The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

In Robert Aldrich's adventure drama and disaster film (the first of a wave of star-studded disaster films to come in the next decade and a half) about a disabled plane's crash landing in the North African desert and the struggle for survival - remade by director John Moore as Flight of the Phoenix (2004), a second-rate effort starring Dennis Quaid:

• the opening sequence: the devastating crash of a twin-engine, chartered cargo plane (for the Middle East Arabco oil company) piloted by guilt-ridden veteran Capt. Frank Towns (James Stewart), a stubborn old-school pilot, into an isolated area of the Sahara Desert during a sandstorm enroute to Benghazi, Libya; it was carrying 14 men, including oil-rig workers and two British Army officers, and alcoholic British co-pilot navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough); after the crash, there were only 12 survivors (and a seriously injured Gabriel (Gabriele Tinti))
• the initial efforts to trek out of the desert by brave British Army officer Capt. Harris (Peter Finch), unstable oil-rig foreman Trucker Cobb (Ernest Borgnine), and Carlos (Alex Montoya) - the latter two died during the attempt to march out
• the hopeful plans to rebuild a sleeker, single-engine version of the plane (dubbed "The Phoenix") by German Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Kruger), an aeronautical technical engineer who claimed he was an airplane designer
• the dreamy experience of an hallucinatory mirage-like image - seductive and exotic Berber dancer Farida (Barrie Chase) who materialized out of the desert sands
• and later, the film's subtle plot twist -- the devastating revelation to Moran and Towns that Dorfmann only had experience in building model or toy planes ("The biggest I've personally designed is the Jaeger 250"); he was directly confronted by Moran: ("How much designing have you done on the real thing?") - and he answered bluntly: "Oh, no, no, no. You misunderstand. We make nothing but model aeroplanes" - although he then assured them: "Full-size, no. But then, of course, the principles are the same"; they hadn't been lied to or deceived, but had exaggerated in their own minds his earlier claims: Moran: "He didn't keep anything from us. He really doesn't think there's any difference"; shortly later, Moran laughed hysterically and despairingly after realizing the dire implications of Dorfmann's words

The Nerve-Wracking Plane Starter Sequence and Triumphant Flight Out of the Desert

• the nerve-wracking climax - when Towns attempted to start the plane with only seven starter cartridges remaining - with each one failing until one succeeded, and their triumphant flight out of the desert by lying on the wings