Airport (1970)

reviewed by
Walter Frith


'Airport'

A retrospective movie review by Walter Frith

1970's 'Airport' is an example of how you can take a perilous situation and replay it over and over again in three sequels. 'Airport 1975', 'Airport '77' and 'The Concorde: Airport '79' were mediocre at best with the latter an absolutely disastrous disaster film but the the first film is entertaing to a point but can't back away from becoming a full blown soap opera. The movie is based on Arthur Hailey's best selling novel and takes place at a hectic airport on a winter night smack dab in the middle of a treacherous snow storm.

For an actor of his stature, Burt Lancaster is completely wasted as an airport official managing a crisis in the air from the ground assisted by Jean Seberg and George Kennedy and the rest of the cast is a mix of talent and movie stars thrown together for an odd mix. Dean Martin (yes, the crooner and Jerry Lewis's former partner) is an airline pilot in love with a flight attendant (Jacqueline Bisset). Veteran actress Helen Hayes is a little old lady who takes pleasure in being a stowaway on flights time and time again and Van Heflin probably has the best role in the film as a suicidal maniac on board with a bomb in his briefcase and sympathy is garnered for his wife (Maureen Stapleton) to whom he has left a life insurance policy before getting on the plane.

The man who made 'Airport' is George Seaton, a director not really suited to this material but he does do a somewhat decent job although he's no Irwin Allen. Dean Martin was never much of an actor and perhaps his biggest claim to fame in movies was as the James Bond rip-off character Matt Helm. George Kennedy is sharply perceptive as an aviation specialist describing how to manage the crisis on hand and what will go wrong aside from the obvious if the bomb on board detonates.

While 'Airport' is no classic, is does have a few trashy moments of cheap thrills but nothing you'll jump up at. It simply can't decide what kind of movie it is, thriller or character study. It never fully succeeds at either.


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