The Concorde... Airport '79
The Concorde... Airport '79
PG | 17 August 1979 (USA)
The Concorde... Airport '79 Trailers

Aviation disaster-prone Joe Patroni must contend with nuclear missiles, the French Air Force and the threat of the plane splitting in two over the Alps.

Reviews
Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
mark.waltz Just a year before the comedy classic "Airplane!" came out, the last of the four airport movies was released to universal pans and a dreadful box office. There is good reason behind what the reactions were, but something tells me that the producers knew that they would soon be getting spoofed and decided to toss in some truly lame comedy in an attempt to sabotage the classic parody. It didn't work.In this one, George Kennedy is finally the pilot, actually the lead even though he gets "also starring" billing. I should warn you up from that the recently deceased Mr. Kennedy also gets a love scene. I could laugh with him in the "Naked Gun" movies, but here, I truly felt sorry for him. The film surrounds the flight of the Concorde from the United States to Paris, and then from there to Moscow for the 1980 Olympics. Universal world intrigue has the Concorde being the intended target of missile attacks, and the usual all- star cast of veterans and newcomers is placed in the predicament of going down with the fastest plane in world history. Some stars come off better than others, but poor Martha Raye is relegated to bathroom jokes thanks to a weakened bladder that makes me wonder why she wasn't offered the Depends commercials instead of June Allyson. I guess we have to settle for her for Poligrip. Her scenes are truly embarrassing, and you can only feel sorry for her when she comes out after a particularly violent attempted strike on the plane to announce that the toilet is broken.Cicely Tyson fares a lot better as a concerned mother of a seven-year-old who needs to go through a heart transplant. This actually comes off as two separate things that could have been much shorter, the flight from the states to Paris being over in just over an hour and the second flight from Paris to Moscow giving Charro the opportunity to take over where Raye left off even though Raye, obnoxious saxophone player Jimmy Walker, plane owner Eddie Albert (among others) are still going on. It just gets worse and worse and the convoluted storyline involving corporate Intrigue through corrupt Robert Wagner just gets more confusing as it goes on. Oscar-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge is wasted in a tiny role as the domineering companion to a Russian Olympic star, and to make matters worse isn't even listed in the main cast.I managed to make it through this a second time, having seen it years ago, and found it even worse then I had remembered. The comedy is corny, not at all intelligent like the comedy utilized in "Airplane!" and at times I found myself just rolling my eyes rather than laughing. It is still with the same elaborate quality as the other three in the series, but had it not been for the "Airplane!" release of the following year, this definitely would have been it for the series anyway.
calvinnme Fourth and final entry in the series that began in 1970. That first film helped kickstart the all-star big budget disaster trend in 70's cinema, and this final outing helps just as much at putting the final nails in the genre's coffin. Of course "Airplane" the following year would make fun of the entire previous decade's worth of disaster films.Alain Delon gets top billing as the captain of the title craft. With Susan Blakely and John Davidson as reporters, Robert Wagner as a crooked arms dealer, Sylvia Kristel as the head stewardess, Eddie Albert as the airline owner, Sybil Danning as his trophy wife, Avery Schreiber as a Soviet Olympic coach with a deaf daughter, Andrea Marcovicci as the oldest Russian Olympic gymnast ever, Mercedes McCambridge as her busybody chaperone, Cicely Tyson as a mother to a child desperately in need of a heart transplant, Nicolas Coaster as the doctor to perform it, David Warner as the dieting flight engineer, Bibi Andersson as a prostitute, Jimmie Walker as a pot-smoking sax player, Charo as Margarita and Martha Raye as the woman who can't stay out of the bathroom (no, really).George Kennedy costars as Patroni, the only character to appear in all four films. This time he has a larger part as co-pilot of the title passenger jet, on route from the US to Paris, as Wagner's evil arms dealer hatches numerous inept plans to bring down the craft and destroy incriminating evidence. The dialogue is trite and banal as usual, and the various relationships and mini-dramas amongst the bloated cast never rise above the mundane.Keep your eyes open for an early appearance by Ed Begley Jr as Rescuer #1. Like many films of the era, the studio also cut together an extended version for TV broadcasts that added even more subplots and characters, played by the likes of Jose Ferrer, J.D. Cannon and Alan Fudge, but the version I watched was the original.
thos_walter Ordered the complete AIRPORT movie set recently. Always been a fan of the Airport series. First three, Airport (70), '75, '77, I've seen numerous times and always liked all three. For some reason I've never seen Airport '79 though. Ladies and gentleman, this has to be the all time hokeyest movie I have ever seen in my 50 years of life! Bad acting. Bad writing. Bad plot. Stupid plot. Bad special affects, even for 1979. Just bad everything. Honestly, after the first 15-20 minutes I was ready to turn it off. I was like, when is this movie going to get going. I cannot believe all the well known actors in this movie actually consented to being apart of this joke of a movie. I don't think there is one movie I have ever not said you have to see at least once until I viewed this one. I would NEVER recommend this movie to anyone even as a joke and I will never watch it again.
highwaytourist Have you ever watched unintentional comedy? Well, this is it. There are so many absurdities, I couldn't keep track. The best scenes are when Robert Wagner decides to shoot down the plane with missiles and pass it off as a mechanical failure, Charo tries to smuggle a Chichiauah on the plane and, when it's discovered, claims it's her seeing eye dog, John Davidson's hair stays in place when the plane flies upside down, when a missile gets close to the plane, pilot George Kennedy rolls down the pilot's seat window (at the speed of sound) to shoot at it, Jimmy Walker smokes weed in the bathroom stall, and when stewardess Sylvia Crystal says seductively "You pilots are such men!", Kennedy replies, "They don't call it a cock-pit for nothing!" What floors me is that after the first disaster, the plane takes off for another flight and the passengers get back on! If I were a passenger, no way would I board that plane! All this is backed up by special effects that wouldn't pass for an episode of "Bewitched." If you can find this movie in the 99 cent section, I recommend it. I laughed more than I had laughed in weeks. It's great entertainment in the worst way possible.