Airport

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.

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.

Airport is a film that has been unfairly tarnished by having spawned three `sequels' which were really just variations on the aviation disaster plot-line with little in common with this film. In fact there is a whole lot more to this film than aviation disaster but at no point is there the feeling of `gee I wish the plane would hurry up and crash'. Much of the running time is taken with exploring the personal dramas of the various personalities of Lincoln Airport; Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster) must contend with stacked up planes and a snow-bound airport, a bitter wife, and philandering and antagonistic brother-in-law Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin). Between dealing with complaints by nearby residents and airport officials, Mel loves Tania Livingstone (Jean Seberg), the calm and efficient Airport administrator who spends her time at the airport dealing with complaining customers, customs cheats, and little old lady stowaway Ada Quonset (Helen Hayes). Meanwhile Vernon, married to Mel's sister Sarah also loves flight attendant Gwen Mieghan (Jacqueline Bissett) who has just announced her pregnancy. Much sympathy is generated for struggling older woman Inez Guerrero (Maureen Stapleton, who is excellent) who discovers that her heavily insured husband D O Guerrero (Van Heflin, also excellent in one of his last roles) who has claimed to have found demolition work in Milwaukee, has actually booked a one-way ticket to Rome. Inez frantically travels to the airport but arrives after the plane has taken off... with Vernon, Gwen and Ada amongst those on board.

The film is an classy, old-fashioned drama which does not feel at all like the wave of disaster films that followed. The acting and characterisation is good and the subplots genuinely involving. There is also an interesting use of split-screen type devices, and a nice line in comedy. A great film if you can ignore all those silly disclaimers insisting that Boeing 707s are excellent aeroplanes, etc. (Not that they aren't good planes or anything...)

Is amuses me how easily many here can offer condemnation of this film. If you condemn it by reason that it doesn't capture the viewer in a way that say The Maltese Falcon or Vertigo did then perhaps I can understand.

It seems however that most of the harsh words are coming from the youngsters without much desire to even know what real films were like. I suppose it's not entirely their fault. I mean an action film to them has to involve no less than 55% CGI effects, 25% scantily clad, or outright nude actresses, oh! and more times than not a totally unrealistic plot.

But you see many years back in the early 70s and beyond they didn't have CGI to make up for lacking plots and poor acting. And at that point and time you couldn't really show full nudity so you couldn't rack them into theaters that way either (note the first scene with the lovely Miss. Bissett where she emerges from the shower and barely flashes just the side of her breast. That was probably pretty racy for the time).

So since you can't have any cheap outs like you can today, Gee Whiz! you had to have a real plot and have the ability to act! Lancaster has always been a favorite and he did act very well in this film. Youngsters see the likes of Dean Martin and George Kennedy and don't know what to think because all they've ever known was a Hollywood that produces computer generated fluff. Frankly guys if your idea of an action movie is watching Speed then you need to widen your horizon (no offense to the great Dennis Hopper).

Airport was not as in depth as the book, this is true. Seldom will you find a screenplay to be written with the same depth. Do you know why? Because you can't make the film last for 9 hours!

I know this is more a rebuttal that an outright review of the movie, but it amazes me how some of the CGI junkies have room to talk when it comes to offering their disdain for films with some of the most historic actors in history. This movie is totally entertaining and works well. And the idea some whine because it may not be 'PC' by today's standards is nothing more than extremist liberal drivel. Dino womanizing is apparently an offensive no-no. But today you can show something 50 times as bad and because its more modern and allegedly more acceptable by this standard, no one blinks. Amazing.

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.