The High and the Mighty

The High and the Mighty (1954) is a classic Hollywood thriller you can watch online on iFILM, directed by William A. Wellman and starring John Wayne alongside a large ensemble cast that includes Robert Stack, Claire Trevor, and Jan Sterling.

A routine flight from Honolulu to San Francisco turns grim when one engine fails somewhere over the Pacific, beyond the point of no return. The fuel math doesn't work. Co-pilot Dan Roman — Wayne, quieter and more weathered than usual — carries his own history: a previous crash that took his family, and a flying career he never walked away from because there was nothing else left. While he and the captain argue over what's survivable, the passengers cycle through their own private reckonings: old regrets, unfinished grudges, things they never said.

Wellman builds dread the old-fashioned way, through faces and silence rather than spectacle. The film won the Academy Award for Best Score. Stream The High and the Mighty (1954) in full on iFILM.