Caps: "The High and the Mighty"(part 1)

[beaky]

Been awhile since I posted some stills from a classic aviation-themed movie... sure everyone is dying for another series...
Today's feature: The High and the Mighty, the first great "airliner in peril" movie, based on the book by Ernest Gann. It was shot in glorious cinemascope way back in 1954. Corny to today's audiences, but actually a decent story. And of course it has enough footage of classic airliners to get some of us drooling...




The real star of the picture is this sweet DC4, portrayed on an ill-fated trip from honolulu to san Fransisco, but good ol' John Wayne gets top billing:








Wayne, a mediocre actor but a helluva movie star, plays an overaged copilot, haunted by the terrible crash that cost him his captain's stripes and his wife and son ...









There are some terrific scenes of the "golden age" of airline travel... the aerial stuff was shot by none other than William Clothier, who was part of the production team on Howard Hughes' groundbreaking Wings.

















Things start out smoothly enough; here we see the crew enjoying a smoke (the stewardess is one of those types who's "quit" but keeps bumming a drag now and then). Robert Stack plays the captain who is not emotionally prepared for the emergency that awaits them; he is also well-known for spoofing this role many years later in Airplane!.





Next: Trouble!!

[flyboy 28]

Nice. A DC-6.

Why is he in the right seat though? Is he not the pilot?

[beaky]

Nice. A DC-6.

Why is he in the right seat though? Is he not the pilot?

Thought somebody would notice that...he's the copilot, but is seen sitting in the left seat during the preflight; not clear exactly why but it's all done in the movie so he can have a little "heartwarming moment" with the little kid who's waiting at the ramp and pretends to shoot him with his toy pistol.
Awwwww...
Anyway, his being the copilot despite his age and many hours (learned to fly for the Army in WWI!) is an important part of the story... like all the others, he undergoes a transformation during this misadventure, and overcomes something that's been dogging him (in his case, the death of his family in a crash where he was PIC).
To find out more, rent this movie! It's pretty cool.