The Flight of the Phoenix (1965 film)

The Flight of the Phoenix
1965 theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Aldrich
Produced by	Robert Aldrich
Written by	Lukas Heller Elleston Trevor (novel)
Starring	James Stewart Richard Attenborough Peter Finch
Music by	Frank De Vol
Cinematography	Joseph Biroc
Editing by	Michael Luciano
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 15, 1965 (1965-12-15)
Running time	142 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5,355,000

DVD Release cover

The Flight of the Phoenix is a 1965 American film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich and based on the 1964 novel The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor. It stars James Stewart as a pilot whose transport aircraft is downed in the middle of a desert, Richard Attenborough as his navigator, Hardy Krüger as an engineer who designs a new aircraft from the remains of the original. The ensemble cast also includes Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea, and George Kennedy as other passengers on the aircraft.

Plot

The story describes the struggle of several men to survive an emergency landing of their airplane in the Sahara. Frank Towns (James Stewart) is the pilot, and Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) navigates. The passengers are Capt. Harris (Peter Finch) and Sgt. Watson (Ronald Fraser) of the British army; Dr. Renaud (Christian Marquand), a physician; Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Krüger), an aeronautical engineer; Mr. Standish (Dan Duryea), an oil-company manager; and several oil workers. The workers include Trucker Cobb (Ernest Borgnine), a mentally disturbed foreman; Carlos (Alex Montoya) and his pet monkey; and Gabriel (Gabriele Tinti). The struggle is complicated by a personality clash between Towns, who is a proud old traditionalist, and Dorfmann, a young, equally proud technician.

The film begins as Towns pilots a twin-engine Fairchild C-82 Packet cargo aircraft from Jaghbub to Benghazi in Libya. A sudden sandstorm shuts-down the right engine and later the left one as well, forcing Towns to crash-land in the desert. As the aircraft careens to a stop, several oil drums and oil drilling gear break loose, severely injuring Gabriel's leg and killing two other workers.

With no functioning radio to call for help, the survivors wait to be rescued, but the storm blew them too far off-course to be found. Although they have a large quantity of dates for food, they calculate their water will only last for 10 to 15 days provided they avoid physical exertion. After a few days, Harris sets out with Carlos to walk to an oasis. Harris and Towns refuse to let Cobb go along, but he later follows anyway and dies. Days later, Harris returns to the crash site alone and barely alive. Later he and Renaud are killed by passing Arabs. Gabriel eventually bleeds to death from his injured leg, while Watson manages to avoid risking his life with Harris.

Meanwhile, Dorfmann has been working on a radical idea: He believes they can build a new aircraft from the wreckage. The C-82 has twin booms extending rearwards from each engine and connected by the horizontal stabilizer. Dorfmann's plan is to attach the outer panel of the right wing to the left engine, left boom and left wing outer panel, discarding the center fuselage and both inner wing panels of the aircraft. Harris and Moran believe he is either joking or deluded, and the animosity between Towns the veteran pilot and Dorfmann the aircraft designer increases. When Towns learns that Dorfmann is a designer of model planes, which Towns thinks of as toys but which Dorfmann views as full-fledged aircraft, the two argue vehemently.

With Renaud pointing out that activity will help the men's morale, Towns agrees to the plan. Dorfmann supervises as the workers cut, haul, and weld parts of the aircraft. All work stops when Dorfmann admits taking extra water, but Towns resumes it after Moran convinces him that they have no other way out. Throughout the ordeal, Moran mediates the conflict between Towns and Dorfmann. When the new aircraft is almost complete, Standish labels it "The Phoenix", after the mythical bird that is reborn from its ashes.

Dorfmann loses his temper and stops working after Towns recklessly insists on testing the engine, which would deplete the scarce supply of explosive Coffman engine starter cartridges. With prodding from Moran, Towns allows Dorfmann to take charge of the operation and work resumes. Towns and Moran fear the worst when they learn that Dorfmann designs model airplanes instead of real aircraft but, with no other options, they let him continue.

Just as the water runs out, the Phoenix is completed. Dorfmann panics when four cartridges fail to start the engine and Towns wants to use one of the remaining two cartridges just to clear the engine's cylinders. Dorfmann objects, but Towns ignores him and fires one cartridge with the ignition off. The sixth and final cartridge succeeds. The men pull the Phoenix to a nearby hilltop, then climb onto the wings. When Towns guns the engine, the Phoenix slides down the hill and along a lake bed before taking off. The film ends after the Phoenix lands at an oasis, where the workers jump into the water while Towns and Dorfmann reconcile.

Cast

As appearing in order of screen credits (main roles identified):

Actor	Role
James Stewart	Capt. Frank Towns
Hardy Krüger	Heinrich Dorfmann
Richard Attenborough	Lew Moran
Peter Finch	Capt. Harris
Ernest Borgnine	Trucker Cobb
Ian Bannen	"Ratbags" Crow
Ronald Fraser	Sgt. Watson
Christian Marquand	Dr. Renaud
Dan Duryea	Standish
George Kennedy	Mike Bellamy
Gabriele Tinti	Gabriel
Alex Montoya	Carlos
Peter Bravos	Tasso
William Aldrich	Bill
Barrie Chase	Farida

Production

Locations

Principal photography started April 26, 1965 at the 20th Century-Fox Studios and 20th Century-Fox Ranch, California. Other filming locations, simulating the desert, were Buttercup Valley, Arizona and Pilot Knob Mesa, California. The flying sequences were all filmed at Pilot Knob Mesa near Winterhaven, located in Imperial Valley, California on the northern fringes of Yuma, Arizona.

Aircraft used

In 2005, Hollywood aviation historian Simon Beck identified the aircraft used in the film:

• Fairchild C-82A Packet, N6887C — flying shots.
• Fairchild C-82A Packet, N4833V — outdoor location wreck.
• Fairchild C-82A Packet, N53228 — indoor studio wreck.
• Fairchild R4Q-1 Flying Boxcar (the USMC C-119C variant), BuNo. 126580 — non-flying Phoenix prop.
• Tallmantz Phoenix P-1, N93082 — flying Phoenix aircraft.
• North American O-47A, N4725V — second flying Phoenix.

The C-82As were from Steward-Davies Inc. at Long Beach, California, while the O-47A came from the Air Museum — Planes of Fame in California. The R4Q-1 was purchased from Allied Aircraft of Phoenix, Arizona. The aerial camera platform was a B-25J Mitchell, N1042B, which was also used in the 1970 film Catch-22. The flying sequences were flown by Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman, co-owners of the Tallmantz Aviation.

A famous racing/stunt/movie pilot and collector of warplanes, Paul Mantz was flying the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1, the machine that was "made of the wreckage", in front of the cameras on the morning of July 8, 1965. He was performing touch-and-go landings, and on one touchdown the fuselage buckled. The movie model broke apart and cartwheeled, killing Mantz and seriously injuring stuntman Bobby Rose on board.

Although principal photography was completed on August 13, 1965, in order to complete filming, a North American O-47A (N4725V) from the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Claremont, California was modified and used as a flying Phoenix stand-in. With the canopy removed, a set of skids attached to the main landing gear as well as ventral fin added to the tail, made it a visual lookalike. Filming using the O-47A was completed in October/November 1965. It appears in the last flying scenes, painted to look like the earlier Phoenix P-1.

The final production utilized a mix of footage that included the O-47A, the "cobbled-together" Phoenix and Phoenix P-1.

The final credit on the screen was "It should be remembered that Paul Mantz ... a fine man, and a brilliant flyer, gave his life in the making of this film ..."

Reception

Opening in selected theaters on December 15, 1965, with a full release not until 1966, although commercially successful, critics were not universally appreciative. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times dismissed it as "grim and implausible,"while Variety praised the film as an "often-fascinating and superlative piece of filmmaking highlighted by standout performances and touches that show producer-director at his best."

Awards

The Flight of the Phoenix was nominated for two Academy Awards: Ian Bannen for Supporting Actor and Michael Luciano for Film Editing.

See also

• List of American films of 1965
• The Flight of the Phoenix, 1964 novel
• Flight of the Phoenix (2004 film)
• Lady Be Good (aircraft)
• Stunts that have gone wrong
• Paul Mantz

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Cox, Stephen. It's a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 2003. ISBN 1-58182-337-1.
• Eliot, Mark. Jimmy Stewart: A Biography. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-5221-1.
• Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
• The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page. The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page. Retrieved: February 18, 2007.
• Jones, Ken D., Arthur F. McClure and Alfred E. Twomey. The Films of James Stewart. New York: Castle Books, 1970.
• Munn, Michael. Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind The Legend. Fort Lee, New Jersey: Barricade Books Inc., 2006. ISBN 1-56980-310-2.
• Pickard, Roy. Jimmy Stewart: A Life in Film. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. ISBN 0-312-08828-0.
• Robbins, Jhan. Everybody's Man: A Biography of Jimmy Stewart. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1985. ISBN 0-399-12973-1.
• Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0810842441.
• Thomas, Tony. A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8065-1081-1.

External links

• The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Flight of the Phoenix at AllRovi