Yes, I laughed. No, I could not turn my head away. What was I laughing at? Robert Stack as the very serious pilot? (Don't call him Shirley...) Sonny Bono as a rock and roll star passenger? Danny Bonaduce as a prankster passenger who responds to Polly Bergen's acerbic comment about the fact that she bites, "Don't worry. I've had my shots." Then, how about cute old lady Molly Picon, the Jewish Helen Hayes? Farrah Fawcett (then Majors) in the ugliest sweater/stewardess uniform I've ever seen? A priest who apparently wears nail polish? A white-haired Fernando Lamas in a tacky outfit? I could go on with details of this all-star "Airport" rip-off (probably forgotten by the time that the Zucker brothers got to "Airplane" 'till Robert Stack reminded them about it) but I wouldn't want to spoil the fun of what you get to see.
The basic plot line of this Aaron Spelling tele-feature is actually pretty suspenseful, dramatizing the efforts of Stack to discover which of his passengers sent a warning that there would be murders on his flight. It's the execution of this "Motel 6" variation of the "Grand Hotel" theme that makes it silly, although there are a few tense moments concerning doctor Ralph Bellamy treating a heart attack victim (Theodore Bikel) he discovers has been sending him threatening letters and the parents (Laraine Day and Dane Clark) of a deceased girl and the rock star (Sonny) they blame for her drug-overdose. Bergen's dipsomaniac character gets some of the best lines (all bitchy of course), but she exposes through hints in her eyes that the character is pathetically lonely and miserable. Lamas's outfit is so '70's tacky that his character is very difficult to take seriously, especially in the memory of Billy Crystal's later impressions of him.
A cute pairing is Picon with Walter Pidgeon, almost a nod to "Funny Girl" considering that after Fanny Brice, Ms. Picon is the most famous Jewish female comic and that Pidgeon played Florenz Ziegfeld to Barbra Streisand's Fanny. As each of them reveals an aspect of themselves, you see a spark growing. I dare any anti-Semite not to watch Ms. Picon and not fall in love with her. She is just so adorable, but it is obvious that she was cast for this novelty part both on the strength of her success as Yente in the movie version of "Fiddler on the Roof" and her slight resemblance to "Airport's" Helen Hayes.
The identity of the villain is not surprising considering how they are introduced, and there is where the inadequacies of the teleplay come into being. Even in mid 1970's travel, the TSA (mentioned here) would be more capable in identifying possible criminals. However, with that cast and a script filled with more bad lines than a "Mystery Science Theater", this ends up becoming a guilty pleasure that the audience can have a delightful time laughing at and yet feel nostalgic at the same time.
The basic plot line of this Aaron Spelling tele-feature is actually pretty suspenseful, dramatizing the efforts of Stack to discover which of his passengers sent a warning that there would be murders on his flight. It's the execution of this "Motel 6" variation of the "Grand Hotel" theme that makes it silly, although there are a few tense moments concerning doctor Ralph Bellamy treating a heart attack victim (Theodore Bikel) he discovers has been sending him threatening letters and the parents (Laraine Day and Dane Clark) of a deceased girl and the rock star (Sonny) they blame for her drug-overdose. Bergen's dipsomaniac character gets some of the best lines (all bitchy of course), but she exposes through hints in her eyes that the character is pathetically lonely and miserable. Lamas's outfit is so '70's tacky that his character is very difficult to take seriously, especially in the memory of Billy Crystal's later impressions of him.
A cute pairing is Picon with Walter Pidgeon, almost a nod to "Funny Girl" considering that after Fanny Brice, Ms. Picon is the most famous Jewish female comic and that Pidgeon played Florenz Ziegfeld to Barbra Streisand's Fanny. As each of them reveals an aspect of themselves, you see a spark growing. I dare any anti-Semite not to watch Ms. Picon and not fall in love with her. She is just so adorable, but it is obvious that she was cast for this novelty part both on the strength of her success as Yente in the movie version of "Fiddler on the Roof" and her slight resemblance to "Airport's" Helen Hayes.
The identity of the villain is not surprising considering how they are introduced, and there is where the inadequacies of the teleplay come into being. Even in mid 1970's travel, the TSA (mentioned here) would be more capable in identifying possible criminals. However, with that cast and a script filled with more bad lines than a "Mystery Science Theater", this ends up becoming a guilty pleasure that the audience can have a delightful time laughing at and yet feel nostalgic at the same time.