Flight of the Phoenix, The

USA 1965, 136 minutes
Dir. Robert Aldrich
Rating: [PG]
Genres: Classics, Action/Adventure, Suspense/Crime

Feat. James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Kruger, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Ronald Fraser, Christian Marquand, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy

Aroview: One of the great survival-adventure films has an all-star cast crash landing their cargo plane deep in the Sahara, with no obvious means of escape.

Excellently low-key, with stereotypes gradually giving way to memorable characters struggling with their fears and weaknesses - Stewart, Attenborough, Finch and Kruger all stand out. Dir. Aldrich keeps things tense as only one possible solution emerges - try to build a new plane from bits of wreckage...