The High and the Mighty 1954

影评 (12)

1. B

   Benjamin Green 2026年8月25日

   I don’t want to die, I dont want to die!! First time watch: August 2021 Source: Talking Pictures The High and the Mighty is the 1954 disaster film directed by William A. Wellman. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name the film stars John Wayne, Claire Trevor and Robert Stack in a story of a plane that suffers engine failure whilst carrying 17 passengers and 5 crew to San Francisco. It’s always with great interest that I see John Wayne out of his western or war genre comfort zone but having now seen The High and the Mighty I would say he was extremely underused. Considering the confined setting John Wayne’s first officer Dan Roman goes missing for…

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2. R

   RetroHound 2026年8月25日

   Melodrama in the skies. As Leonard Maltin says, in the 1950s it was all about story, not spectacle, not special effects, but story. John Wayne isn’t in it as much as I thought he would, especially at first. Claire Trevor is great. It was nice to see her in a movie with John Wayne again, though the part Wayne plays was supposed to be played by Spencer Tracy. Wayne was just going to produce the film, but when Tracy dropped out Wellman asked Wayne to act in the film. It was also interesting to see the young couple join the mile high club in a 1950s film. I guess if you think you’re going to die on the way home…

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3. 8

   8BeanSoup 2026年8月25日

   I have no idea if The High and the Mighty influenced Alex Haley’s Airport (1968), which became the movie Airport (1970), which became a series of awesome airport disaster movies in the ’70s, but it sure seems like it did. Although this movie stars John Wayne, he’s just one star among many. This movie features a cast of characters, all with different personality quirks and backstories. There’s a newlywed couple on their way home from Hawaii, a jealous husband about to confront the man who he believes has cuckolded him, a pilot who is losing his nerve, a scientist who wonders if his research is moral, et al. The only thing needed to stir them up is an explosion in…

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4. T

   Tim Brayton 2026年8月25日

   Probably the most obvious Achilles heel of manly “no frills” directors (e.g. Clint Eastwood) is that they don’t have a lot of options to deal with a bum script. So while I might like to say that “Wild Bill” Wellman is one of my favorites of his generation, this late-career airplane disaster that netted him his third Best Director nomination is just not getting there at all. You can tell – like, really tell – that the director was primarily interested in the procedural elements of how a flight crew deals with a crisis, and that the only thing he could properly think up to use CinemaScope for was filming the cockpit stuffed with every member of that crew (the…

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5. P

   PUNQ 2026年8月25日

   A star-studded multi-character movie that garnered 6 Oscar nominations, winning one for it’s musical score. Takes place on a plane where engine problems gradually develops, and the passengers have their lives flash before their eyes and we get to take part in their coping mechanisms. It’s a slow burn, but the magnificent cast navigates us through it with ease.

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6. N

   Nilknarf 2026年8月25日

   I was surprised how similar this movie was to the Airport movies of the 1970’s. I also kept flashing back to the Airplane! movies. The High and the Mighty is a slow paced ‘disaster’ movie and spends a lot of time on superficial character development on all the diverse and stereotyped characters on the plane. Once the passengers are briefed on the ‘disaster’ confronting them, the stewardess announces “I’ll get coffee for everyone”, as if coffee will solve everything. The effects and cockpit script tries to be true to aviation. This is not an entirely bad movie, but it was very slow paced and a bit boring, which allowed me time to zone out and reminisce about Airplane! that came some 26 years later.

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7. M

   Maria 2026年8月25日

   Mighty wind 👀 That whistle score 😌

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8. I

   ItsLV 2026年8月25日

   A somewhat dry and slow look at the human condition during a mild airplane crisis of sorts. Some nice character moments and a few yawns. Low tier Wayne. Nana: “This is the worst thing ever, it’s just a lot of bullshit”.

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9. G

   Gregor Kreyca 2026年8月25日

   I learned from Leonard Maltin in the intro that this movie was basically the birth of the disaster movie, or as he calls it: “danger in the sky” genre. It inspired a genre that became very popular in the following decades. So kudos for that. And there is some really great stuff here including a strong cast, great CineaScope visuals, descent special effects for the time, a memorable score and a strong lead performance from John Wayne. But this movie clearly has issues. First and foremost is the 2 ½ hour runtime. From which he first hour is pretty much exclusively devoted to character intros and background stories. Mostly for side-characters. And the problem is that most of the material…

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10. F

    Fabian 2026年8月25日

    The role of the innovator is usually a thankless one. Adjusting the formula is always attached with a major risk of commercial or critical failure, and even if you pull it off, your invention will usually be refined and adapted countless times, to the point where your invention looks like a rip-off itself since much stronger works have been made since. Chronology is a bitch when time casts a shadow over your achievements, and such is the major shortcoming of William A. Wellman’s airplane disaster movie. The High and the Mighty invents a major new genre that later became the superhero tent pole of its time when the ‘70s saw disaster movie after disaster movie dominating the box office. The…

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11. L

    Luke Thorne 2026年8月25日

    William A. Wellman’s Oscar-winning disaster drama in which a flight from Hawaii to California runs into trouble when an engine fails. Starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Jan Sterling and Laraine Day. On an aircraft flying from Hawaii to California, the engine deceases on the plane Dan (John Wayne) is on. As he gets ready for an emergency landing, the passengers re-evaluate what they have been up to. John Wayne gives a good performance in his role as Dan Roman, the former captain now veteran first officer who is haunted by an accident in which his wife and son perished, but does have a habit of whistling. This is a very unusual role for Wayne as we are so, so used…

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12. M

    Mark Kaiserman 2026年8月25日

    I was once talking with a person much younger than me who had recently seen The Matrix for the first time. I asked what he thought of “Bullet Time” and wasn’t it an incredible moment in moviewatching. He said that it was fine. He had seen it many times before. Sometimes the order of watching a movie changes our reaction. I have encountered so many disaster films in my life: a longer film with a huge cast. Everyone has a personal melodramatic crisis happening. Some terrible calamity happens. Together, they have to overcome the challenge. Will they make it? The High and the Mighty is the father of all of them. Most of the seeds of the 70s disaster films…

    15