The Flight Of The Phoenix [1965]

In Robert Aldrich's 'The Flight Of The Phoenix', based on Elleston Trevor's novel, a small plane carrying oil workers and military personnel crashes, stranding a group of survivors in the Sahara Desert. As the lethal heat and grating sand begin to take a toll on the group, the conscientious pilot, Frank Towns, struggles with his inability to lead the party to safety. Hope arises, however, when German aircraft designer Heinrich Dorfman begins to theorise about rebuilding the wreckage into a single-engine plane capable of lifting the crash victims to safety. Aldrich ('Kiss Me Deadly') opens his film with the pulsating tension (intercut with the opening credits) of Towns trying and cataclysmically failing to pilot his aircraft through a sandstorm, and from there the white-knuckle intensity never lets up. Boasting an intriguing cast - headed up by Stewart with a poignantly ragged-edged, heartfelt portrayal - and a taut story line, 'The Flight Of The Phoenix' is a powerful and psychologically penetrating thriller.