Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Adam Peters (78%) A true fight for survival classic with a super strong cast including the great Richard Attenborough, and a harsh real sense of the arid, and very deadly setting. The life and death politics dealing with those in charge and those that are not in an ever worsening situation is handled very well as the truth behind each character eventually rises to the surface for all to see. Overall it's a tad over long, and the pacing is a little slack, but the story is a great old yarn style fight for life, and the fine use of score with Connie Francis almost haunting the soundtrack makes for a must-watch recommendation for all ages from me.

Dark Jedi A good old adventure movie from back in the days when Hollywood knew how to make them. I did not have any movies left on my to-watch shelf, at least none that I felt like watching, yesterday evening and I spotted that this one was given on Cine+ Classic so I decided to go for it.James Stewart was never one of my really favorite actors but he is still one of the more enjoyable old Hollywood stars and it is always fun to watch some of the old bunch. Since it is a fairly old movie it is refreshingly free of hysterical shouting and foul language for no good reason. When people argue in this movie they actually say something using actual arguments. Do not take me wrong, I do not mind the use of foul language in movies but not when it is just to shock or to cover up the lack of intelligent script.I am not sure that I buy in too much on the basic plot in the movie. To rip apart a plane and put it together again using only the material available at the crash site seems a bit too far out for me. There are also a few holes in it like that they where worried that everyone would have the strength left to finish the work but then several of them would cling onto the wing of an airplane using only their hands. Even with the improvised windshield that is rather ludicrous.If one can overlook that it is not a bad story though and with the good old-fashioned performance of the actors in it I quite enjoyed my 140 minute long sitting in front of the TV-screen yesterday.

Tad Pole . . . who is NOT one of Hitler's best buddies, for a change. In fact, the main antagonist of Stewart's WWII veteran pilot character Frank Towns in THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX just happens to be a German, who misrepresents himself. Sniffing trouble, Towns fights this pesky Kraut every step of the way, since EVERYONE WOULD DIE if this was based on a TRUE story. However, greatly detracting from the effect of this tale is Hollywood's insistence that the Nazis, the Confederates, and the Commies are all simply misunderstood peoples with hearts of gold who can out-think true American heroes any day of the week. It is somewhat puzzling that Brig. Gen. James Stewart, a red-blooded Yankee war great in real life, would have consented to play the brow-beaten Frank Towns character here, let alone the Benedict Arnold of the Skies in his earlier pilot flick, THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS. Obviously, Mr. Stewart was a better fighter than a script reader. Either that, or the military's cheap pay scale forced him to take roles beyond his true character just for the sake of getting a paycheck.

vincentlynch-moonoi I guess I'm on the short end of the stick here. I'm not at all a fan of this movie. I remember watching it on one of the network movie nights at least 30 years ago, and I thought it to be very boring. Now in 2013 I watched it again, and while I may appreciate it slightly more, I still think it's boring. And why? One simple reason -- virtually the entire film takes place on just one set -- the crashed airplane. And, that one-scene locked in feeling makes almost any film boring...at least to me.And it's too bad. The film had a lot going for it, particularly in terms of its cast. The key star here is Jimmy Stewart, who was aging very well in movies, and his acting here is superb. Hardy Kruger, an extremely handsome German actor, is just wonderful as the aviation designer who wants to rebuild the crashed plane and fly out of the desert. Richard Attenborough is fine as the co-pilot. Peter Finch is appropriately annoying as the British officer. Ernest Borgnine is good as the oil worker who had a nervous breakdown. It's nice seeing Dan Duryea in a role where he's not the bad guy! And George Kennedy plays the same role he always plays...George Kennedy. It's a great cast.The plot, overall, is okay. But unlike what you might think -- a plane crashes and they rebuild it and fly out of the desert -- it's not an action film. The action is restricted to about5 minutes in the beginning and 10 minutes in the end. It really comes down to who will survive and who will die, and make no mistake -- it's not a happy ending since many die. Who dies first is a bit of a surprise. This movie is a character study.