July 22 movie: The High and the Mighty. This 1954 movie must have been the model for the Airport series. It certainly seems to have established the pattern that disaster movies must follow. All the plot elements are there: the damaged airplane that doesn't quite have enough fuel to make it back to the US, the ensemble of passengers who learn life lessons from each other, the virtuous simpleton immigrants (they come across like the 50s version of the Magical Negro), the nervous captain who insists on doing things by the book (Robert Stack), the washed up ex pilot (John Wayne) who is The! Only! One! Who Can! Save! Everybody!
I enjoyed this immensely. I don't know why I used to hate John Wayne. Maybe I just never developed an appreciation for him before. I wish I had recorded Island in the Sky which TCM showed right around the same time.
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