Airport (1970)

Airport 1970 is a surprisingly engaging drama and just about worth the time investment given its attention to detail and faith paid to backstory, and of course its stellar cast of great actors like the intense Burt Lancaster, dashingly heroic Dean Martin and tough and assured cigar-chomping George Kennedy. It's a bit old-fashioned, made at the tail end of the 60s in which dialogue can sound clichéd, action tame, but there is some surprising humour with Helen Hayes in Academy Award winning form, and some nice one-liners from the strapped in supporting cast. It wasn't until Airport 1975 that the dialogue and stereotypical narrative would get so corny and ridiculous so as to inspire Zucker Bros & Co. to parody the air disaster epic.

This may have been the first of the "Airport" films but it isn't the best one at all. None of them are good but the 1974 follow-up film is a bit better. Running at 130 minutes, "Airport" is far too long. The budget is quite modest in spite of how the film looks. Burt Lancaster has nothing to do. Everyone is wasted. The build-up takes a lot longer than it should.

As Hitchcock's reign was coming to an end, a new sub-genre popped out of nowhere to become the main provider of thrills for the decade to come. In 1970, "Airport", George Seaton's star- studded Best Picture nominee paved the runway to the disaster genre.From the air to the fire, water to animals living in it, these cinematic instances where mother Nature took the bad role, seemed to fulfill a masochistic craving for mass destruction or their impending doom, and the closer to the audience the characters were, the more heart-pounding the experience was. By the end of the 70's, Lucas, Scott and Spielberg had already reshaped the thrillers, relocating the settings to space or more "exotic" locations, taking viewers back to the outmoded charm of 40's/50's B-movies. And in 1980, the final nail of the disaster's coffin was the spoof movie's "Airplane!": no one would ever take any disaster film seriously after that. But at the dawn of the 70's, while America was caught between the polarizing effects of the Vietnam War and the disillusion of the economical crisis, escapism could only be conveyed by life-threatening situations with a fistful of survivors. Sometimes, there would be more... and on that level "Airport", as the starter, went pretty easy with the protagonists, but what it did and what it should be remembered for is to have defined a sub-genre, one that culminated with "Jaws" and ended with "The China Syndrome". These movies would all obey the same codes: a cast full of big names was the primal requirement and there would be as many stars as intertwining stories and subplots, all affected by a disaster that would either change or terminate their lives. This mix of spectacular terror and mundane banality give these films a unique flavor: you could root for these people because they dealt with similar problems than yours, but because some of them would remind you of a few enemies, you wouldn't mind watching them falling to their death, being drown or crushed. Did I say masochistic? I guess there are some sadistic impulses. And when I started "Airport", I wanted these little guilty impulses of mine to be satisfied; there were a few characters that were made so unlikable I was already jumping at the idea of seeing them sucked out of a hole in the aircraft or having Karma backfiring at them in a way or another. But nothing happened.As a matter of fact, nothing EVER happened, nothing thrilling that could fit in a ten-minute montage. The film is just an assemblage of marital arguments, characters expositions, and promising build-ups without any emotional reward whatsoever. I enjoyed the campiness of these people washing their dirty linen in public; it works on the "so bad it's good" level. Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner in "Earthquake" or that macho duel between McQueen and Newman in "Towering Inferno", were delightfully over the top, but they belonged to movies that could backup the hammy acting with great thrills. Not every film could aspire to be a powerful drama à la "Jaws" or "China Syndrome" but disaster movies were always great thrillers in their own right.And I really expected "Airport", as the one that defined all these archetypes, to be slightly better than its predecessors. As far as acting went, I expected nothing but it was fun to see Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin approach their stories as if their lives depended on it, how overly macho George Kennedy did his 'chief mechanic' shtick and how nervous Van Helfin was and more ridiculous the fact that no one suspected him. But this is nothing compared to the female roles: Helen Hayes' old innocent lady's routine act, the compassionate mistresses played by Jean Seberg and Jacqueline Bisset, and the selfish pompous wife asking for a divorce and giving her husband a free pass for infidelity. These subplots made me wonder what statement about marriage the film wanted to deliver and why did they think we would care enough to see THAT occupying more room than the plane problem.Halfway through the film, I had to check my watch, the plane hadn't even taken off and I spent more time trying to figure out what was going, especially with all these annoying split screens and phone calls. So there's a storm, snow everywhere, planes are blocked, people complain about pollution, the Captain cheat his wife, the manager spent too much time at work, a plane is blocking the runway, and a man wants to explode a bomb so his wife can get the life insurance. I'm pretty sure this could have been handled in less than one hour so we can get directly to the plane part. Once Helfin finally explodes -and off-screen for all that- it's all about landing the plane, and guess what? The plane lands… but there's no suspense whatsoever injected in this, only a race against the clock. To the film's defense, in a plane, it's either everyone dies or everyone survives, so the film was victim of its very premise and didn't convey this life-threatening Adrenalin effect. The only character that brings some deep humanity is Maureen Stapleton but she's so seldom seen in the film that it's not enough. Watching "Airport" under the scope of its influence made me realize how infinitely better the successors were and the day after, they aired "Die Hard 2" on TV, well, I know "Airport" tried to pass as realistic drama and "Die Hard 2" asks a bit too much on the suspension of disbelief department, but I'd take that airport-themed movie over "Airport" any time. "Airport" is enjoyable to some degree, the campy acting and the whole old-fashioned treatment gives a sort of involuntary qualities, but what is unforgivable is that is fails to provide the basic element of a thriller: thrills!

As an avid Dean Martin fan, sure I loved this film. But watching it again now, 46 years later, it's a darned good film. A bit dated, of course. But, if you wonder what air travel was like back in 1970, this gives you a pretty good idea from terminal issues to actual flying. And of course, "Airport" spawned a whole series of sequels.Before I get into the film, I wanted to mention that I am watching this on Universal's Blu Ray edition, and it's an extremely nice transfer. However, the way the disc works with special features and restarting after a pause is rather odd.The first thing that I remember from my original viewing of this film in theaters was how interesting just seeing how airports work. There's a bit of technical stuff here than adds to the realism.The second thing remembered was how worn out Burt Lancaster looked. Of course, he was nearing 60, but a little better makeup would have helped. Nevertheless, it's a good performance, and I say that as someone who didn't always appreciate Lancaster.I remember folks wondering if Dean would be believable as an airline pilot. Well, he was, and in fact his is another very good performance, particularly in the scene just before the bomb goes off.I usually wan't impressed with Jean Seberg, although she does nicely here. Her personal life and the intrigue surrounding it were probably more interesting than many of her acting roles. I feel similarly about Jacqueline Bisset -- a little shallow as an actress. But they were both beautiful. Another actor I was never impressed with is here, too -- George Kennedy as trouble shooter; chomping on a cigar never impresses me; it's a stereotypical performance.The beloved performance by Helen Hayes as elderly stowaway Ada Quonsett.Among the most intriguing characters are Van Heflin as a failed contractor and the bomber of the airplane in question. Maureen Stapleton plays his despondent wife; a bravura performance by a talented character actress.Good performances are turned in by Barry Nelson as the co-pilot, Dana Wynter as Lancaster's wife, Lloyd Nolan as a custom's agent, and Barbara Hale as Dean's wife (Barbara was Della Street in "Perry Mason").I flew in and out of Minneapolis-St. Paul many times on the way to and from Thailand beginning a decade later, and that's where much of the film was made. I was also interested to see my old favorite airline -- Northwest Orient -- advertised in several shots. But I also was reminded how much smoking there used to be on airplanes.I thought they did a nice job with some of the very minor characters aboard the airline, even those who had no speaking parts. It added humor and detail. And, you'll recognize a few of those character actors whose names you never quite remember.There have been complaints that "Airport" is melodramatic, and it' somewhat true. And yet, the stories of any of the portrayed passengers are all realistic. And, that's the kind of film that Ross Hunter often produced, and so many of his films were so popular.It's interesting to compare this film with it's ancestor -- "The High And The Mighty", and to note how much air travel had changed from 1954 until 1970.The one problem I saw technically is my doubt that in the middle of winter during a snowstorm that men digging with shovels to make a sort of ramp for the plane was unlikely. Ever try digging with a shovel into soil in the middle of the winter? I just don't think so."Airport" is a very fine film. It was a blockbuster, and deservedly so. A $90 million profit at a time when that rarely happened.