The High and the Mighty
1954 · Movie · NR · 147 min · ★ 5.9 · 45% critics
On a routine flight from Honolulu to San Francisco, a veteran pilot carrying heavy personal baggage finds himself back in the cockpit as trouble strikes high above the Pacific. With the plane past the point of no return, crew and passengers must face rising fear, hard choices, and the hope of making it home.
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Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+ and MGM+.
2 hours to watch.
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Details
- Years
- 1954
- Release date
- 1954-07-03
- Language
- English
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 147 min
- Max quality
- SD
- Critic score
- 45/100
- TMDB rating
- 5.9/10 (83 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you like vintage, ensemble disaster dramas with lots of passenger backstories and old-school air-travel atmosphere, similar to Airport '77 or Island in the Sky; Not for you if you want tight pacing and nonstop tension.
Pros: classic disaster template; big ensemble cast; memorable theme music | Cons: overlong runtime; thin passenger stories; uneven suspense
Themes
- mutiny
- airplane
- disaster
- navigator
Awards & recognition
- Academy Award — Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score · 1955
- Academy Award — Best Supporting Actress · 1955 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Director · 1955 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score · 1955 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Film Editing · 1955 · nominated
Cast & crew
John Wayne
as Dan Roman
Claire Trevor
as May Holst
Laraine Day
as Lydia Rice
Robert Stack
as John Sullivan
Jan Sterling
as Sally McKee
Phil Harris
as Ed Joseph
Robert Newton
as Gustave Pardee
David Brian
as Ken Childs
Paul Kelly
as Donald Flaherty
Sidney Blackmer
as Humphrey Agnew
Directed by William A. Wellman