. Apart
    from one short dream-sequence of a belly-dancer, no woman appears.
    
    I enjoyed it. Halliwell gives it one star: drawing attention to minor
    point of merit.
    
    Bucko...
    
    

                      <<< Note 139.7 by 42443::BUXTONR >>>
                            -< Often on British TV >-

<<    The credits mention the tragic death of a pilot during the making of
<<    the film...Presumably an accident during shooting the final scenes.
  
    This wasn't just any pilot, it was Paul Mantz who was the most famous
    and experienced stunt pilot in movie history.  He had done the flying
    for dozens of epics.  Very ironic considering the theme of the movie,
    and it ruins this one for me....
    
    
    Marshall
    
      
    
    

	I saw this film in England in 1967 when I think it was first released
	and it ranks with me as one of my favourite films. It came over to
	me as a very "realistic" movie, i.e. I could believe that the plane
	reconstruction was physically, though maybe not aerodynamically,
	possible and the acting was, to me, top rate. I rewatch this movie
	about every 5 years and still get enjoyment from it.


	Re back a few...

		Boston Sunday Globe TV Guide lists AMC films in its
		cable movies section.