The High And The Mighty (1954)

There are 94 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 112,960 times. The latest Post () was by lasbugas.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login

    I thought that it was a little too long. Spent a lot of time with everybody's personal issues. But other then that, a really good movie! Duke did a great job!

    I watched this the other night, and had to laugh,
    at what modern day Health & Safety would have made of it all!!
    Leonard Maltlin on his introduction said it was 'quaint'
    and quaint it was!!


    When I first reviewed the movie, like everyone else
    I was pleased to see it released and judged it on it's merits,
    however.....
    Some of the things that made me smile:


    There they all were smoking away on the flight deck
    and at one point Duke even tossed his cigarette on the floor
    and doused it with his foot, something we would find unimaginable now,
    but wow, wasn't this aircraft leaking fuel!!


    No safety drill on the plane prior to take off
    and then inflating their life jackets, whilst sat in the cabin!!


    A passenger took a loaded revolver on board!


    The passengers, looked a little riled with
    the fact that they may all drown in the sea.
    but on the whole they seemed quite calm with it all!!
    Claire Trevor was even wearing a cocktail dress!!


    Why did they all sit together when the plane was so empty,
    they could have a had a row each!


    Lots of things added to make the film to me almost a comedy,
    but to cap it all, was when they landed.
    After all the traumas, they all got off the plane
    as if they were just a little delayed!!
    No medical crew at hand to assist,
    with any emotional, physical, or psychological problems,
    just a load of paparazzi hassling the passengers,
    with at one stage a fight breaking out, with
    a passenger and photographer.
    That's all a passenger needs, after what he'd been through.


    This is the one for me though!!
    As the crew get off the plane they are met, not greeted by the boss,
    who looked as if he was more put out by the palne being late and damaged.
    The crew then, one by one, more or less said
    'I'm beat I'm off home', as if nothing had happened!!
    Then Duke, just strolls off into the fog 'whistling'
    as if it was the end of just another day


    Hope you don't mind me sharing these 'quaint' things with you?

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 13 times, last by ethanedwards ().

    OK, let's see if I can get this right this time . . . :wink_smile:


    Too bad all you folks don't live closer, as The High and the Mighty is going to be shown where I work, the San Francisco International Airport, in their museum, two weeks from tonight.


    Here is their flyer. . . .


    Well, we did make it to the above-referenced showing of THatM. There were about 80 available seats, and about 60 people in attendance. It would seem most folks were there in support of the San Francisco Aeronautical Society rather than because they were John Wayne fans, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the opportunity to see the film on a big(ger) screen than at home.


    We hadn't watched the movie since its release to DVD six years ago, and back then, we were watching it for the first time ever, so it was almost like watching it anew again.


    We especially appreciated Keith's most recent observations about the film, particularly about the quaintness of it! We could hear members of the audience remarking on some of the things (especially the smoking!!). There were many guffaws when the Sidney Blackmer character pulled the revolver out of his pocket as casually as if it were a stick of gum, and even the other passenger's responses to it.


    It certainly was a precursor of future disaster movies, where they give you all the information you could ever want about the different individuals' lives and personalities and fears and weaknesses and hopes and dreams.


    It was pretty amazing how Duke's character sits down with the passengers and calmly explains what's happening, what to expect, and how they will handle things. Nowadays, there would be a voice booming over the speaker, with the passengers possibly never having seen the pilot, and on this plane, both the pilot and co-pilots were walking through the plane several times.


    Probably not in our 'top ten' of John Wayne movies, but certainly enjoyable nonetheless. We did come home and pop in the DVD and watch the special features (the Mrs. is a real "special features" junkie). A lot of interesting things about the film and the director William Wellman.


    As a side note, I wore one of my western shirts and my vest (left the hat, the horse and the holster at home :wink_smile:), and not one person at the film picked up at all on it, but when we were taking the Air-train back to the parking garage, one of the passengers on the train was quick to point out my resemblance to John Wayne. Go figure!


    Anyway . . . a "good time had by all!"

    Glad you enjoyed yourselves, Jim. I'm like you, I enjoy the film when I see it, but it's neither High or Mighty on my list of favorites. :))):


    But that said, I would have had to go see it on the big screen as well. I've only seen The Shootist at the theater and would love to see more Duke films that way if the chance arrives.


    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

    I have one of those Kindle e-readers. The one I have is the Fire and you can watch movies on it. I also belong to Amazon Prime, which allows me to download certain movies at no charge. Just recently, I downloaded The High And The Mighty and I found it a joy to watch, even on a small screen. I wore my headhpones to get a better sound quality and as I said, it was enjoyable to watch the movie. First time I had seen it since it came out on video.

    Quote from WaynamoJim

    I have one of those Kindle e-readers. The one I have is the Fire and you can watch movies on it. I also belong to Amazon Prime, which allows me to download certain movies at no charge. Just recently, I downloaded The High And The Mighty and I found it a joy to watch, even on a small screen. I wore my headhpones to get a better sound quality and as I said, it was enjoyable to watch the movie. First time I had seen it since it came out on video.


    I had never seen it until I got a John Wayne box set it was in and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm amazed it's been overlooked for so long as there are plenty of other Duke films which are well known that aren't as good as this!

    "Pour yourself some backbone and shut up!"

    Quote from Dooley

    I had never seen it until I got a John Wayne box set it was in and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm amazed it's been overlooked for so long as there are plenty of other Duke films which are well known that aren't as good as this!


    Unfortunately it wasn't available for almost fifty years until Batjac released it a few years ago.


    An interesting fate of the actual plane used in the movie, I've re-posted from Keith's original post from IMDB, as follows;


    "The actual DC-4 aircraft used to film the passenger boarding and flying sequences was a former military surplus Douglas C-54A-10-DC built in 1944. When filmed, the aircraft (then registered as N4726V) was being operated by Transocean Airlines for whom the film's author, Ernest K. Gann, had flown these planes over the Hawaii-California routes. Known as the "The Argentine Queen," before being acquired by Transocean in 1953 it had been the personal aircraft of Argentine dictator Juan Domingo Perón. Ironically, a little more than a decade after appearing in the film this aircraft and the nine persons on board were lost on March 28, 1964, when the plane was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean about 700 miles west of San Francisco. The plane was about eight hours into a charter flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles when the pilot reported a serious fire in engine #2. The Coast Guard searched for the aircraft for five days but no trace of it was ever found."


    Chester :newyear:

    Jim,
    I read with interest your views on the showing of the film,
    and how the live audience reacted to some of funny things
    that happened, the same way as I did.


    However disappointing to see that they did not recognize
    Duke amongst their ranks!

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Quote from ethanedwards

    Jim,
    I read with interest your views on the showing of the film,
    and how the live audience reacted to some of funny things
    that happened, the same way as I did.


    However disappointing to see that they did not recognize
    Duke amongst their ranks!


    Well, San Francisco is not known for having a high percentage of Duke fans per thousand, so I wasn't too surprised. :wink_smile:


    Chester :newyear:

    Great picture. I love this board and it's members who continue to share their collection with the other members here. Thanks ever so much!


    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "