The Flight of the Phoenix

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The Flight of the Phoenix

1965,

2h 27m,

Adventure

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Watchlist

90%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

21 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Tense tale about a group of men who are left stranded in the middle of the Arabian desert after a plane crash. Their only hope of survival is to rebuild the craft so that, phoenix-like, she may fly again and carry them to safety, but can the captain and navigator calm the passengers as tension mounts and time starts to run out?

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

May 3, 2005

B+

Gets exciting mileage out of examining male codes of honor and behavior.

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Pauline Kael

McCall's

Sep 20, 2023

Are there people to whom a movie like this is new? Are we being snobbish and thoughtless if we groan? I don’t think so: even to those who haven’t grown up and beyond this kind of movie, it can never be fresh.

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Judith Crist

New York Herald Tribune

Aug 15, 2022

The framework is there, ready for all the clichés of the desert-survival story, but somehow each expected cliché never quite develops as one.

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Nov 6, 2020

6/10

A film that sparks my enthusiasm in some passages with a few effective performances from a cast lead by James Stewart, but somehow it's survival adventure leaves me in a state of detachment. [Full review in Spanish]

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Wendy Michener

Maclean's Magazine

Jun 27, 2019

It doesn't matter if the whole thing is improbable, because Aldrich keeps things moving, keeps up our interest in who will survive, and how.

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Christopher Machell

CineVue

Jan 16, 2017

5/5

It's not hard to see the appeal of Robert Aldrich's The Flight of the Phoenix, a riveting adventure film featuring an all-star cast headed by Jimmy Stewart and Richard Attenborough.

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Draco S

Apr 7, 2019

Without doubt one of the finest survivalist films ever made, and certainly makes a mockery of the appalling remake some 40 odd years later! Possibly 20 odd minutes overlong, and you do have to overlook some of the unrealistic expectations made from the plot - not least rebuilding a plane from existing materials etc. But the great thing about this film is how very character-driven it is. Stewart, Attenborough and Kruger excel, with good support from Finch, Bannen and Borgnine.

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Anakin P

Feb 27, 2019

Good overall movie and interesting to see how they came together to get out of the desert. Great cast too

Abraham S

Nov 18, 2018

Excellent character drama with fine performances an interesting plot and some suspense. Jimmy Stewart as charismatic as ever.

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Hermione S

Aug 14, 2017

The original flight of the Phoenix well deserves its *5* star rating. The other one is a copy with lots of things left out! But this movie is a *5* star Classic!!!!!

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Hagrid S

Apr 30, 2014

The beginning stalls, but the bulk of the movie lifts off well. Film about ceasing to measure what's in your pants in favor of doing what needs to be done, even if it means taking orders from someone you can't stand.

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Poe R

Aug 21, 2008

Nevermind the remake, this was the real deal. Stewart, Borgnine, Kennedy, Finch, Attenborough, Duryea etc. This was a solid cast of well selected actors for colorful roles. Robert Aldrich had a sense of what men film-goers expected from an epic, star studded ensemble cast, action/adventure film. He knew the formula very well. As always, James Stewart gives a very worthy performance as the pilot of the plane that crashes in the Sahara. His dialogue exchanges with Hardy Kruger are electrical. Kruger plays the agitated intellectual with honesty. The film never gets boring and holds up very well to this day. It's just gritty and genuine at heart.

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Robert Aldrich

Director

James Stewart

Frank Towns

Richard Attenborough

Lew Moran

Peter Finch

Captain Harris

Ernest Borgnine

Trucker Cobb

Ian Bannen

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Synopsis

Tense tale about a group of men who are left stranded in the middle of the Arabian desert after a plane crash. Their only hope of survival is to rebuild the craft so that, phoenix-like, she may fly again and carry them to safety, but can the captain and navigator calm the passengers as tension mounts and time starts to run out?

Director: Robert Aldrich
Producer: Robert Aldrich
Screenwriter: Lukas Heller
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: The Associates & Aldrich Company Inc.
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 15, 1965, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2015
Runtime: 2h 27m

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