Customer Reviews

The High and the Mighty

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I first read "The High and The Mighty" in a Reader's Digest Condensed Books version and, later, the entire book, courtesy of the Manhasset, NY, public library, followed by the movie. If you love aviation, especially the Gann descriptions which put you in the cockpit with Dan Roman as he struggles with his pilot to squeeze every drop of avgas to produce more air miles, you'll thoroughly enjoy this book. Gann's "Fate Is the Hunter" perhaps contains more aviation data, but H & M combines aviation thrills with the individual lives of the passengers and crew. The characters stick with you over the years. I haven't read the book in more than 35 years, yet the names remain...stewardess Spalding, copilot Roman, navigator Leonard, the aging Mr. Briscoe, Sally, Hobie and all the rest. Gann brings these characters home to you in a way few authors can match.//I'd like to find a hard copy edition some day, but the thought struck me tonight that a second ! best opportunity might be to contact Reader's Digest for their copy of the condensed version of "The High and The Mighty." Finally, I strongly hope that John Wayne's family gives public access to the movie version of this great story. Any suggestions on how to move this along? Please let me know. I'll be glad to help.

I first read this book in the late 50s in the Readers Digest edition;I guess I would be about 12 at the time. Its one of those books that leaves a lasting impression-after 40 years I can almost remember what page things happened on, and I can recall all the names and the frontispiece drawing .It was the very first book that started a lifelong habit-reading slower and slower so as to postpone the evil moment I finish a really good book. I was so drawn to the novel that one of my main hobbies is still aircraft accident investigations, and I am by profession a forensic scientist. Recently I came to realise that the plot was closely based on true events -a series of runaway propellers on Stratocruisers over the Pacific just past the point of no return, which caused engine fires, loss of propeller, running out of fuel and tense hours before either ditching in the sea (1956)or eventually landing in Hawaii against all the odds(1957). Trouble is, the book was written several years before either of these events! Yet even the fine detail is mirrored between novel and real life.
If anyone is interested in reading about the real crashes, which also involve heroic fights against the odds and in one case a planned ditching right in the middle of the Pacific next to the only ship for 500 miles (does this sound familiar from the novel...)buy Air Disaster vol 4 (The propeller Era)by Macarthur Job. Or look up CGC Pontchartrain on the internet
At the age of 12, I guess I wasnt too bothered about the personal characterisations and sub-plots but rereading the book this year, they still dont seem too bad to me. After all, Ed McBain invented a genre with his excellent and popular police procedural novels without much depth of characterisation-perhaps we can call Mr Gann's books 'plane procedurals'?
Either way, this is a rattling good read which stands up well after 50 years and has the benefit of faultless and, as it turns out prescient, research. The film of the book is rather less clear in my mind but I remember it as being very true to the book in plot and fairly close in characterisation. It was the first 'disaster' movie or should that be non-disaster movie? Oops, gave the ending away!

If you flew in passenger aircraft during the piston era of the '40-50s and love airplanes, you must read this book. Readers learn what it was like to navigate by the stars, deal with cantankerous radial engines, set throttle, propeller and mixture controls while a paradoid passenger tries to vent his frustration on his wife's former boyfriend. Flying portions are gripping as co-pilot and lead character Dan Roman tries to find out what's wrong with a DC-4 before it's too late. Dan is the experienced, yet tragic, character played by John Wayne in the movie by the same name--another must for airplane buffs but, unfortunately, the Wayne trust refuses to rerelease the rights. Fast forward through the passenger dramas, however, because they lack much relevance to the 1990s, assuming they had relevance in the 1950s. All told, the book is one of Ernie Gann's finest, if not the finest. You won't regret the time it takes to find a copy.

This book is arguably the most famous one written by noted aviator and writer, Ernie Gann. It was made into an oscar nominated movie and the theme song won the oscar that year (1955). Once you've read the book or seen the movie, you realize where all of the other aviation epics (realistic movies, spoofs or unintentional spoofs like the Airport series) got all of their ideas. Due to ownership disputes, the movie is not available anymore. If anyone out there has a homemade copy, let me know

Gann had a special gift in his ability to capture the everyday people and events of life and carry them into an unexpected and revealing landscape. This 45 year old story is somewhat dated, but remains engaging and well crafted. I'm still looking for a signed copy.

So glad to find a copy of this book and to find a new paperback was great! I was familiar with the movie version... now I can read the orginal book.

While I am an avid aviation enthusiast, this book is a great read for anyone who simply loves a great storey. I finished the book in one reading. As a result of having read this book I intend to purchase more of Gann's work.

This 342-page novel, (reviewed in a 1953 Book-of-the-Month-Club edition), reads almost like a fleshed-out screenplay of the famous 1954 movie version. This isn't too surprising since the novelist, Ernest K. Gann, also adapted his work for the screen. About the only major change in the two versions comes in the form of Toby, the 7-year-old boy passenger who only appears in the movie. (Perhaps he was added to provide a part for the real-life son of the movie's director, William Wellman.) Just as the movie is great entertainment, rather than great cinema, so too is the book a great read, rather than great literature. Gann's prose is smooth and readable, without being too "glossy," and it neatly balances the suspense-in-the-sky plot with brief "back stories" on each of the passengers and crew. Gann also provides many now-nostalgic glimpses of what commercial aviation was like back in the 1950s, when flying still had a touch of glamour and romance.

lbutler@texinet.net The High and the Mighty will not let you put it down. An ill-fated airplane fight brings out the best and the worst in the passangers. For an airplane you won't forget, this is a must. Please visit me at Butler, Luthe

The High and the Mighty was a fine suspense-filled airplane story. Ernie Gann takes us on board an ill-fated flight from Hawaii to San Francisco, and in the process, into the heads of the passengers and crew. As the situation deteriorates, hope and despair alternate until you are on the edge of your seat waiting to find out whether they make it or not. The book also provides a nostalgic look at air travel in the old days.