A twin-engine propeller airplane, carrying a group of oil company people to a Saharan outpost, crashes in the African desert…

On board, a handful of disparate characters: a jovial pessimist, a noble doctor, a 'frantic' fellow, a distrustful bitter pilot, determined to contradict most suggested plans; a British military officer who reacts in the only way he knows; an insubordinate sergeant who refuses to take any risk; an eccentric airplane designer proposing a seemingly impossible goal… and a nervy navigator who tries to hold the group together…

The marooned survivors (with no hopes of being found or rescued) realize their best hope is the 'impossible': to accept the task of building a smaller plane, a "Phoenix," from the wreckage of the old…

The depiction of the construction is fascinating as much of the true characters of the men (facing the savagely violent environment) come out under the threat of thirst, hunger, and exposure… The degree of their weakness, consternation, arrogance, selfishness, and cowardice is successfully described…

Aldrich tries to build a film filled with self-sacrifice, crazed arguments, and, above all else, a slow descent into foolish acts by all… He keeps us in constant suspense, wondering if the rebuild plane will get successfully off the ground?