Rewatching old movies… and not so old movies.

I remember watching Robert Aldrich’s The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) as a kid, with my parents.
I found it mind-numbingly boring.
I was ten.
Ten years later or so, I saw it again, and at that point I was old enough to appreciate the tension and sheer cinematographic quality of this film.
The cast is colossal, and the story itself (based on a 1964 bestseller) is simply great in its simplicity.

Later, I was rather excited about the remake when it was announced. And I caught in a cinema.
In my opinion, it fails to catch the original’s sheer tension buildup, but still works fine as an adventure movie.

Now I want to get me a copy of the novel, that was reprinted recently, or so I am told.

The reason for this bout of nostalgia – apart from the TV desert and the abismal quality of the little that arrives in the local cinema – is that I am completing a pitch and outline for a short novel I have described as

Flight of the Phoenix meets Jurassic Park

Oh, so very high concept.
And of course, checking the originals to freshen the memories is a good idea.
Wish me luck.