Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.
Direction
Wellman invented the disaster movie template here.
Cinematography
CinemaScope clouds that swallow your living room.
Acting
Jan Sterling's nail polish scene—iconic, devastating.
Director
William A. Wellman
John Wayne
Dan Roman
Claire Trevor
May Holst
Laraine Day
Lydia Rice
Robert Stack
John Sullivan
Jan Sterling
Sally McKee
Phil Harris
Ed Joseph
Robert Newton
Gustave Pardee
David Brian
Ken Childs
Paul Kelly
Donald Flaherty
Sidney Blackmer
Humphrey Agnew
Julie Bishop
Lillian Pardee
Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez
Gonzales
John Howard
Howard Rice
Wally Brown
Lenny Wilby, navigator
William Campbell
Hobie Wheeler
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ernest K. Gann adapted his own novel and hated the final film, calling it 'a travesty' despite its Oscar wins.
This film's ensemble-cast-in-peril structure directly inspired Airport, The Towering Inferno, and basically every Irwin Allen production.
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