‘No Highway in the Sky’: Slight Chance of Tail Detachment

James Stewart’s character may be eccentric, but he knows how to save a plane from crashing.

Theodore Honey (James Stewart) saves a plane from crashing using math and manners, in "Highway in the Sky." Columbia Pictures

NR | 1h 38m | Drama, Thriller | 1951

Somewhere between a stiff upper lip and a snapped tailfin, “No Highway in the Sky” flaps its wings. Here, Jimmy Stewart trades his usual aw-shucks charm for something twitchier and considerably more sleep-deprived; he plays an eccentric aeronautical engineer who’s absolutely sure a new fleet of airplanes is on the verge of falling apart mid-air.