Airport (film series)

AIRPORT (PG)

D: George Seaton

Universal (Ross Hunter)

USA 🇺🇸 1970

136 mins

Adventure/Drama

W: George Seaton [based on the novel by Arthur Hailey]

DP: Ernest Laszlo

Ed: Stuart Gilmore

Mus: Alfred Newman

PD: Preston Ames & Alexander Golitzen

Cos: Edith Head

Burt Lancaster (Mel Bakersfield), Dean Martin (Vernon Demerest), Jean Seberg (Tanya Livingstone), Jacqueline Bisset (Gwen Meighen), George Kennedy (Joe Patroni), Helen Hayes (Ada Quonsett), Van Heflin (D.O. Guerrero), Maureen Stapleton (Inez Guerrero), Barry Nelson (Lt. Anson Harris), Dana Wynter (Cindy Bakersfield)

This is the movie responsible for giving birth to an entire spawn of 'disaster' movies which saturated the 1970's box office, including three sequels of its own.

This first film circles around events at a major international airport, culminating in drama when a mad bomber is killed and the damaged plane has to be talked down by air traffic control.

It's basically a soap opera with a big event thrown in and save for a couple of good performances, gets bogged down in dialogue which is practically exposition and really isn't very interesting. It hasn't dated very well in all honesty, but was considered a big deal at the time.

7/10

Jacqueline Bisset & Helen Hayes in Airport

Did You Know:

Burt Lancaster, who headlined the movie above the title with Dean Martin, made a great deal of money from the film, which was a huge hit. Lancaster's contract gave him a ten percent profit participation once the movie hit fifty million dollars, and the film grossed 45.3 million dollars in North America alone. Despite the financial windfall, Lancaster said that the movie was "the worst piece of junk ever made." He said he only made this film in return for the studio agreeing to finance several non-commercial films, in which he was interested.

Award Wins & Nominations:

MILSTEAD MOVIE AWARDS:

Wins: none

Nominations: 10 (Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (x2); Best Ensemble Cast; Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing; Best Original Dramatic Score; Best Production Design; Best Sound)

OSCARS:

Wins: 1 (Best Actress in a Supporting Role)

Nominations: 9 (Best Picture; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Screenplay - Adaptation; Best Art Direction; Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design; Best Film Editing; Best Original Score; Best Sound)

BAFTAS

Wins: none

Nominations: 1 (Best Actress in a Supporting Role)

OTHER WINS:

Golden Globes (Best Supporting Actress); Golden Laurels (Best Supporting Female Performance); Golden Reel Awards (Best Sound Editing)

AIRPORT 1975 (PG)

D: Jack Smight

Universal (Jennings Lang & William Frye)

USA 🇺🇸 1974

105 mins

Adventure/Drama

W: Don Ingalls [based on the play "Flight Into Danger" by Arthur Hailey]

DP: Philip Lathrop

Ed: J. Terry Williams

Mus: John Cacavas

Charlton Heston (Capt. Alan Murdoch), Karen Black (Nancy Pryor), George Kennedy (Joe Patroni), Helen Reddy (Sister Ruth), Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Capt. Stacy), Susan Clark (Mrs. Patroni), Myrna Loy (Mrs. Devaney), Linda Blair (Janice Abbott), Dana Andrews (Scott Freeman), Gloria Swanson (herself)

Following an airborne event which kills the main crew of a commercial flight after a mid-air collision with private aircraft, a stewardess with no training has to take the controls and safely land the plane.

Aside from one good performance, this is a wishy-washy sequel to the first film (in fact, calling this a sequel is a misnomer. Barely any original cast members return. The film wasn't released in 1975 either)

It gives a few big names of the 1940's and 1950's a chance to appear on screen for their swansong, but it's a rather formulaic disaster movie trading solely on the success of the 1970 original.

The film was parodied to perfection in 1980's Airplane (qv).

5/10

Did You Know:

Gloria Swanson wrote all her own dialogue. She also delivered the last line of the film. This was her first movie in twenty-two years. She explained, "I was holding out for a picture I could take my grandchildren to see, something exciting and contemporary without senseless violence."

Award Wins & Nominations:

MILSTEAD MOVIE AWARDS:

Wins: none

Nominations: 1 (Best Actress in a Supporting Role)

OSCARS:

Wins: none

Nominations: none

BAFTAS

Wins: none

Nominations: none

OTHER WINS:

none

AIRPORT '77 (PG)

D: Jerry Jameson

Universal (William Frye)

USA 🇺🇸 1977

114 mins (Extended Cut: 182 mins)

Adventure/Drama

W: Michael Scheff & David Spector [based on a story by H. A. L. Craig & Charles Kuenstle]

DP: Philip Lathrop

Ed: Robert Watts & J. Terry Williams

Mus: John Cacavas

PD: George C. Webb

Cos: Edith Head & F. Burton Miller

Jack Lemmon (Capt. Don Gallagher), James Stewart (Philip Stevens), Brenda Vaccaro (Eve Clayton), Joseph Cotten (Nicholas St. Downs III), Olivia de Havilland (Emily Livingston), Lee Grant (Karen Wallace), Christopher Lee (Martin Wallace), George Kennedy (Joe Patroni)

More of the same...

A private airliner carrying people in posh attire and expensive art performs an emergency landing and settles underwater still carrying all passengers and cargo.

The same mixture is used here as prior Airport movies, with a different group of guest performers all going through the same emotions of looking scared and delivering banal, soap opera dialogue. Oscar nominations were received for costumes and production design, but neither are truly remarkable.

5/10

Did You Know:

The one-hour extra extended version, which has been broadcast on television several times, has never been released on any home media format.

Award Wins & Nominations:

MILSTEAD MOVIE AWARDS:

Wins: none

Nominations: 2 (Best Production Design; Best Visual Effects)

Worst of the Year: 1 nomination (Worst Sequel, Remake or Ripoff)

OSCARS:

Wins: none

Nominations: 2 (Best Art Direction; Best Costume Design)

BAFTAS

Wins: none

Nominations: none

OTHER WINS:

none