Flight Of The Phoenix
Action, Adventure, Drama
20th Century Fox  (2004) 113 mins PG-13

6.0 (14,825 votes)
After losing their jobs on an oil field in the Mongolian desert, a group of workers must survive a plane crash in the desert. Led by pilot Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid) these men and one woman must survive the grueling heat and dangerous sand storms in desperate hope of making it home alive. After several days, the group realizes they will not be rescued and, with the prodding of odd duck Elliott (Giovanni Ribisi), decide to try and build a plane out of the wreckage. Fancying himself a miracle engineer, Elliott designs the plane and supervises the group on their dangerous quest to fly themselves out of the desert using only a wrecked plane and their spirits....

Play
Cast and Crew
Tony Curran  ......  Rodney
Miranda Otto  ......  Kelly
Dennis Quaid  ......  Frank Towns
Giovanni Ribisi  ......  Elliott
Kirk Jones  ......  Jeremy
Jacob Vargas  ......  Sammi
Director  .....  John Moore
Producer  .....  John Davis; William Aldrich; Alex Blum; Wyck Godfrey
Writer  .....  Scott Frank; Edward Burns; Lukas Heller
Cinematography  .....  Donal Caulfield
Musician  .....  Marco Beltrami
Notes
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When speaking to Elliot, Captain Towns refers to the engine as having "more than 2,000 pounds of thrust". The C-119 has reciprocating radial engines, which are not rated in pounds of thrust as jet engines are. The C-119 had either the Pratt & Whitney R-4360-20 engine producing 3,500 Horsepower, or the Wright Cyclone 3350-85 engine producing 2,500 horsepower. No professional pilot would confuse the two. (more)

Trivia:
The model used for the crash sequence cost $250,000 and was so perfectly built it actually flew further than the crew and testing had predicted. In fact it flew so far it hit the camera filming it and broke the cameraman's leg. (more)

Filming Locations:
Africa (more)

Quotes:
Rady: Let me tell you a story. A rabbi and a priest attend a boxing match. They watch as the boxers come into the ring. The rabbi sees one of the boxers cross himself. So the rabbi turns to the priest and asks, ?What does that mean? The priest says, ?Not a damn thing if the man can't fight.? (more)

Awards:
2 nominations (more)