Flight of the Phoenix
Cast: | James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Finch, George Kennedy |
A good-time old style Hollywood adventure, complete with an ensemble cast of grizzled blue collar heroes, a battle against the odds and with nothing to prove except tell a crackling good story, the equivalent of the airport novel of the day.
Stewart leads a troupe of macho but scared plane crash survivors who have to try to build a plane out of the wreck of the one they went down in to escape certain death is an unforgiving desert. With starvation, thirst and the frightening locals to deal with, the clock is ticking. Plus with a small number of characters, we have the time to invest emotionally with each of them, drawing us closer in to their plight.