Flight of the Phoenix

A few weeks ago I watched Flight of the Phoenix, a 1965 adventure movie based on the novel of the same name. I found the movie to be very strong, extremely underrated on the whole and with Jimmy Stewart as the star, a fantastic movie.

The movie begins with Frank Towns flying a cargo plane across the top of Africa to land in Benghazi, Libya. Towns played by Jimmy Stewart is a veteran pilot, grizzled and a bit surly, one gets the sense there is a backstory for the man. His navigator is the Richard Attenborough played Lew Moran. Getting caught in a sandstorm Towns is forced to crash land in the middle of nowhere. Much worse having attempted to evade the storm they are one hundred miles off course and so not in the path of any would be searchers.

With one man severely injured and two dead Towns is racked with grief. The survivors are a motley lot. Oil field workers, British soldiers, and others involved in the oil industry including an accountant and a company Doctor. Also among the survivors is a rude, arrogant, German aeronautics engineer. Eventually he approaches Towns by saying he can create an aircraft out of the viable remains of the plane that crashed.

As time passes and the water and supplies run dangerously low Towns, who had been against any cannibalization of his aircraft thinking it could not be done, agrees to the plan. He is convinced by Moran that even if it will not work the survivors need to believe in something while they await being found.

The movie follows a fairly predictable path from there. Personality conflicts, the loss of a man here and there until eventually the plane is ready. With a limited amount of starter cartridges to fire the plane there is a real danger all the work will come to naught. On the eve of the test Towns and Moran discover that their German engineer is aero engineer of model aircraft. Incredulous they realize they have no choice but to keep their own counsel and move forward. This is a last attempt at survival.

It will not be giving anything away to say that of course eventually they are successful, Jimmy Stewart does not often die in his movies, but the movie does do a good job of building suspense and introducing us to characters that are credible and worthy of our care and investment.

The movie is filmed wonderfully, the desert scenes, the endless blue skies. The grizzled, unshaven, sweaty survivors leave no doubt of where they are and have been, this is no pleasure cruise. A wonderfully filmed and executed movie. Perfect for a long snowy Saturday afternoon.

The Great Escape

This 1963 movie tells the tale of a mass escape from a prisoner of war camp in WWII. It is an excellent movie. Based on a true story the movie has a very strong cast and is the traditional male hero movie. Tellingly however as it is from 1963 they convey the urgency of the escape without bombs, limbs being blown off and cursing.

I know the world was a different place then but I challenge anybody to find me a war movie made in the last twenty years with all those modern tools at their disposal which is as good as this.

As the movie begins a new group of POW's is arriving at the camp. Greeted by the Commander in charge he tells them that all of them have long records of escape attempts and that they should cease these efforts as the camp is escape proof and in fact they all were sent to this camp to " put all the bad apples in one bunch" in a camp designed to protect against escape.

James Donald playing Admiral Ramsey, the Sr Officer in the Camp reminds him that is the duty of all officers to attempt to escape. The Commandant does not agree but it is also clear that he is a man of honor and understand the challenges both sides face. Soon a Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett is brought into camp by Gestapo Agents. As he has been the leader of several large escape attempts he has been interrogated and marked by the Gestapo to no avail. They have brought him to this camp to be held but the Commandant is advised to keep him separate from the other prisoners. The Commandant does not respect the Gestapo, finds them distasteful in fact and does not hide the fact. He does not follow the instructions and places Bartlett with the regular troops.

Soon enough a plan to escape is set up. Not just a single escape or two but a large scale attempt involving over 250 officers. This requires the digging of tunnels and all of the secrecy and effort this takes.

The cast in this movie is incredibly strong. Richard Attenborough as Squadron Leader Bartlett, James Garner is incredibly strong in his role as Flight Lt RAF Handley and Steve McQueen as Virgil Hilts an American from the USAF, who is known as the Cooler King for all of his time spent in isolation for infractions.

The movie is very good. Very strong. Interestingly, at least for me it does not end the way I anticipated as I watched it. This movie does not have a cookie cutter ending.

The Great Escape is a Great Movie