lasttimeisaw
For shizzle it was a simpler time when a passenger can fairly conveniently (albeit visibly in a shaky state) sneak a makeshift bomb inside his attaché case on board of a trans-Atlantic Boeing 707, in George Seaton's AIRPORT, whose runaway box office success (not to mention its earth-shattering 10 Oscar nominations) would launch a disaster film franchise that unsurprisingly fizzles out at the end of its decade, Van Heflin (rather compelling in his final role) is the said bomb-carrier, pushed to despair by his hardscrabble reality, which partially should be answerable by that unjustified war, this is as political as one can get from this adaptation of Arthur Hailey's popular novel, and the rest is sheer schlocky drama.Mustering a vast cast and condensing its story on one blizzard-assailing night in the fictive Lincoln airport in Chicago, AIRPORT takes its multi-threads narrative in a balanced if unimpressive stride, on the ground we have airport manager Mel Bakersfeld (Lancaster, not so often on automatic pilot) mired in workaday imperatives and private crises, the dissolving of his marriage with Cindy (a piercingly fierce Wynter) is imminent, while he still dithers about his feeling towards his widowed co-worker, Tanya Livingston (Seberg, unremarkable to a fault, is this the same girl from Godard's BREATHLESS, 1960, one cannot help but wonder), the customer relations agent for Trans Global Airlines. And later aloft in the ionosphere, Mel's brother-in-law captain Vernon Demerest (a swarthy Dean Martin), must contend with a similar but more life-threatening situation when the bomb explodes (the frisson-free one-the-fly special effects cruelly show up its shoddiness), and his pregnant paramour, the chief stewardess Gwen Meighen (Bisset) is seriously injured, an emergency landing is actualized without much flair. Although one can understand its appeal at that time (its grandiose production scale, eye-pleasing cinematography from Ernest Laszlo, the innovative use of split-screen and a heroic act in its core), AIRPORT is unavoidably goes down in the history as one of the major undeserved Oscar BEST PICTURE contenders, that said, two outstanding performances are worth dwelling on a bit more, firstly the bodacious Helen Hayes, who won her second Oscar as the larger-than-life stowaway Ada Quonsett, spryly and magnanimously proffers cheeriness and wittiness which the film is gravely in need of, and all the more, defies any cheap entrapment of relegating her character into a substantial laughing stock, which means she can take a slap in the face for a greater cause. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the inimitable Maureen Stapleton, also Oscar-nominated here, evokes pathos in spades as the bomber's distressed wife, makes great play of her limited screen time and her catatonic reaction belongs to one of the high-water marks of method acting, sticks out like a sore thumb while the rest bigger names are just going through the motions, and further counterpoints the mediocrity that permeates this well-meaning but overall ponderous and characterless overachiever, where beautiful gals are all docile and sensible in front of their much senior married male counterparts, yet, it is the bitter wives that get their raw deals, a patriarchal America ever so outdated and self-congratulatory, that is its last straw.
shakercoola
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.
SenjoorMutt
The (not) so holy mother of all modern disaster films that started the craze (and a franchise) and laid out the rules of such movies - many stars, little bit slow start to get a quick glimpse of the characters and their problems, and then the tense and fast paced second half. Filled with classic stars and character actors so there aren't many too bland characters, most of them are bit one dimensional, but still entertaining to watch. Magnificent Helen Hayes as charismatic con-woman and Van Heflin in one of his last roles are definitely standouts. They both seemed to have enough fun and not taking themselves too seriously. George Kennedy's wise cracking and smart Patroni was also nice touch for comic relief.Though cliché ridden plot and with hammy dialogue 'Airport' is aged pretty well. Not the greatest film from disaster sub-genre, but definitely one of the most entertaining ones.
dpandlisa
Spend the first Act of the film developing the characters (what a concept!) so that we know all of them and their relationships to the story for later on. Then introduce the central plot, who is carrying out and even why. Then put the plot in motion and allow all the characters we know to work together to triumph over the impossible. This was the basic structure of the great disaster films of the 70s - Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Earthquake and this terrific thriller. The acting is top-notch. Burt Lancaster looks terrific in his suit and red tie courtesy of Edith Head. The ladies are gorgeous. George Kennedy was never better. Dean Martin is sober and believable as a pilot. And Helen Hayes is perhaps the most deserved Supporting Actress in movie history. Even the 'bad guy' has his motivation fully detailed, and you even feel sympathy for him and for his wife. If you're looking to introduce your younger viewers to the disaster genre before bludgeoning them with San Andreas, start with this one. You'll have a great time. It's a great movie.
