Survival and conflict in the desert
Robert Aldrich was a director whose films covered many genres, from big-all-star Hollywood studio films to comedies, thrillers, war pictures, and Westerns. His most famous are “The Dirty Dozen” and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” In “The Flight of the Phoenix,” Aldrich tells a story of survival — men stranded in the middle of nowhere with little hope of getting out alive.<br /><br /> A large transport plane carrying oil company employees and military men to a location in the Sahara Desert is forced to crash land by a violent sandstorm. The pilot, Capt. Frank Towns (James Stewart), and his right-hand man, Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough), realize that because the storm took them off course, no rescue party is coming for them. One of the passengers, German airplane engineer Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Kruger), says he knows how the men can fashion a workable plane from the disabled plane’s damaged parts.<br /><br />Towns is highly skeptical of Dorfmann’s plan and unwilling to cede control to him but ultimately concludes that activity and hope will keep up morale. Dorfmann directs the men as they cut, haul and weld parts of the aircraft. Initially dubious, the men nonetheless dedicate themselves to the task. With their supply of water and food diminishing, building Dorfmann’s makeshift plane is the only option left if they are to survive.<br /><br />Betrayals and resentments occur. The men are permitted only a single cup of water each day but things take a bleak turn when Towns discovers that Dorfmann has been taking extra rations of water. Dorfmann counters truthfully that he has been doing twice as much work as the others.<br /><br />The men are all, in one way or another, outcasts. Towns is an over-the-hill pilot nostalgic for his early days of flying, and his co-pilot, Moran, is a drunk. Cobb (Ernest Borgnine) is a trucker distraught that he will be forced out of his job because of mental exhaustion. Capt. Harris (Peter Finch) is an officious, stiff-upper-lip, by-the-book British commanding officer to the cowardly Sgt. Watson (Ronald Fraser). And Dorfmann is not the person he claims to be.<br /><br />Also in the cast are Ian Bannen, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy, Christian Marquand, Gabriele Tinti, Peter Bravos, Alex Montoya and, as a hallucinatory exotic dancing girl in the otherwise all-male cast, Barrie Chase.<br /><br />With most of the action confined to a single location, director Aldrich keeps the narrative moving by showcasing the arrogance, selfishness, deceitfulness, and cowardice that surface among the men during their ordeal. The main conflict is between Towns and Dorfmann, with Towns representing old-style top-down command and Dorfmann epitomizing new technological know-how, analytical planning, and almost clinical efficiency.<br /><br />Aldrich builds suspense as Dorfmann and the men gradually assemble a new plane from the rubble. Can it fly? Will it fly? And will it be sturdy enough to save every survivor? There is a great deal of dialogue, which allows us to know the characters and view them as more than plot points. Each man is an individual, none perfect, and each deals with his own form of character flaw. Their imperfection humanizes them and they become more than Hollywood stereotypes. Aldrich allows each character enough screen time to make an impression, and would use the same approach with his next film, “The Dirty Dozen.”<br /><br />“The Flight of the Phoenix” is longer than it should be but its excellent casting and smart direction hold our attention. The battle of wills between Towns and Dorfmann as to who is in charge is edgy and charged with tension, anchoring this action/thriller. Aldrich maintains suspense to the very end.<br /><br />Bonus material on the unrated Criterion Collection Blu-ray release include the following<br />Walter Hill and Alain Silver featurette<br />James Maitland Stewart: The Actor and the Bomber Pilot featurette<br />Theatrical trailer<br />Booklet featuring a critical essay<br /><br />“The Flight of the Phoenix” features characters that come from diverse backgrounds and cultures, and must learn to work together to have any hope of escaping the desert before their water runs out. It’s a race against time, with personalities in conflict. Though the film could have benefited from some judicious editing, it draws us in as these men must make life or death decisions.
The movie title "The Flight of the Phoenix (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.7 from 1698 reviewers. 
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 {"MPAA rating": "NR (Not Rated)", "Package Dimensions": "6.73 x 5.35 x 0.59 inches; 5.92 Ounces", "Director": "Robert Aldrich", "Media Format": "Blu-ray, Subtitled", "Release date": "March 22, 2022", "Actors": "James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Kruger, Ernest Borgnine", "Studio": "The Criterion Collection", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : A downed airplane is a motley group of men’s only protection from the relentless desert sun, in this psychologically charged disaster epic, one of the all-time great survival movies. James Stewart is the veteran pilot whose Benghazi-bound plane—carrying passengers played by an unshaven ensemble of screen icons including Richard Attenborough, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Dan Duryea, Peter Finch, and George Kennedy—crash-lands in the remote Sahara. As tensions simmer among the survivors, they find themselves forced to trust a coldly logical engineer (Hardy Krüger) whose plan to get them out may just be crazy enough to work—or could kill them all. Directed with characteristic punch by Hollywood iconoclast Robert Aldrich,.