The Flight of The Phoenix (1965)

The Flight of the Phoenix color still set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Producer-director Robert Aldrich and Twentieth Century-Fox flew The Flight of the Phoenix into movie theaters in 1965. James Stewart plays the veteran pilot, with Hardy Kruger as the abrasive airplane designer.

Elleston Trevor’s The Flight of the Phoenix Novel

The Flight of the Phoenix is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Elleston Trevor, a pen name for Trevor Dudley Smith (1920-1995). A taut thriller, the book begins: “The wind had flung the sand thirty thousand feet into the sky above the desert in a blinding cloud from the Niger to the Nile, and somewhere in it was the airplane.”

Following a review in Life magazine, several Hollywood agents tried to purchase the movie rights to Trevor’s fantastic novel, including one representing actor James Stewart. But eventually winning the bidding war was director Robert Aldrich, who then agreed to cast Stewart in the starring role.

Robert Aldrich Directs The Flight of the Phoenix

Lukas Heller penned the screenplay for The Associates & Aldrich Company. Robert Aldrich (Vera Cruz, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Dirty Dozen) produced and directed. Frank De Vol created the original music score and Joseph Biroc served as cinematographer.

James Stewart (Frank Towns), Richard Attenborough (Lew Moran), Peter Finch (Captain Harris) and Hardy Kruger (Heinrich Dorfmann) head the small cast. Other players are Ernest Borgnine (E. “Trucker” Cobb), Ian Bannen (”Ratbags” Crow), Ronald Fraser (Sergeant Watson), Christian Marquand (Dr. Renaud), Dan Duryea (Standish), George Kennedy (Mike Bellamy), Gabriele Tinti (Gabriel), Alex Montoya (Carlos), Peter Bravos (Tasso), William Aldrich (Bill), Barrie Chase (Farida) and Stanley Ralph Ross (Arab Singer).

Connie Francis delivers a wonderful rendition of “Senza Fine,” a romantic Italian ballad which emanates from Ernest Borgnine’s transistor radio.

The Flight of the Phoenix Filmed in Arizona and California  

The Flight of the Phoenix was filmed from April to August 1965 in Arizona (Buttercup Valley, Yuma) and California (Pilot Knobb and Imperial County). Principal props employed were three Fairchild C-82 Packet cargo planes and an experimental aircraft called the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1.

Filming went reasonably well until the morning of July 8, 1965, when Paul Mantz, a veteran pilot with over 25,000 flying hours, along with co-pilot Bobby Rose, took to the air. In order to simulate the Phoenix’s attempt to become airborne, Mantz had to guide the plane over cameras placed at opposite ends of Buttercup Valley. Although the first take was adequate, the director called for a second “insurance” take, with Mantz and Rose duly complying.

The second take proved disastrous, with the experimental plane’s landing skids catching a rough patch of ground. The Phoenix then broke apart and crashed, with Rose suffering a broken pelvis and left shoulder and Mantz killed instantly. The Federal Aviation Administration later determined that the plane’s airframe had failed due to overload stresses. The FAA also ruled that alcohol consumption by Mantz prior to the flight had contributed to the crash, impairing the 61-year-old stunt pilot’s “efficiency and judgment.”

With their lead stunt pilot dead and the Phoenix in shambles, the production company rented a vintage North American O-47 observation plane from the Ontario Air Museum, which was used to complete the flying sequences.

The Flight of the Phoenix: Survival in the Sahara Desert

The Flight of the Phoenix opens in North Africa, where a cargo plane owned by Arabco Oil takes off for Benghazi in northern Libya. Manning the aircraft are pilot Frank Towns and navigator Lew Moran, with a small group of company employees and two British Army personnel comprising the sparse passenger list.

A mammoth sandstorm soon engulfs the sky truck, crippling the engines and forcing Captain Towns to set down in the vast emptiness of the forbidding Sahara Desert. As the days pass by and rescue seems more remote, the survivors contemplate their options. Captain Harris, a by-the-book British officer, proposes that he and Sergeant Watson march their way out, producing a map which shows that the nearest water point is a “mere” 106 miles away.

Heinrich Dorfmann, a German aircraft designer, informs Captain Towns that they have all the necessary components to construct a new, smaller plane that can safely fly them back to civilization. A wary Towns reluctantly goes along with the idea, with construction getting underway.

Towns and Lew Moran later learn the truth about Dorfmann. The German works for NEU, a maker of model airplanes whose biggest design boasts of a wingspan of only two feet. “He’s crazy, Lew. The man builds toy airplanes,” Towns tells his friend, who then lapses into the hysterical laughter of a madman.

Dorfmann’s aeronautical creation, dubbed “The Phoenix” by Standish, is finally completed. With Frank Towns at the controls, Dorfmann directly behind him and the other passengers strapped onto the wings, the Phoenix’s single engine is finally ignited and the survivors brace themselves for take-off from their desert hell.

Release and Reviews

The Flight of the Phoenix opened in selected theaters on December 15, 1965, although many would not see it until 1966. The picture did not come to New York City until January 31, 1966, where it opened at the Astor Theater.

“…With the characters all being fellows of limited fascination, at best, who accumulate nothing as time passes except horrible sun blisters and beards, the attraction of being with them in their ordeal is miniscule. It’s as grim and implausible as being with Charlton Heston while he is doing that big interior decorating job in The Agony and Ecstasy,” reported a cranky Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (2/1/66).

“Robert Aldrich’s filmic translation of the Elleston Trevor book is an often-fascinating and superlative piece of filmmaking highlighted by standout performances and touches that show producer-director at his best,” observed Variety.

The Flight of the Phoenix Oscar Nominations, Trivia, DVD

• Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Ian Bannen), Best Film Editing (Michael Luciano).
• Over 400 people attended the funeral for stunt pilot Paul Mantz, including James Stewart and World War II flying legend Jimmy Doolittle. Mantz is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
• A tribute to Paul Mantz is carried at the end of the picture: “It should be remembered…that Paul Mantz, a fine man and a brilliant flyer gave his life in the making of this film…”
• James Stewart served as a bomber pilot with the U.S. Eighth Air Force during World War II.
• Flight of the Phoenix was remade in 2004 with Dennis Quaid as Frank Towns. The setting was Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
• On DVD: The Flight of the Phoenix (20th Century-Fox, 2003).

“I’ve lost five men, Lew. Gabriel in there, he’s on the way, that’ll be six. Are you asking me to try to kill the rest of them trying to get a deathtrap off the ground?” James Stewart tells Richard Attenborough.

Not an easy decision…