who saw the "High and Mighty"??

[Vavso]

Really enjoyed the movie but wondered what the head honcho meant at the end when he said "so long you ancient Pelican " Was that a good thing or bad ??? I know its a stupid question but....

 

[darkvw]

just a way of saying he was an old pilot, and I have it digitized need to convert an burn a dvd until the real one comes out , then I'll buy it

 

[Vavso]

sad to see the guy walk away going home to an empty home after his wife and kid died in his previous plane crash vavso

 

[PHX767]

wondered what the head honcho meant at the end when he said "so long you ancient Pelican " Was that a good thing or bad ???

No, it was a sign of respect.

Really cool movie, finally saw it on Friday. Very melodramatic, but it was filmed in 1954 I believe.

Some trivia: The radio operator on the ship is the same actor that plays the hotel manager in the movie Rio Bravo. Funny how the same faces keep showing up in John Wayne movies.

DVD of the movie soon out for sale. I'm getting it!

 

[TDTURBO]

No, it was a sign of respect.

Really cool movie, finally saw it on Friday. Very melodramatic, but it was filmed in 1954 I believe.

Some trivia: The radio operator on the ship is the same actor that plays the hotel manager in the movie Rio Bravo. Funny how the same faces keep showing up in John Wayne movies. DVD of the movie soon out for sale. I'm getting it!

I liked it and I dislike John Wayne, odd? Maybe it was the airplanes and the era that made it hoaky, it was funny.

 

[ms6073]

So anybody care to offer opinions on whether or not someone could have muscled open a cabin door enough to jetison luggage with the aircraft in flight as protrayed in the movie? Also, is there sort of an implied connection between Robert Stack's character in the movie airplane and the "High and Mighty" or was that all just part of the movies sarcasm and parody schema?

 

[pilotyip]

The man making the "So long..." statement was probably portraying Songinger (sp.?) who was the ops manager at the real airline where Gann worked. That airline was Maston Air that flew DC-4’s on that route. Songinger and Gann worked together at American Airlines; Songinger talked Gann into giving up his AAL seniority number to come to work at Matson. Gann was probably portraying himself in John Wayne, read “Hostage to Fortune” and Faith is the Hunter” you will see the story of the High and the Mighty develop.

 

[BD King]

The man making the "So long..." statement was probably portraying Songinger (sp.?) who was the ops manager at the real airline where Gann worked. That airline was Maston Air that flew DC-4’s on that route. Songinger and Gann worked together at American Airlines; Songinger talked Gann into giving up his AAL seniority number to come to work at Matson. Gann was probably portraying himself in John Wayne, read “Hostage to Fortune” and Faith is the Hunter” you will see the story of the High and the Mighty develop.

Sloniger and Gann crossed paths early in the war as they established the Northern route to England. Sloniger was, in the realm of numbers, senior at AA. Most people do not realize that Gann was the youngest captain in AA's history. The High and The Mighty and Island In The Sky are both based on some actual experience that Gann had, even to the point of having an incompetent crew member.

Even though I publish both books, my pick of movie and book is Island In The Sky, as it is a bit more geared to the pilot, and portrays the risks and hardships endured in early 1942.

In order to get a full grasp of Gann, one has to read A Hostage To Fortune. The book is probably the best nonfiction adventure book of the 20th century.

www.bdkingpress.com

 

[Draginass]

Actually it's "Fate" is the Hunter.

 

[Tarzan]

The best part is when John gets to slap the Captain. They have always told me not fight over the controls but never said anything about b1tch slapping the Captain cause he's flaking out. And I don't think it was really John Wayne whistling, it sounded way to cool but if I could whistle like that, I'd get all the chicks then.

 

[Rogue5]

From www.nytimes.com:

Two With John Wayne

The statistics are there to suggest that John Wayne was the biggest movie star of all time, with a career that, counting his early work as an extra and a prop man, stretched over 50 years and more than 180 titles. Wayne fans have long been frustrated by the unavailability of a few important entries in his filmography, which have largely remained in the vaults of Wayne's production company, Batjac, since they were first released.

Now, the family stock is coming out through Paramount Home Entertainment, beginning with what is probably the most requested of those titles, William Wellman's 1954 film "The High and the Mighty." Though the negative reportedly suffered severe water damage, you'd never know it from the restoration on the Paramount disc, which offers bright, fully saturated colors across a sharp CinemaScope image, along with a choice between the original three-channel stereo soundtrack and a five-channel remix.

Often cited as among the first examples of the disaster film, in which a catastrophic event (the sinking of the luxury liner Poseidon, for example) serves to sort out the personal problems of a small group of troubled characters, "The High and the Mighty" remains superb entertainment.

Wellman does not have the artistic instincts of a John Ford or a Howard Hawks, but he uses Wayne quite well (and quite sparingly) as Dan Roman, a veteran flier who after a life-shattering crash has been reduced to being co-pilot of a passenger plane traveling between Hawaii and San Francisco. After briefly introducing the Wayne character at the beginning - a loner given to mournfully whistling Dimitri Tiomkin's Oscar-winning musical theme - Wellman keeps Wayne offstage for much of the next 90 minutes as the script establishes the various mini-dramas gripping the plane's load of passengers (including Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Jan Sterling, Phil Harris and Paul Kelly). Only when an engine flames out, forcing the pilot (Robert Stack), a secret coward, into contemplating a crash landing, does Wayne step up from the background. He immediately establishes his authority and expertise, not by bluster and bellowing but simply with a few well-directed glances.

Accompanying "The High and the Mighty" is another Wayne-Wellman collaboration, the black-and-white feature "Island in the Sky," released in 1953. In this one (also written by Ernest K. Gann of "The High and the Mighty"), Wayne is the pilot of an Army transport plane that goes down in the uncharted territory of sub-Arctic Canada; his pilot friends, among them Lloyd Nolan, James Arness, Andy Devine and Harry Carey Jr., band together to conduct a search. Wellman's literally tearful sentimentality about male friendship is, again, something neither Ford nor Hawks would have tolerated, but this is a solid little film that looks forward to Robert Aldrich's elegant "Flight of the Phoenix."

Both films come with an almost overwhelming wealth of extras - an entire extra disc's worth in the case of "High," which as a result lists for $19.95 as opposed to $14.95 for the single-disc "Island." Neither film has been rated.

 

[BD King]

Rogue5,

Jeez o Pete. What a great review. Maybe I should hire you to do my PR work in selling the books!

www.bdkingpress.com (The home of Ernie Gann)

 

[ShawnC]

Ghee I haven't posted here in a while, been lurking just not posting. Not too many faces that I recognize. But I got this DVD today, it's a great film I very much enjoyed it for the first time (never seen more then snippets). It's great to see it out of the vault and released.

The scene where John Wayne slaps the Captain is an excellent example of CRM, the navigator said he needed more time, but the Captain was unable to find it, so John Wayne found it.

Anyways well worth the $12 I spent on it, I might even pick up the book. The dog liked it too, it would perk up it's ears when ever the whistling started.