The High and the Mighty

John Wayne delivered one of his most memorable performances in THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, a suspenseful thrill ride that presaged the disaster films of the 1970s with the story of a commercial jetliner that suffers engine trouble on a transpacific flight from Honolulu to San Francisco. With pilot John Sullivan (Robert Stack) too panic-stricken to act, it's up to second-in-command Dan Roman (Wayne) to guide the aircraft to safety--despite being traumatized by the death of his own wife and child in a plane crash years earlier. Wayne's self-doubting copilot presides over jittery crew members and passengers whose stories are told in flashbacks and fleshed out by a stellar supporting cast. (official distributor synopsis)