William Glasgow

A small passenger plane makes a forced landing in the Sahara. The challenge: survival. The tiny band from the plane fights off thirst, Arabs, treachery, declining morale and despair. Incredibly, the plane, like the legendary phoenix that rises from its own ashes, flies again.

In 1973, the first manned expedition to Mars is marooned. By the time a rescue mission arrives, only the leader of the expedition is left alive. He is accused of murdering his crew and is taken into custody. As the rescue ship returns to earth, the real killer, a life-devouring monster that has stowed aboard, begins attacking the crew. The remaining crew must find some way to stop it before the ship returns to a panic-striken Earth.

"A downed airplane is a motley group of men's only protection from the relentless desert sun, in this psychologically charged disaster epic, one of the all-time great survival movies. James Stewart is the veteran pilot whose Benghazi-bound plane--carrying passengers played by an unshaven ensemble of screen icons including Richard Attenborough, Ernest Borgnine, Ian Bannen, Dan Duryea, Peter Finch, and George Kennedy--crash-lands in the remote Sahara....