User reviews

Another of my guilty pleasures is AIRPORT, the 1970 all-star cast drama based on the best selling novel by Arthur Hailey. This soapy potboiler follows multiple stories throughout a busy metropolitan airport. Subplots that appeared in the book naturally had to be watered down or removed entirely, but that was to be expected in telling a story of such size back in the late 60's. However, after 35 years, I still find this film a lot of fun to watch (even though it really should be experienced in a theater). Burt Lancaster is all stone-faced authority as Mel Bakersfield, the airport manager who neglects his wife (Dana Wynter) while lusting after his passenger relations agent (Jean Seberg). Dean Martin almost gives an actual performance as Vernon Demarest, the smooth-talking pilot who also neglects his wife (Barbara Hale) while having an affair with a stewardess (lovely Jacqueline Bisset)whom he has impregnated. George Kennedy began his long association with the character of Joe Patroni here(he would play the role in three subsequent sequels). Van Heflin is extremely effective as D.O. Guerrero, the sad and twisted man who plans to blow up an airliner. Helen Hayes won an Oscar playing Ada Quonsett, a little old lady who stows away on the plane, but that Oscar should have gone to Maureen Stapleton, who is just devastating as Guerrero's wife, who is totally dismayed about her husband's plan and is tragically heartbreaking during one brief scene near the end of the film. For those who like their adventure films spiced with some somewhat corny, soap suds, put your brain in check and have your fill with AIRPORT.

In 1968, Arthur Hailey's best selling novel Airport was a fixture atop the best seller's lists. It was an intricate detailed telling of the inner workings of fictional Lincoln International Airport trying desperately to function during one of the worst snow storms in decades. Hailey had researched the book for five years, and as he weaved his soap opera storyline magic, we gained a fascinating behind the scenes look of airport operations, why airlines function the way they do, and a detailed look at the stressful lives of air-traffic controllers. It was these details that made the novel great. Hailey wrote his characters with substance, digging deep into their personalities, motivations and psyche, so that we always understood their actions and reactions. The basic plot lines may have been high class soap-opera but the book as a whole was one of great substance and readability.

In 1970, Hailey's book hit the big screen as an all star glitzy Hollywood production. Unable to put the complex details of Airport operations onto the big screen, director and writer George Seaton gave us all melodrama and not much technical details. As Hollywood spectacle it's fun to watch and taken on that level you won't mind giving it a look. If you've read Hailey's novel, you'll probably be disappointed.

Of course in a film such as this with enough plots to make six movies, you are bound by the unwritten law of Hollywood to have a recognizable all star cast. So get your pens and pencils out and get ready to draw a chart. Headlining Airport are Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfield the airport manager, and Dean Martin as his Mel's brother-in-law and a philandering pilot, Vern Demerest. Lancaster is easily the better of the two. He has this aura about him that makes us believe he could be running a Metropolitan Airport. Martin is not quite as successful as Lancaster. He is Dean Martin playing Dean Martin pretending to be the aforementioned playboy pilot. Heck, though, he makes the character a likable enough guy that you won't mind it a bit. Another disappointment is that Martin and Lancaster only have one brief scene together. It would have been nice if Seaton would have added a few more, just so we could watch two legends work together.

Jean Seberg plays Tonya Livingston, an airline representative who has designs on Mel despite the fact that Mel is still married. We believe her as the airline rep., but the chemistry between Seberg and Lancaster never really clicks. If the relationship were gone into in more detail then perhaps one would feel differently. Unfortunately that's one thing this film is in short supply of is important details.

Next up in our role call is Jacqueline Bisset, who plays stewardess and Mistress Gwen Meighen who also happens to be pregnant (Captain, we have an extra passenger on board). As Gwen, Bisset gives us one of the more believable characters in this film, making us understand her feelings for Vern enough that though she never says it we see her love for him. George Kennedy provides comedy relief as Joe Patroni, an ace airline mechanic brought in to remove an airliner mired in the snow and blocking a key runway. Helen Hayes is on hand as an airplane stowaway. Though she may look like a sweet little old lady, don't be fooled. Having won an Oscar in 1932 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, she would pick up another on thirty eight years later as a supporting actress for her role as Ada Quonsett.

The very best in this film though are Van Heflin as D.O. Guerrero, a down on his luck, out of work construction worker, who hatches a chilling desperate plan to change the financial fortunes of his family. As his wife Inez, Maureen Stapleton may not have copped the Oscar, but should have. Her portrayal of Inez has some of the more touching moments in Airport.

One of the other great stars of Airport is the snow storm itself. In scenes filmed by Ernest Lazlo and directed by Henry Hathaway, the outdoor settings of snow blanketing the airport are so realistic; you'll be going to the closet to grab a coat. Alfred Newman's lush score blends right into the goings on, and his opening title overture will suck you right into the film.

Ross Hunter was the producer on airport. His involvement in glitzy Hollywood soap operas of the past such as Imitation of Life, Madame X, would help to explain much of the goings on in this film. On another note, I was unimpressed with Edith Head's costume design for the stewardesses. They are unattractively bland, and seem almost matronly.

Airport will never be confused with great film making. None the less, it is still highly watchable entertainment. It gives us a lot of plots, a lot of stars, a lot of snow and a some suspense. And for all that you get my grade which is: B

I recently watched "Airport" on TCM. It was the first time I had seen it in its original widescreen format since it came out in 1970. I was surprised at how well it has held up with the passage of time. Although there have been disaster movies from the beginning of cinema in the late 19th century and one that dealt specifically with an airplane in danger ("The High and the Mighty"), this was the film that launched the modern disaster craze that produced "The Towering Inferno," "The Poseidon Adventure," and countless others including "The Day After Tomorrow." The hilarious spoof "Airplane" which poked fun at the clichés and pretentiousness of the films did much to discredit the genre until recently.

"Airport" was based on the popular best seller by Arthur Hailey. Although over two hours long, the movie moves and the viewer never gets bored. The stellar cast does an exceptional job with a standout performance by the legendary Helen Hayes. The ending is both happy and sad. So it does not cop out on several key themes of the story. Many of the roles, such as George Kennedy's Joe Patroni, are played lightly and this adds zest to the performances. When the script begins to get syrupy a new element of emergency is thrown in to pick it up and go.

Forget all the cliché-ridden disaster flicks you have seen since "Airport." You will be entertained and not feel cheated when the closing credits appear.

Airport (1970)

This has such a stellar cast, and such hype (left over from the day), it's hard to remember that this is also a over-the-top kind of polished production not so terribly different than "Ben Hur" and other big studio product.

But does it work? Yes, overall. It's fast, enjoyable, and not really serious, even though it's gripping at times. Don't confuse this with "Airplane," for sure, though the comedy gets part of its inspiration here, for sure.

When I say stellar cast, I don't just mean Burt Lancaster who is terrific (and who called it the biggest piece of junk ever made). He plays the determined leading man (running the airport) very well. Not just Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, and Jacqueline Bisset, either. These all play fairly thin roles, and very well, if you can play a thin role well. I'm thinking not even of every larger George Kennedy who is in charge of keeping the runways running (and that's the core of the crisis here, as a plane has turned too soon and gotten stuck in the snow), nor Helen Hayes, who plays a terrific batty old woman who sneaks onto planes (she won the Oscar for best supporting actress).

Maybe most impressive are the two actors playing a troubled couple, the man an actor I think is always underrated, Van Heflin. This is his last role, and he's still a master at subtle believability. His wife is played by the really impressive Maureen Stapleton, pouring out a small but moving performance as a worried, disenchanted, sad woman who suddenly realizes her husband is going to do something terrible. She won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress, well deserved.

The production? Glossy and sterile. The plot? Sterile, for sure, and predictable. Subplots (of which there are many)? Forced and absurd. (One example—Martin and Bisset, playing pilot and stewardess, are having an affair. And she's pregnant. And they get serious in the aisles about what do to. But then she gets hurt in the big crisis in the air later on, and so on.)

I hate to admit I enjoyed this movie. It really is a big piece of junk. But all these actors are fascinating in some way or another. And the crappy plot is still exciting and interwoven in that way airport novels are. Yes, that kind of book you pick up to read on the place because it's distracting and not demanding. That's it, said and done.

You'll spend the first quarter of this film wondering where it's going. Once you find out, "Airport" is an entertaining effort. An ensemble cast including Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster and George Kennedy lead the way on a snowy winter night at a midwestern airport. Not only is one of their planes stuck in deep snow, blocking a valuable runway, but a separate flight has been forced to turn around and make an emergency landing after a botched bombing.

Two things hurt "Airport" the most. The first is its drawn out "get to know the characters" opening. It starts out like a family drama, and it's more than 35 minutes -- far too long -- before we learn what it truly wants to be. Secondly, the film sporadically attempts humor. With the rest of the running time so serious -- dealing with terror, suspense, adultery and the like -- such lightheartedness comes off as plain awkward. Besides that, the acting is a little stiff, but its overall harm to the picture is minimal.

See "Airport" on a rainy day. Just be prepared to invest a lot of time before things really pick up. It's rated G, so don't worry about the kiddies walking in.

"Airport" wasn't the first all-star "disaster" movie--those have always been a bankable commodity in Hollywood--but it was probably the first one to garner truly blockbuster returns (and effusive reviews and awards), creating a new vogue in cinema which lasted throughout the 1970s. Sprawling melodrama from Arthur Hailey's bestseller intertwines several sudsy plots as an ill-fated airliner leaves a snowbound airport. Helen Hayes won a Supporting Actress Oscar as a stowaway, all but stealing the film from headliners Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin and George Kennedy. Jacqueline Bisset plays a stewardess in love with married pilot Martin (what an odd combination), and her youthful beauty is stunning though the role itself is colorless (when she gets a burst of conviction near the end, it appears to come out of nowhere). Van Heflin and Maureen Stapleton do very well in pivotal supporting roles, the undercurrent of cynical humor is appealing, and the handsome production looks sumptuous and credible. Director George Seaton takes it all at a steady pace, though the "disaster" action is a long time in coming. Plenty of juicy tidbits keep it interesting and engaging. Followed by a myriad of sequels and imitations. *** from ****

Excellent thriller, with good pacing, great actors (including Deano), and overall quality. The old-fashioned way was a good way in this case.

It's got both humorous moments as well as more empathic ones, all played with subtelty as there is no real 'vilain' nor single 'savior' but rather convergeant elements, taken in charge by many in their own capabilities, which re-inforce its credible aspect.

Being the only child on the plane, I can speak from first hand experience. This movie was the start of the entire disaster craze. I have many fond memories of kicking it with Jacqueline Bisset between takes and watching the dailies of the bomb explosion scene. Dean Martin was pretty much enamored with himself through the entire shoot. The doting women on the set didn't help matters. I had my own trailer right next to David Cassidy (Partridge Family Fame/Teen Idol). Also Planet of the Apes was shooting at the same time as Airport. I watched Universal Studios evolve into it's first tours. The evolution of a theme park was taking place right before my eyes. What glorious times these were. Truly fond memories working with some of the greatest actors of their time. Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes, George Kennedy, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton and of course Jacqueline Bisset. Forget about it.

No other movie has spawned so many sequels and spoofs as this one did. 10 Academy nominations including best picture can't be wrong. Times have not changed that much. Good is good.

I suspect that one day, I will be the only surviving cast member since I was only five years old when we did this shoot. I highly recommend this movie, but then again.... I might be biased.

Dismissed by a lot of film critics when it was released, "Airport" was a big hit with audiences. It is easy to see what critics were critical of but just as easy to see what made audiences like it so much (it was the second highest grossing film of 1970 behind "Love Story").

The main action takes place at the fictional Lincoln Airport in Chicago during a big snowstorm. There's Burt Lancaster as the airport's general manager, Mel Bakersfeld. His love interest, Tanya works for the fictional airline Trans Global and is played by Jean Seberg, (who is a strong presence in the film). Dean Martin is Vernon Demerest, a pilot for Trans Global and brother in law to Mel Bakersfield. Rounding out the main characters is Gwen Meighen, a chief stewardess for Trans Global and mistress of Vernon Demarest played by a very lovely Jacqueline Bisset and last (and definitely least) is Ada Quonsett, an elderly woman who also happens to frequently stowaway on Trans Global's flights and is played by Helen Hayes.

These characters and many others converge on the airport and play out a kind of "Grand Hotel" style film. Just like "Grand Hotel", "Airport" makes no pretensions that it is nothing more or less than soap opera melodrama and if you like that kind of thing when it is done well (I DO! I DO!) then I'm certain you will enjoy "Airport".

One could quibble about how old fashioned the film making is (and it is). Film critic Judith Crist nailed it when she called "Airport" "the best film of 1944". That's a bit harsh. I think 1954 is more like it. For a film made in 1970, "Airport" looks and plays very "retro". Examples (IMO) include Jean Seberg's hair (did women ever wear their hair like this?), the sickeningly cute character of Ada Quonsett, and the laughable music that plays when Bissett and Martin have scenes together. The worst performance in the film has to be Dana Wynter as Cindy, Mel Bakersfeld's wife. She comes across as shrewish and icy cold. The special effects are, at times, and laughable.

But one could also point out a lot of good things about "Airport" and in my opinion, there is a lot.

I will not get into every single one of them but for starters there's Maureen Stapleton as Inez Guerrero. She is the wife of the suicide bomber (played by Van Heflin) who attempts to blow up the plane to get insurance money for her. Stapleton's performance is a knockout. She seems to acting in a different film. Every time she comes on, "Airport" really comes alive and feels real. Just check out her apologizing to the passengers of the plane her husband tried to make crash. Remarkable.

Jacqueline Bisset is touching and lovely as Gwen. She adds a modern touch to the film. Jean Seberg is believable as Tanya. She has a few clunky line readings (like her reaction to Ada Quonsett) but Seberg still keeps us on her side and her performance feels fresh. Dean Martin is surprisingly good as Vernon Demerest.

The film is also edited nicely. There are some good, quick cutaways. And say what you will about the direction by George Seaton, "Airport" is solid and well-paced. The camera is where it needs to be move the story along. It is amazing to me how so many film makers do not have the basics of film direction down or think using them isn't "artful" or something.

The story, characters and pacing of "Airport" (not to mention its Star Power) is what brought audiences out to see it en masse. Perhaps the film's retro look was overlooked by audiences at the time. They also probably knew what they were getting into considering "Airport" was produced by Ross Hunter, a producer whose specialty was high gloss soap opera melodrama. Lastly, it is said that Burt Lancaster profited handsomely from the box-office profits of "Airport" (something like 10% of the gross after the film's take exceeded $50 million which it did in the United States alone) but called the movie "junk". He's being too hard on the movie. Perhaps "Airport" is junk. But like junk food, it's got some tasty parts.

We finally come back to it, the movie that started the franchise that ended with George Kennedy rated to fly the Concorde, and I'm shocked to discover that he started the franchise as a maintenance man. Granted, he's the gosh darned best maintenance man at Lincoln Airport, but still. It's kind of jarring to watch that tortured character progression backwards. I can't imagine it's that much smoother going forwards, though.

Anyway, the first in this franchise is markedly different from the rest. The rest were completely centered around the disasters within the films with little beyond that justifying the films. Airport, though, is more a slice of life drama about the goings on the Chicago area airport on one of the snowiest days of the year. There also happens to be a disaster in the latter half of the picture that provides Burt Lancaster and crew a time to shine, bringing their efforts on another problem to a head. It's perfectly solid entertainment.

It's a snowy night outside of Chicago, and the business of the airport needs to keep going. Airplanes still need someplace to land, and Lincoln Airport gets hobbled by a landing pilot missing a turn on taxi and getting his tires buried in the snow, closing one of the two large landing strips. What follows is men trying to find solutions to that problem while other small stories play out that end up paying off later. There's the little old lady who stowaways on planes but gets caught before sneaking away and getting onto another plane to Italy. There's the pilot of the Rome flight (Dean Martin) who's having an affair with his chief stewardess while antagonistic to Burt Luncaster's Bakersfield, the general manager of the airport. And, of course, there's the down on his luck demolitions expert who brings a few sticks of TNT onto the Rome flight in order to down the plane and have the travel insurance he bought go to his wife.

The swirl of activity in the airport (accompanied really well by Alfred Newman's score that feels like a mass of people marching through a terminal) is the main focus, and it's well managed by both Lancaster and George Seaton, the director. The place always feels busy and on the verge of falling apart. From the snow to the issues with pilots to the stowaway and the bomber, everything moves around at a rapid pace of an airport, giving us a dizzying feeling imagining how hard it must be to manage it all. And Lancaster really is the center of the film around which everything spins. Sometimes he has to inject himself (and away from his wife who's expecting him at a dinner that night), but he's always there trying to make things better for the airport.

It's when the disaster part really starts up, when the demolitions guy gets onto the airplane, that I feel the movie takes a step backwards. Up to that point, it was a very solid ensemble drama with Lancaster dealing with the business of his professional life and how it interfered with his personal life, but the bomb stuff kind of feels out of place, like it's from another movie. It's small scale and handled fine (it never gets ridiculous like the sequels), but it just feels like it doesn't belong with the rest of the film.

Anyway, that's a small part of it and, again, it's handled well enough to not really take the movie down any, and once it's done, the movie wraps up pretty quickly, getting the personal lives of those directly involved in the airport and the disaster wrapped up before the end credits. It's solid entertainment and a decent way to spend just over two hours.

Now, a note on my backwards viewing. It's really interesting to watch the ridiculousness toned down with every movie instead of turned up. I kind of wish there was a series of films that went this direction for real, but I kind of want to try this again. Maybe the Fast and Furious movies.

Befitting its title, the movie revolves largely around the people and events taking place at fictional Lincoln International Airport - a fact which serves to create one of its many problems. The first half (and maybe a little more than that) is nothing more than a soap opera as we discover that pretty much everyone in this movie has marriages that have fallen or are falling apart. We get introduced to the tensions between the Bakersfelds (Burt Lancaster and Dana Wynter), to the extra marital romance between pilot Vern Demerest (Dean Martin) and stewardess Gwen (Jacqueline Bissett) and the only guy who seems happy in his marriage - maintenance man Joe Petrone (George Kennedy) - gets called away from a make out session with his wife to help with the disaster as it unfolds. Then we discover Mrs. Quonset (Helen Hayes) who is discovered as a stowaway and who explains how she manages to pull it off time and time again - a sweet little old lady who has no qualms at all about breaking the law. Of course there's the personal angst of the man who plans to blow the plane up (Van Heflin.) Put bluntly, the first half of the movie is only for those who like a good soap opera. None of their various escapades make any of the characters (except perhaps Petrone) particularly likable, although Hayes does inject some humour with her portrayal as Mrs. Quonset.

The second half of the movie really isn't that much better. Although the setting shifts from time to time now to the stricken airliner, the film is still split at least half and half between the plane and the airport. The difference is now that both lack any real excitement. For a plane on which a bomb has just gone off everyone seems remarkably calm and there just isn't any real sense that there's really any danger of this plane not landing safely. At the airport the focus of attention is on clearing Runway 29 so that the big 707 can land. Except there's not a lot of drama there either. How exciting is it, you ask, to watch a bunch of men dig an airplane out of the snow? Not very. How dramatic? A little given the circumstances - until we discover that there's a simple way to get the plane off the runway anyway. Sure it might damage the plane and cost the airline a lot of money but there's a planeload of people who need the runway, folks! Once we discover that it can be easily done we know it's going to be. So, take away any drama - unless you find it dramatic to watch George Kennedy try to ease the plane out of a snowbank, which isn't much different than watching your average Joe try to get a car out of a snowbank.

Add on some special effects that are so bad they're funny. In a movie that spent enough money to get a high profile cast of actors you'd think they could have come up with something a bit more realistic than using an obviously plastic toy plane being dragged against a black backdrop with white dots - as stars - to simulate flight. I know this was 1970, but this was the best they could do?

Basically, this is not a great "disaster" flick. It isn't itself a disaster, either. The acting is decent enough, Hayes is funny enough. But it's a truly mediocre film. 4/10

Universal assembled an all-star cast for this film version of Arthur Hailey's best-selling novel "Airport", and the result was a critical and box-office smash that earned 10 Oscar nominations. The film is at its basics pure soap-opera built around the impending bomb on a 707 bound for Rome. The workings of a major international airport are well depicted and the cast provides some great performances. Burt Lancaster, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Seberg, Maureen Stapleton, Dean Martin, and Van Heflin all turn in some of the best performances of their careers, and Helen Hayes (who won an Oscar for supporting actress) is endearing as the stowaway, who has worked out quite a system for flying for free. "Airport"'s success signaled the beginning of the disaster movie era that was followed over the next several years by such films as "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", "Earthquake", "Two Minute Warning", and "Rollercoaster". "Airport" also inspired three sequels, although none of them even approached the original.

George Seaton directed this massive box-office hit about an busy airport(of course!) threatened not only by a blizzard, but a bomber on one of its planes. All-star cast includes Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bissit, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, and George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, a role he would reprise in the three sequels.

Though long, contrived, and potentially silly, this film still managed to be entertaining in spite of the melodrama, thanks to the good cast of actors who still give it their all(and a wonderful, Academy Award winning performance by Helen Hayes as a chronic "stowaway".)

Though star Burt Lancaster was embarrassed by its success, and despite later spoofing, this holds up as fine escapist fare.

In Airport, Burt Lancaster was having one of those days. His neglected wife Dana Wynter is complaining about him not making a banquet for the umpteenth time. But Burt's got his problems other than the normal ones that come with the job of running the Lincoln Airport and I assume they mean Lincoln, Nebraska. Unexpected snow has hit and being from Buffalo that's something I can appreciate. He's got a stuck plane on his best runway. He's getting harassed from the board of directors, he's getting complaints about the noise from the nearby residents. He's been brought a perennial stowaway in Helen Hayes by his girl Friday Jean Seberg. His brother-in-law, pilot Dean Martin, has filed a complaint against him to the Board of Directors. And he's got Van Heflin loose with a bomb. It's just one those days he should never have come to work.

Director George Seaton packed a whole lot of stars and a whole lot of plot into the 137 minute running time of Airport. It's good entertaining drama that made a whole lot of money back in the early Seventies and was so popular it spawned three sequels. Of course these were really giant commercials for the airline industry, but who cared, then or now.

Seaton kept the action going pretty good, almost so that you forget that you're movie star gazing and concentrate on the plot. George Kennedy played maintenance man Joe Petroni, a role he repeated in all four Airport films. Maureen Stapleton gives a tragic, gut wrenching performance as the suicidal Van Heflin's wife, undeservedly, unheralded at the time.

The comic relief in this belongs to the first lady of the American Theater Helen Hayes. She won her second Oscar as the perennial stowaway, Ada Quonset. Her scene with Jean Seberg and Burt Lancaster as she matter of factly tells of her methods of theft of service is a delight. And she figures prominently in the climax as well.

A year ago I saw Peter Riegert when he made an appearance in Buffalo with his film King of the Corner. I asked him about Burt Lancaster who he worked with and he said that Lancaster told him his philosophy of choosing roles was that he alternated his choices. As he quoted Burt Lancaster, Riegert said that Burt's philosophy was that he made one film for himself and one for the poke. One for artistry and one that would be a commercial success so he could afford to do the other.

Airport was one for the poke. But the fact is that Lancaster and the rest of the players made it good entertainment as well.

This air catastrophe movie blends drama , intrigue , disaster spectacle , suspense and emotional byplay with romance included . Plastic acting and stock characters detailing a hectic flight in 747 Boeing . This is the original of four movies in the "Airport" series . It's exciting and amusing but full clichés and stereotypes with acceptable performance by top-of-the-range actors . The movie is another jetliner epic with all star cast in ¨Grand Hotel¨ plot formula that reaches his zenith in this exciting film . Taking place on a fateful winter night , a commercial airline of the American Airlines 747 Boeing ( piloted by Dean Martin , Gary Collins , Barry Nelson ) . Then Commandant Dean Martin along with crew and flight attendant ( Jacqueline Bisset who brings conviction to her character as dedicated stewardess and Dean Martin's lover ) taking on a dangerous bomber (Van Heflin) . The film is detailing hectic flighty and the relationship among passengers . All clichéd and stock roles with regurgitation of all usual stereotypical situations from disaster films , the nuns, an aging woman ( Helen Hayes who won Academy Award as likable stowaway ), nervous passengers . Taking place on freeze and rainy skies as background and the airplane heading to Rome .

This ultra-slick picture contains thriller , suspense , melodrama , moderate tension and is quite entertaining although with some flaws and gaps . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series profits of a strong acting by Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin bringing life to main characters and remaining actors formed by all-star-cast . And of course appears the classic character Patroni played by usual George Kennedy who will his role in subsequent sequels . This old-fashioned motion picture is professionally directed by George Seaton ( Country girl , Miracle on 34th street ) . It's followed by ¨Airport 1975¨ by Jack Smight with Charlton Heston , Karen Black and Gloria Swanson , ¨Airport 1977¨ by Jerry Jameson with Jack Lemmon and James Stewart and ¨Airport 79 the Concorde¨ by David Lowell Rich with Alain Delon and Robert Wagner . Furthermore , ¨ Skyjacked (1972) ¨ by John Guillermin with Charlton Heston and the film was parodied heavily in Airplane! (1980) by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker . It's an inoffensive diversion but is sometimes tediously unspooled and contains some stiff performances . But if you've seen the original ¨Airport¨ based on the Arthur Hailey's novel 'the daddy of them all' , you have seen them all . The film will appeal to Lancaster-Martin fans and disaster genre enthusiasts

This Best Picture nominee from 1970 is unbelievably bland and ridiculous. Helen Hayes with her pixie-act conned her way into her second Oscar. Maureen Stapleton (a fine actress) blubbers and moans throughout. Burt Lancaster should have stayed home. Jackie Bissett is beautiful as always. Dean Martin is on snooze control. George Kennedy is gruff and brash. Only Van Heflin as the "madman" scores some points.

A 2 out of 10. Barbara Hale is competent. Jean Seberg is confused. The script is a mess! Everyone seems to be from different planets and I just don't get the point. What can you do? The same year JOE, HUSBANDS, SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, CATCH-22, THE LANDLORD, and THE GREAT WHITE HOPE were NOT nominated for Best Picture.

Glad to see that others enjoyed the movie on TCM this evening. I'm rather disturbed that they used an older "cut-up" version that was intended for network showing. Several good scenes were cut out of the way. (I have several different versions and cuts of this movie on DVD and VHS). Yes, I still enjoy watching the movie.

I think the important thing to observe is that during the 1970's air travel was considered "much more" luxurious than it is now, and a majority of middle class Americans had not yet taken to the sky. Believe it or not, you really did get real wine glasses while in coach. :-) The set design of the 707 is EXACTLY perfect. I flew with my parents many times and remember those interiors well. I wish the airlines would take a look at this movie while they are doing personnel reviews. HEHE..

Sure, the writing is a little "campy" but overall it is an excellent movie with actual historic value.

(Some Spoilers) With the heaviest snowfall hitting the Chicago area in six years Lincoln International Airport is close to being shut down but it's bull-headed manager Mel Brekersfeld, Burt Lancaster. Mel Berkerfeld is determined to keep the airport open at all costs even if it costs him his job. It's within the next 12 hours that Mel will go through a series gut wrenching crisis's that by the time that their over he'll finally have time to get away from his high pressure job leave his nagging stuck-up and socially conscious wife Cindy (Dana Wynter), who didn't seem to understand or appreciate the stress he was under, for good and drive off with his secretary and airline service & personal manager Tanya, Jean Seaberg. To have a sample of Tanya's famous and talked about scramble eggs for breakfast.

The granddaddy of all Airport/Airplane disaster movies "Airport" had millions of eager moviegoers ready to see it since the book Arthur Halley's "Airport" was published two years earlier and became one the biggest best-sellers of the 1960's. It was expected by the makers of "Airport" that the movie would follow as one of the biggest hit's coming out of the motion picture industry of the 1970's, they were right on target. Breaking all records "Airport" made some 50 million dollars in ticket sales within the first six months after it's release in March 1970. Even though it wasn't taken seriously at all by the film critics and even it's star Burt Lancaster but the public just loved it.

After clearing up the tarmac of ice and snow the Trans Global Airline flight from Chicago to Rome Italy is airborne and what at first seemed headed across he Atlantic. News coming from the control tower at Lincoln is very disturbing about one of the passengers on board. A desperate and suicidal lunatic had bought a $250,000.00 insurance policy and is planing to blow himself and the plane up when it flies over the North Atlantic. D.O Goerrero, Van Heflin, had hocked his wife's Inez, Maureen Stapleton, mother's wedding ring and with the money bought himself a plane ticket on a one way flight, for him and those on board, to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Guerrero a former mental patient and explosive expert in the US Army tells his wife that he's going to Milwaukee for a job as a building demolition man. Unknown to Inez her husband is really out of his mind and with a number of dynamite sticks that he stole from his former employer is going to end it all in order to have her collect the $250,000.00 insurance policy that he took out on himself.

Tense drama at 30,000 feet as plane Captain Vernon Demerest, Dean Martin, Mel's brother-in-law and Co-Captain Harris, Barry Nelson, attempt to steer the 100 passenger and crew 707 back to Chicago. Without letting Guerrero know that their on to him and land the plane safely in the middle of a blistering and blinding winter snowstorm.

There's also a number of side stories in the movie with both Mel & Vernon cheating on their wives and in Mel's case his wife cheating on him. There's also the lovable little old lady stowaway Mrs. Alda Quonsett, Helen Hayes,who steals not only a free ride but everyones heart. And there's the beautiful 25 year-old Jackie Bissett as stewardess Gwen Meighen who's been having an affair with the plane Captain Vernon Demerest, lucky guy, and is now pregnant by him and, together with Vernon, wants to have their baby, despite him being "happily" married to Mel's sister Shara, Barbara Hale.

Exciting final sequence as Vernon together with his co-pilot Capt. Nelson fly the 707, with it's tail section about to break off, into the ice covered airport runway as the feisty ground crew chief Joe Patroni, George Kenndey, dives a stuck in the ice and snow airliner clear of the path of the descending passenger plane. All this just before it's, the grounded plane, about to be cut to pieces by a dozen of so bulldozers in order to move it out in time.

Everyone but poor and hysterical Mrs. Inza Guerrero's husband D.O, who was killed in the bomb blast, is safe in the end with Vernon and the badly injured, from the bomb explosion, Gwen being rushed off to the hospital. As Vernon's wife Shrah rushes to the airport to see if he's safe only to find out that Vernons been doing a lot more then flying and landing planes all those long and lonely days and nights that he's been away from her.

There is a snow storm at Chicago's Lincoln International Airport. Manager Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is working hard to handle all the emergencies. There is a demonstration against the new runway that flies over a neighborhood. He calls in mechanic Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) to pull out a plane stuck in the snow. D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin) intends to blow up his plane in the air so that his wife Inez (Maureen Stapleton) could collect the life insurance money. Captain Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) keeps pushing the airport to run faster and pushes the pilot to take off. Stewardess Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset) is on board and is pregnant with the married Demerest's baby. Mrs. Ada Quonsett (Helen Hayes) is an expert stowaway.

The movie has a lot of character minutiae before it gets to the drama. The cast is amazing and Helen Hayes probably won the Oscar for her body of work. The acting suffers from the scale which overshadows everything. There are too many stories to follow. I don't care about most of them. It's rather boring for much of the movie. It's a big movie that doesn't generate enough tension. I am also uncertain whether to praise its influence in starting the 70s disaster movie craze or to hate it for the camp that most of that genre represent. This is not a terribly compelling movie until they get on the plane. Basically the last half is a good disaster movie but the first half is boring as hell.