Airport '77

I can't imagine anything thinking that "Airport '77" is a great movie. After all, it takes the usual "Airport" formula and throws it into a premise that is not only bizarre but rather silly. Yet, oddly, despite this, the movie IS enjoyable and worth seeing.

A rich guy has arranged for a private luxury 747 airliner to bring friends and loved ones to a big party. What no one realizes, however, is that several members of the crew are planning on using knockout gas to take control of the plane and then land it on some abandoned airport in the Bahamas. Apparently, it's all because they plan on stealing some paintings aboard the plane....though this seemed like silly motivation. I would have also considered ransoming off the passengers...which they aren't planning on doing.

Speaking of not planning....the overly complicated plan goes awry when the plane is flying under radar and accidentally collides with some beacon. IMDB says fog was responsible....I never noticed fog in this scene at all. Regardless, the plan crash lands in the ocean and soon sinks in what IMDB says is about 100 feet of water*. The cabin has managed to stay air tight....at least for now. But with air running out, is there any chance at rescue?

Despite a totally ludicrous premise, the film manages to make it all seem possible...which it surely isn't as you continue watching the story. Regardless, the story IS engaging and interesting. I did find it unusual that Jack Lemmon of all people plays a bit of an action hero! But still, it does manage to entertain and it sure kept me glued to the screen.

*Although they said the plane was a hundred feet down, this really could NOT have been the case, as the pilot swimming to the surface clearly would have been highly unlikely (that is a LONG way to free dive for someone untrained) and if he had survived, he likely would have been a physical mess as a result of decompression. Here, it all looked too easy to be that deep and the water clarity made it seem like the plane was about 50 feet down...from which a dive to the surface is much, much more likely to result in survival. I've made such dives to the surface myself....which isn't easy but is so much safer and easier than from 100 feet.

Landing after the TV sitcom-level cast/plot of "Airport 1975", but arriving before the ludicrous "The Concorde-Airport '79" is this slick disaster film entry. Featuring Oscar-winning and nominated stars like Lemmon, Grant, de Havilland, Quinlan, Kennedy and Stewart, it also offers one of the best caliber casts of the '70's disaster cycle. There is no deep thinking involved in watching the film, but it does offer some watery thrills and some fun thrashing around as the plane first skips along the surface of the water and then slips under. Suspense builds as the pressure continues to wreak havoc on the plane's outer skin and, unusually for an "Airport" film, pretty many lives are claimed! The death toll in this film is higher than the other three combined. It's great to see so many once and future stars flopping around in the underwater tomb, but the main attraction is Lee Grant. Clocking in with only about a dozen or so total minutes of screen time, she is utterly hilarious and unforgettable as a shrewish, boozy, sarcastic lush. No one is safe from her rude, brash comments and she is a joy to behold for bad-move connoisseurs. Her husband in the film is Christpher Lee. Fortunately, they didn't marry offscreen or she would have become Lee Lee, but that's another story.......

I was first exposed to this movie when it seemed to air on NBC every six months or so back in the early 80s, and as a result it's hindered my ability to enjoy it as a guilty pleasure on home video, even on widescreen DVD. That's because the TV showings were purposefully padded to two parts with more than an hour of extra footage that in this case places the characters in much better context than they appear in the theatrical version, (don't get me wrong, it doesn't elevate it to a topnotch story, but at least the narrative makes better sense). The biggest revelation upon seeing the theatrical cut was how all of George Kennedy's scenes before the crash weren't there any more.

Even at it's best, Airport 77 is only par for the course as far as disaster movies go. The plot is a little more innovative and the rescue scenes of trying to survive and then get the plane raised are more realistic than what we were served up in Airport 1975 with the stewardess flying the plane. Jack Lemmon does succeed as the nominal lead and that helps make one more charitable toward the rest of the supporting cast which is largely wasted in some classic, stereotyped cliched roles. But towards the end, it starts to drag just a bit. You can also see the beginnings of Jimmy Stewart's declining health since he's basically forced to play his part as though he were appearing as a guest on the Johnny Carson show instead of making his character more distinctive.

The widescreen DVD is worth having but I strongly recommend catching the expanded TV version instead, even if it is panned and scanned.

Of all the disaster flicks, this seems to be the one I enjoy most, perhaps it was the first one I would see.

But looking back at the hot pants in Poseidon Adventure & Dunaway's dress and the tuxedoes in Towering Inferno, Airport '77 is quite an elegantly dressed cast, aren't they?

The movie would get famed Hollywood fashion expert Edith Head to dress the cast and it shows. Anyone else would have made Brenda Vaccarro look obese trying to put her in that pullover sweater.

Airplane! would make fun of Edith Head being credited for '77 like that, by crediting their own costumer, but 27 years later, the wardrobe makes the cast of '77 appear tremendously dashing, giving the tragedy that greater a feel as well.

Jack Lemmon was an incredible standout as the hero of the piece, in comparison to Paul Newman's sexism in Towering Inferno (he never speaks to Jennifer Jones as a human during their entire ordeal with the children) or Heston's stiffness or McQueen's inexpressiveness.

Two years after her Oscar nomination, Vaccarro was hardly the disaster flicks idea of a leading lady as well, so she is quite a one-of-a-kind casting also.

When I was little, I was most fascinated with Arlene Golonka, who I knew from the Andy Griffith show.

Later, identifying the rest of the cast just made it more and more fun. Dracula, Buck Rogers, Kolchak the Nightstalker (Darren McGavin & Jack Lemmon were a powerhouse duo).

Then the names and stars figured into it. DeHavilland, Cotten, Grant. No one looked more out of place than Olivia DeHavilland in an underwater airplane.

Robert Hooks as the crippled bartender and Tom Sullivan (who is actually blind) as the pianist added even more flavor.

There is M. Emmet Walsh, "The Name, But What Which One Is Him?" actor. He is the doctor, and I do enjoy his one scene when he explains who he really is.

Monica Lewis, disaster movie staple. She would appear in Earthquake and Concorde: Airport '79. Check out her expression as she and Olivia DeHavilland enter the lifeboat. It reads "Miss DeHavilland, I'm one of your biggest fans. I really enjoyed you in Gone With The Wind." Lucy Ricardo lives.

Should it have been a commercial airline, instead of a private plane? Not necessarily.

I enjoy watching it now and observing a few of the female extras at the beginning of the crash don't seem to be present anymore by the end. It seems that they weren't available for filming then.

I would argue, as a movie, that this one is more fun to watch than the first one. Lancaster and Seberg in the first Airport movie are comical to me trying to be so serious.

And the second Airport movie, Airport '75, is funnier than Airplane.

There is a very strong and different feel from Airport '77 than the other Airport flicks or the other disaster films in general.

Plastic acting and stock characters detailing a hectic flight in 747 Boeing . It is an insincere , slick attempt to find box-office magic again , and , really , it achieved a hit smash . This is the third of four movies in the "Airport" series adapted from the Arthur Hailey novel . It's exciting and amusing but full clichés and stereotypes , including the unavoidable accident , with passable acting by all-star-cast . Twist to this in-flight catastrophe is that the bad time in the air happen underwater . The movie is another jetliner epic with hero Jack Lemmon as valiant pilot . Billionaire -James Stewart- fills his converted passenger commercial airline of the American Airlines 747 with priceless paintings and sets off to Palm Beach for a museum opening being piloted by Jack Lemmon , Robert Foxworth and joined by an invited band of hijackers , and being subsequently crashed into the sea . Describing the reactions of the crew and passengers as they cope with the impeding doom . At the end takes places a daring rescue attempt . The film is detailing hectic flighty piloted by Jack Lemmon and the relationship among passengers . If you've seen the original ¨Airport¨ by George Seaton based on the Arthur Hailey's novel 'the daddy of them all' , you have seen them all .

This old-fashioned catastrophe picture contains thriller , suspense , drama , moderate tension and being quite entertaining though with some flaws and gaps . All clichéd and stock roles with regurgitation of all usual stereotypical situations from disaster films , including a fairly moronic screenplay . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series profits of an enjoyable acting by Jack Lemmon , bringing life to character , in fact , to prepare for his role, Jack attended both diving school and flight training school , as he wanted to know what all the knobs and dials were for . Look quickly to Robert Hooks , Monte Markham , Kathleen Quinlan , Darren McGavin ,Gil Gerard , M. Emmet Walsh , Pamela Bellwood ,Michael Pataki , James Booth and Chris Lemmon , Jack's son as Radioman . And , of course , it appears the classic character Patroni played by usual George Kennedy continuing his role appeared in all four "Airport" pictures . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jerry Jameson , habitual TV director and occasionally for movie theater . Jerry went onto direct a similar sunken-vehicle high-concept picture around three years later with Raise the Titanic (1980) ; instead of raising a sunken 747 airplane from underwater it was the ship the Titanic . However , Airport '77 (1977) was box-office hit whereas Raise the Titanic (1980) was a box-office flop . It's an inoffensive diversion but is sometimes tediously unspooled . The film will appeal to Jack Lemmon fans and disaster genre enthusiasts .

This sagas belongs the following films : the first was ¨Airport¨ (1970) , unanimously deemed the best , it paved the way for many lesser flicks including its many sequels , being directed by George Seaton with Burt Lancaster , Jean Seberg , Dean Martin , Van Heflin ; ¨Airport 75¨ (1974) by Jack Smight with Charlton Heston , Karen Black and Gloria Swanson , ¨Airport 77¨ (1977) considered one of the best of the series , leading to the last of the tired ones , ¨Airport 79¨ , (1979) by David Lowell Rich with Alain Delon , Robert Wagner , Silvia Kristel . Furthermore , ¨ Skyjacked (1972) ¨ by John Guillermin with Charlton Heston , James Brolin and this film was parodied heavily in Airplane! (1980) by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker .