At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

You'll enjoy this movie even if you haven't seen "Airplane". But if you enjoy "Airplane" you'll see the setups for the jokes contained in "Airplane".

. . . though Doe Avedon ("Miss Spalding") does not mention this fact when she's interviewed for a nine-minute "extra" on the first DVD release for THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY called STORIES FROM THE SET. In Real Life, Dorcas Marie Nowell's dad was a butler for some New York Rich People. Since Pops Nowell died when she was 12, the Rich People raised her and helped her to get a position where the famous photographer Richard Avedon spotted and married her (changing her first name to "Doe," because her eyes reminded him of BAMBI's). When Dick tried to make Doe into a Super Model, she found this was too strenuous (and humiliating, when one of Dick's friends wrote the play FUNNY FACE about her), so she dumped him (but kept his pet name and surname), took up stage acting until she married a co-star, had a couple movie roles, retired, but had to return to the Big Screen when her husband rolled their car and killed himself as they drove back from Hollywood to the East Coast. Doe only acted in FIVE films, none of which were as notable as THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY. She does not even say in her interview here whether she ever "stewed" in Real Life to make ends meet, but at least she was able to raise four kids with her third husband.

The first thing that struck me as the film began was how comfortable the airplane looked and how personable the airline personnel were. And while those may be exaggerated, this film was made just about the year I took my first airplane ride, and I remember flying being a lot more enjoyable back then. Instead of the rude airline personnel you are likely to meet now and the cramped seats. Ah well.What more needs to be said than that John Wayne was John Wayne in this film! It is interesting that in the earlier scenes of the film, his role is somewhat secondary as the co-pilot; as the crisis deepens, the focus shifts to him...a wise script and director! Claire Trevor as a passenger is fine. Laraine Day is convincing as an angry millionaire getting ready to divorce her husband, although I'm more used to seeing her as a sympathetic character. Robert Stack has never been one of my favorites, and this may be the only film (or television show) that I ever saw him in where I actually liked his performance (as the airplane's captain). Jan Sterling as another passenger has a couple of impressive scenes. I don't quite buy Phil Harris as a sort-of middle-American country bumpkin; the part is overdone, and so is some of his acting; Ann Doran is a bit more acceptable as his wife; but the subplot of their misfortunes in Hawaii is good for a few laughs. Robert Newton as an actor...well, not sure it fit well here. David Brian, whom I always found as a pleasant character actor, has a decent role as a misaccused breaker-upper of a marriage. Paul Kelly has a role as a disillusioned scientist; he had only one screen performance after this one before his death. I usually enjoy the character actor Sidney Blackmer, but I did not find his performance here, as a jealous husband, very fulfilling. Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez as Gonzales, who was also in "Rio Bravo" a few years later, is here as an ham radio operator. John Howard is fairly good as the wife of Larraine Day. Wally Brown has a pretty good role as the plane's navigator. William Campbell is irrelevant as the plane's second officer. John Qualen, as he so often did, plays an accent-role...although this time it was Italian instead of Swedish...but with him it didn't seem like there was a lot of difference...but he was always a fine addition to a film (as in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" with John Wayne). It's nice to see Paul Fix in a sympathetic character...a man dying. Regis Toomey is here as an operations manager -- a fine actor underused. Doe Avedon does nicely as the flight attendant, though I was not at all familiar with her. John Smith is a newlywed husband; was there ever a man more handsome? There are a couple of interesting small roles in the film. William Hopper, who played Paul Drake on television's Perry Mason has a brief role at a cabin. Carl Switzer -- Alfalfa -- has a role as a Coast Guard flier; this film was made 5 years before his tragic death in an argument.In terms of the story, this was the granddaddy of all the disaster pics, and I was reminded of how similar the formula was for Dean Martin's "Airport" in 1970. Each passenger had his or her own story, and each got his or her screen time. Quite nicely done. Stack plays the pilot who sort of chickens out, allowing Wayne to dominate the later parts of the film. The one thing that was just plain wrong was the little boy; I doubt any little boy would sleep the entire flight from Honolulu to San Francisco; and, despite thinking they would crash into the ocean, they put a float device on him (during which he still didn't wake up), but didn't fasten a seat belt. That's illogical.This is a true classic, and one of the films I most remember John Wayne for; guess that was all those showings on network television. Highly recommended.

This is a great movie. A passenger plane embarks on a routine flight from Hawaii to San Francisco, and then suddenly one of the engines blows up and the plane is leaking fuel. Soon it becomes apparent to the crew that they may not have enough fuel to reach land and that they may have to ditch the plane in the ocean which would mean certain death for all aboard because they are flying at night and the ocean waters are rough. Soon the passengers are frankly informed of the situation and of the possibility that the plane may have to ditch in the ocean, and now realizing that they all may die, they begin to openly discuss their own mortality. As a result, the passengers learn about their co-passengers and more about themselves. The ones who at first seem the strongest are soon shown to be the most fragile. The pilot loses his nerve and starts panicking and it is only because of the co-pilot, who is able to control his fear, that the plane continues flying and is not ditched in the ocean. Finally, the plane lands safely in San Francisco where the crew is met by the owner of the airline who tells the pilot and co-pilot that later they'll talk. End of movie. The movie contains an all-star cast including John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Robert Stack, Lorraine Day, Jan Sterling, Sidney Blackmer, John Howard and Carl Switzer (that's right, the same actor who played Alfalfa in the Our Gang series). Jan Sterling's performance was particularly powerful. This movie is wonderful.