The High and the Mighty is a 1954 Cinemascope drama adventure film blank">"The High and the Mighty." IMdB. Retrieved: 20 February 2008. released through _Warner Brothers. The film starred and was co-produced by John Wayne, directed by William A. Wellman, and written by Ernest K. Gann who was also the author of the novel on which the film was based. Composer Dimitri Tiomkin won an Academy Award for his original score while his title song for the film also was nominated for an Oscar but did not win. The film follows the lives and interactions among the passengers and crew of a Douglas DC-4 airliner on board a trans-Pacific flight during which the aircraft is severely damaged by a catastrophic prop failure and engine fire. The High and the Mighty served as a template for later "disaster" themed films such as the Airport series (1970-79), The Towering Inferno (1974), and Titanic (1997). Anderson, Jeffrey M. blank">The High and the Mighty (1954): Who'll Stop the Plane? combustiblecelluloid.com, 24 July _2005. Retrieved: 22 February 2008.

When a commercial airliner develops engine problems on a trans-Pacific flight and the pilot loses his nerve, it is up to the washed-up co-pilot Dan Roman to bring the plane in safely. Written by Jim Beaver

One disaster after another happens on this trans-Pacific flight. You have the pilot who loses his nerve! The washed-up co-pilot. The milquetoast flight engineer. The young hot shot second officer. And a cabin full of passengers with every range of problems and personalities there could possibly be. Here you have the Duke in a role he didn't want, and a movie with the title song that became Duke's theme. What else could any John Wayne fan want? It's all here, and then some. Written by williamsportump@chilitech.net