Flight of the Phoenix (2004 film)

Flight of the Phoenix
Directed by	John Moore
Produced by	William Aldrich
Written by	Luke Heller (original 1965 screenplay) Scott Frank Edward Burns (screenplay)
Starring	Dennis Quaid Giovanni Ribisi Tyrese Gibson Miranda Otto Kirk Jones Tony Curran Hugh Laurie Jacob Vargas Scott Michael Campbell Kevork Malikyan
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Cinematography	Brendan Galvin
Editing by	Don Zimmerman
Studio	Davis Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 17, 2004 (2004-12-17)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$34,586,268

Flight of the Phoenix is a 2004 survival drama film and a remake of a 1965 film of the same name, both based on the 1964 The Flight of the Phoenix, by Elleston Trevor, about a group of people who survive an aircraft crash in the Gobi Desert and must build a new aircraft out of the old one to escape. The film stars Dennis Quaid and Giovanni Ribisi. It opened in the US on December 17, and received mixed reviews.

Plot

When an Amacor oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, Captain Frank Towns (Quaid) and co-pilot A.J. (Gibson) are sent to shut the operation down. However, on their way to Beijing, a major dust storm rips apart one of their engines, forcing them to crash land their C-119 Flying Boxcar in an uncharted area of the desert. Their cargo consists of used parts and tools from the rig, the rig's crew, and Elliot (Ribisi), a lone drifter. The crash results in three people's dying. When the storm ends and the dust settles, it becomes apparent that they are 200 miles off course with only one month's worth of water available. Jeremy (Jones) thinks about leaving, but Rady (Malikyan) explains that the month they're in (July) is the hottest in the Gobi, and that he wouldn't be able to make it.

At first they decide, with the counsel of Frank, to just sit and await rescue. However, after surveying the situation and realizing that their value to Amacor is less than they had originally believed, they reconsider and are pitched a radical idea by Elliot, who claims to be an aeronautical engineer: rebuild the remains of their C-119 into a new, functional aircraft. Frank initially refuses, which causes Liddle (Campbell) to wander off on his own out of protest. Frank attempts to go in search for him, following the footsteps Liddle left in the sand. He comes across a valley littered with fresh debris. This turns out to be cargo from the aircraft, which had been dropped when the tail was cut open. Among the debris, he discovers the stripped body of Kyle, full of bullet wounds with shell casings clustered on the ground near him. At this point, Liddle appears and explains that someone had already been there and taken the watch that Kyle won from him in a poker match.

They struggle for several weeks building the new aircraft, through dust storms, lack of water, and fighting amongst the group. They christen it Phoenix after the legendary bird. A problem evolves when a group of smugglers camp nearby; when the survivors attempt to communicate, the bandits kill Rodney, but are killed in a short, fierce skirmish when ambushed by Frank. Later, it is revealed that Elliot's aircraft design experience has been restricted to the design of model aircraft, much to the anger of everyone, especially Ian (Laurie), who almost kills Elliot. However, they eventually are able to construct the new aircraft and take off, barely in time to escape a larger group of bandit attackers seeking revenge for the murdered smugglers.

Through a series of photos, we see what became of the crew when they made it back to civilization. All have been revitalized by the experience: Frank and A.J. start their own airline (appropriately named Phoenix Aviation), Sammi and his wife start their own restaurant (Jeremy and Rady are there to celebrate), Liddle is reunited with his wife and kids, Ian becomes a professional golfer, Kelly (Otto) is working at an ocean oil rig, and Elliot wears a flight suit on a Flight International magazine cover with the headline: "NASA's New Hope?"

Cast

• Dennis Quaid as Captain Frank Towns
• Giovanni Ribisi as Elliott
• Tyrese Gibson as A.J.
• Miranda Otto as Kelly Johnson
• Tony Curran as Alex Rodney
• Kirk Jones as Jeremy
• Hugh Laurie as Ian
• Jacob Vargas as Sammi
• Scott Michael Campbell as James Liddle
• Kevork Malikyan as Rady
• Jared Padalecki as John Davis
• Paul Ditchfield as Dr. Gerber
• Martin Hindy as Newman
• Bob Brown as Kyle
• Anthony Wong as Lead Smuggler

Production

Director John Moore scouted locations in Morocco and Australia before looking at, and quickly choosing, Namibia as the crash site. "Where most of the film takes place, was only a 20 minute-drive from the coastal town of Swakopmund." The Namib Desert location caused problems: cameras and other equipment had to be constantly cleaned of sand, and a "couple of hundred people were employed as 'dune groomers'" so that visual continuity could be maintained.

The set was the site of several mishaps:

• A ferry sank during transportation of a major set piece across a river, forcing the river bottom salvage of the aircraft fuselage.^{[citation needed]}
• Jared Padalecki flipped his vehicle.^{[citation needed]}
• Concluding the aerial filming sequences, the flying C-119G N15501 suffered a long gash under the right wing when a film truck backed under it and its driver misjudged the truck's height. A repair crew was flown in, the damaged segment reskinned and the aircraft flown back across the Atlantic.
• On June 3, 2004, camera operator and second unit cinematographer Ciaran Barry was "filming behind a plywood barrier intended to protect his equipment" when an 800-pound "fiberglass model plane propelled down an elevated track, bounced off a sand dune in the Namibian desert and crashed into his hut."

For the latter, in October 2009 a Los Angeles jury awarded Barry $3.95 million in damages for broken legs and neurological damage he received during the accident; $1.3 million of the amount was awarded for lost future income.

Four aircraft were used during the film:

• C-119G, N15501 - flying shots. (still flying as of 2007, now part of the Lauridsen Collection at the Buckeye Municipal Airport, February 2010. )
• C-119F, BuNo.131700 / N3267U - desert wreck.
• C-119F, BuNo.131691 - Phoenix film prop.
• C-119F, BuNo.131706 - Phoenix film prop.

A Phoenix that could be taxied but not flown was built for closeups. The Phoenix in flying scenes were done using a radio-controlled model and computer graphics, albeit not that convincing as a movie model.

Reception

Flight of the Phoenix rceived mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film was given a "rotten" rating of 29%. A total of 33 critics gave it fresh ratings, while 79 gave it rotten ratings, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The main criticism was that it was very similar to the original: John Anderson from Newsday said, "if you've seen the original, there's absolutely no difference in what happens. And very little reason to check it out." Scott Brown from Entertainment Weekly gave a good review, saying "refreshingly, it's actually about action, albeit arbitrary action, and how it defines us and keeps us alive." Aerofiles, a non-commercial website focusing on North American aviation history, called the film "perhaps the worst remake ever of a classic film." Stephen Holden of The New York Times said the film is a "rickety update of the far superior 1965 movie" that "throws in every cheap trick in the manual to pump up your heartbeat [and] is so manipulative that the involuntary jolts of adrenaline it produces make you feel like a fool."

See also

• Coffman engine starter
• Lady Be Good (aircraft)

References

Notes

Bibliography

• O'Leary, Michael. "By Box to Darkest Africa." Air Classics Volume 40, No. 3, March 2004.
• Flight of the Phoenix (2004) DVD. Beverley Hills, California: 20th Century Fox (Release date: March 1, 2005.).

External links

• Flight of the Phoenix (2004) at AllRovi
• Flight of the Phoenix (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
• Flight of the Phoenix (2004) at Rotten Tomatoes