History Film / TheFlightOfThePhoenix1965

* TheAlcoholic: Lew is the navigator, and has a drink while they are in the air. Later Capt. Towns accuses him of being drunk the night before the flight and skipping the preliminary checklist - which is why they didn't have a working radio.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Trucker Cobb is being flown to Benghazi after suffering a mental breakdown, and his grip on reality slips further and further after the crash. He tells the others that Captain Harris has invited him to go on his attempt to walk to civilisation; when the alarmed Towns tells Harris that Cobb is in no state to go anywhere, a confused Harris says he hasn't even spoken to Cobb.
* ConflictBall: As in the page quote, Dorfmann just starts telling Captain Towns that he's stupid for no obvious reason.

''The Flight of the Phoenix'' is a 1965 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film of the 1964 book of the same name by Elleston Trevor]] directed by Robert Aldrich. A twin engine Fairchild C-82 piloted by Frank Towns (Creator/JimmyStewart) with navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) is flying from Jebel to Benghazi in eastern Libya with a dozen passengers aboard. They include two British soldiers, Captain Harris (Peter Finch) and Sergeant Watson (Ronald Fraser), who are hitching a ride on Towns' plane; eight Arabco oil company employees comprising six riggers who include sardonic Scotsman "Ratbags" Crow (Ian Bannen) and muscular American Mike Bellamy (George Kennedy), an accountant, Standish (Dan Duryea), and a foreman, "Trucker" Cobb (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), who has suffered a mental breakdown and is accompanied by a doctor, Renaud (Christian Marquand); and Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Kruger), a German civilian who was visiting his Arabco-employed brother in Jebel.

* TheAlcoholic: Lew is the co-pilot, and has a drink while they are in the air. Later Capt. Towns accuses him of being drunk the night before the flight and skipping the preliminary checklist - which is why they didn't have a working radio.

* HonorBeforeReason: This is one of Captain Harris' defining character traits, and his application of it results in multiple senseless sacrifices.

* RulesLawyer:

** He remains determined to set off for Madara, a hundred miles away, on foot, insisting that it can only improve the chance the others will be rescued, even after Towns points out that the magnetic rock in the nearby mountains will render his compass useless while Lew notes that navigating by the stars is simply too imprecise and his right-handedness means that he will end up simply walking in a circle. Sure enough, Harris ends up back at the crash site a few days later, near death from dehydration and exhaustion, his companion from the expedition, Carlos, having died in the desert.

* SurvivorGuilt: Capt. Towns has this when he loses two people and one is gravely injured in the crash; as he is writing the crash report in his log book, he looks out of the cockpit window at the two graves the survivors dug for the casualties, then scribbles out his description of the sandstorm and simply writes "Pilot error" as the reason for the crash. The subsequent deaths of Cobb, Carlos, and Gabriele make his guilt steadily worse.

* DeadHandShot: Tassos and Bill, the riggers who are crushed to death by loose heavy equipment during the crash, each get one of these, with Tassos' hand lying near his smashed bouzouki and Bill's hand next to the issue of ''Playboy'' he was reading before the crash.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Trucker Cobb]] dies of thirst about a third of the way into the film after running off into the desert without even taking a canteen.
* TheExtremistWasRight: Dorfmann has a chance to boast when his insistence that a full-size plane and a model are built with the same proportions, and will therefore have the same result during flight.

* {{Leitmotif}}: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VtzM16bxvk "Lilliburlero March"]], a marching tune attributed to Henry Purcell but believed to be of ultimately Irish origin, is used as a theme for Captain Harris due to its association with the British Army.[[note]] Aldrich would use "Lilliburlero" as a leitmotif for the British Army again in his 1970 film ''Too Late the Hero''.[[/note]]

* OhCrap: Watson gets a big moment of this when Dorfmann shouts to the others that Harris has returned from his failed expedition, half-dead... which Watson already knows, as he found him several hours earlier but decided not to tell anyone (which Harris knows, as he saw Watson when the latter came over to investigate). As the other passengers run to Harris' aid, Watson closes his eyes in despair and rolls over in his bunk, clearly aware that his life is about to get very difficult.

* SurvivorGuilt: Capt. Towns has this when he loses two people and one is gravely injured in the crash.

* UpperClassTwit: This is Sgt. Watson's assessment of all army officers, including Capt. Harris; he describes them as "toffee-nosed imbeciles".

''The Flight of the Phoenix'' is a 1965 [[TheFilmOfTheBook film of the 1964 book of the same name by Elleston Trevor]]. A twin engine Fairchild C-82 piloted by Frank Towns (Creator/JimmyStewart) with navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) is flying from Jebel to Benghazi in eastern Libya with a dozen passengers aboard. They include two British soldiers, Captain Harris (Peter Finch) and Sergeant Watson (Ronald Fraser), who are hitching a ride on Towns' plane; eight Arabco oil company employees comprising six riggers who include sardonic Scotsman "Ratbags" Crow (Ian Bannen) and muscular American Mike Bellamy (George Kennedy), an accountant, Standish (Dan Duryea), and a foreman, "Trucker" Cobb (Creator/ErnestBorgnine), who has suffered a mental breakdown and is accompanied by a doctor, Renaud (Christian Marquand); and Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Kruger), a German civilian who was visiting his Arabco-employed brother in Jebel.

''The Flight of the Phoenix'' is a 1965 TheFilmOfTheBook about the crew and passengers of a downed plane in the Sahara desert who, once realizing that rescue is not coming, [[TheGreatRepair attempt to build a smaller airplane]] out of the remaining parts of their aircraft.

** Ratbags Crow is barely able to go for a single scene without making fun of one of the other castaways, most of whom do not find him nearly as funny as he finds himself (such as when he pretend flirts with an unamused Watson while asking him for a spanner; the latter tells Crow to knock it off). That said, while he's a pretty unsympathetic character (less so than Watson, maybe), unlike some of the others, he works very hard during the ordeal and never could be accused of cowardice or bringing any detriment to the group.

** Dorfmann has several particularly callous moments, and while [[JerkassHasAPoint he may be right]] in saying that Towns going after Cobb, whose insanity would have made him useless to the construction effort, is a fool's errand, or that Gabriele will not live long enough to see the Phoenix completed and so whether or not he can hold onto the wings is an academic concern, his method of delivering these opinions does not endear him to the other castaways. But as only he knows how to build the new plane, they are forced to grit their teeth and put up with his bluntness.

* RageBreakingPoint: Towns snaps after discovering that Harris and Renaud have had their throats cut by the nomads, and the camel they left behind was abandoned because it can't walk properly. He proceeds to empty the contents of Watson's service revolver into the camel, and when he returns to the Phoenix and an unrepentant Watson says, "He's dead, isn't he?", his anger at the sergeant's cowardice boils over and he knocks him to the ground with a single punch.

* RedShirt: Tassos and Bill, the unfortunate saps that get crushed by heavy equipment during the plane crash, are around for just long enough for us to learn that Tassos plays the bouzouki and Bill likes reading ''Playboy''. Carlos, the guy who gives Mike Bellamy his monkey in case he doesn't make it back, is also around for just long enough for us to learn that he and Ratbags are verbal sparring partners.

* ThereIsAGod: Standish, established early on as a practising Catholic (he makes the sign of the Cross during the crash and is fingering rosary beads when Towns tries to start the engine), sinks to his knees in a prayer of thanksgiving when the Phoenix starts successfully.

* AndStarring: Includes several levels of this. The opening credits begin as follows: "An Associates and Aldrich Company Production starring / JamesStewart / Richard Attenborough / Peter Finch / Hardy Kruger / Creator/ErnestBorgnine as Trucker Cobb / in ''The Flight of the Phoenix''". But Borgnine's credit is just the beginning - they continue with "Co-starring Ian Bannen / Ronald Fraser / Christian Marquand / Dan Duryea as Standish". And they're still not done, moving on to "Also starring George Kennedy / Gabriele Tinti / Alex Montoya". And that's still not the end, as they continue with "Featuring Peter Bravos / William Aldrich / and Barrie Chase as Farida". Worth noting, perhaps, that Bravos and Aldrich die in the crash immediately after the opening credits, and Chase only appears in a flashback/hallucination.

* GermanicEfficiency / ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder: When Dorfmann determines that enough pieces can be scavenged from the crashed aircraft to build a smaller model, he becomes almost obsessed with ensuring that construction proceeds to his specifications and on his schedule, and scarcely seems interested in the human cost to the other passengers. Such is his determination that he doesn't even crack a smile until the final scene of the film, when Towns makes a joke about the distance of an 1851 model aircraft flight being measured in metres or yards.
* TheGreatRepair: The main plot.

** Ratbags Crow is barely able to go for a single scene without making fun of one of the other castaways, most of whom do not find him nearly as funny as he finds himself (such as when he pretend flirts with an unamused Watson while asking him for a spanner; the latter tells Crow to knock it off). That said, while he's a pretty unsympathetic character (less so than Watson, maybe), it should be noted that unlike some of them, Crow worked very hard during the ordeal and never could be accused of cowardice. Or bringing any detriment to the group.

* FloatingHeadSyndrome: The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Flight_of_the_Phoenix_%281965%29.jpg DVD release cover]].

* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:Gabriel, the injured worker, and Trucker Cobb.]]
* MisplacedNamesPoster: The DVD cover.

* RedShirt: The unfortunate saps that get crushed by heavy equipment during the plane crash and [[spoiler:Carlos, the guy who gives Mike Bellamy his monkey in case he doesn't make it back.]]

** [[ViolentGlaswegian Ratbags Crow]] spends most of the film poking fun at the other characters in ways he alone seems to find amusing, starting by telling Standish as the latter disappears into the plane's toilet before the crash, "Not while the train's in the station!" That said, while he's a pretty unsympathetic character (less so than Watson, maybe), it should be noted that unlike some of them, Crow worked very hard during the ordeal and never could be accused of cowardice. Or bringing any detriment to the group.

** Ratbags Crow is barely able to go for a single scene without making fun of one of the other castaways, most of whom do not find him nearly as funny as he finds himself (such as when he pretend flirts with an unamused Watson while asking him for a spanner; the latter tells Crow to knock it off).

* BedouinRescueService: Subverted - the nomads prove to be hostile.

* GermanicEfficiency / ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder: Dorfmann

* RedShirt: [[spoiler:The unfortunate saps that get crushed by heavy equipment during the plane crash and Carlos, the guy who gives George Kennedy his monkey in case he doesn't make it back.]]

* AllGermansAreNazis: Subverted in that Dorfmann says he wasn't involved in the war and no one has a problem with that. He does get called a Nazi once in the film, though.

* CloudCuckoolander: Trucker Cobb.

* DeadpanSnarker: Ratbags Crow (and how!). He also doubles as a ViolentGlaswegian.
** Although Crow is a pretty unsympathetic character (less so than Watson, maybe), it should be noted that unlike some of them, Crow worked very hard during the ordeal and never could be accused of cowardice. Or bringing any detriment to the group.

--> '''Towns:''' I said, are you trying to be funny?
--> '''Dorfmann:''' That is precisely the reaction I would have expected from a man of your obvious limitations.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Trucker Cobb.]]

* FanserviceExtra: The above belly dancing trope. The hallucination is the only woman in the entire movie, and was advertised on the poster despite her one-minute scene.

* {{Jerkass}}: Quite a few have their moments, but Ratbags Crow stands out as the biggest.

* OneBulletLeft: In both versions of ''The Flight of the Phoenix'', they have 5 cartridges to start the rebuilt plane's engine - the first three times it stalls, the fourth cartridge is expended to clean out the cylinders, and the last one works perfectly.
* OnlySaneMan: Lew in his best moments, negotiates the conflicting egos of Towns and Dorfmann.

* AndStarring: Includes several levels of this. The opening credits begin as follows: "An Associates and Aldrich Company Production starring / JamesStewart / Richard Attenborough / Peter Finch / Hardy Kruger / ErnestBorgnine as Trucker Cobb / in ''The Flight of the Phoenix''". But Borgnine's credit is just the beginning - they continue with "Co-starring Ian Bannen / Ronald Fraser / Christian Marquand / Dan Duryea as Standish". And they're still not done, moving on to "Also starring George Kennedy / Gabriele Tinti / Alex Montoya". And that's still not the end, as they continue with "Featuring Peter Bravos / William Aldrich / and Barrie Chase as Farida". Worth noting, perhaps, that Bravos and Aldrich die in the crash immediately after the opening credits, and Chase only appears in a flashback/hallucination.

* MuaveShirt: [[spoiler:Gabriel, the injured worker, and Trucker Cobb.]]

* OnlySaneMan: Lew in his best moments, negotiates the conflicting egoes of Towns and Dorfmann.

'''''The Flight of the Phoenix''''' is a 1965 TheFilmOfTheBook about the crew and passengers of a downed plane in the Sahara desert who, once realizing that rescue is not coming, [[TheGreatRepair attempt to build a smaller airplane]] out of the remaining parts of their aircraft.

* BellyDancer: Sgt. Watson Hallucinates about one he saw once.

** Although Crow is a pretty unsympathetic character (Less so than Watson, maybe), it should be noted that unlike some of them, Crow worked very hard during the ordeal and never could be accused of cowardice. Or bringing any detriment to the group.
* DirtyCoward: Sgt. Watson. [[spoiler:He [[KarmaHoudini survives,]] too.]]

* OneBulletLeft: In both versions of The Flight of the Phoenix, they have 5 cartridges to start the rebuilt plane's engine - the first three times it stalls, the fourth cartridge is expended to clean out the cylinders, and the last one works perfectly.

* GermanicEfficiency: Hermann

[[caption-width-right:220:Poster for the 1965 film]]