Watch Airport For Free

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The first must-see film of the year.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The acting in this movie is really good.

If the disaster film genre of the 1970s had an actual starting point, it would most likely have been with the spectacular success in 1968 of Arthur Hailey's best-selling novel Airport, which detailed the major ins and outs of an ultra-busy airport where things like stowaways, stuck aircraft, and security breaches are all in a day's work. The book was such a monstrous success, selling in excess of a million copies within its first year of publishing, that it was almost inevitable that Hollywood would try to make it into a movie. And this is indeed what writer/director George Seaton, who had made the 1947 Christmas classic MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, did after Universal bought the rights to it and got Ross Hunter (of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE fame) to produce it, with a cast of all-stars. The end result, released in March 1970, would be a box office smash and lead not only to three sequels, but also begin a film genre that would be much maligned by a good deal of film critics into the 21st century.The setting for Airport is Lincoln International Airport in Chicago on a snowbound winter night. Burt Lancaster portrays the airport's general manager who, on this night, is beset by any number of minor crises, including a brother-in-law (Dean Martin) who needles him about the way he runs the place; a jet stuck in the snow out on the tarmac because its pilot cut the taxiway short; an elderly stowaway (Helen Hayes) causing havoc with security; and problems at home with a wife (Dana Wynter) who gets into an argument over his being far more obsessed with his job than with his home life. He somehow manages to keep it together, thanks to the help of a very reliable staff, including tough-as-nails mechanic Joe Patroni (George Kennedy), who helps to get that stuck 747 out of the snow so that a vital runway isn't clogged for too long (with that runway being closed, jets are forced to take off on a runway right in the path of homes whose owners have complained fiercely about the noise).This night, however, he is facing another, fare more serious crisis. A mentally unstable and very depressed man (Van Heflin) has managed to get on a flight from Chicago to Rome being piloted by Martin and Barry Nelson; and in his suitcase, the only one he brings onboard (and keeps very close to him) is a bomb. Alerted to this as the flight is passing through the airspace monitored from Cleveland, they try to turn the plane around and head back to Chicago while at the same time trying to find a way to disarm Heflin and not frighten any of the passengers. Unfortunately, Heflin manages to detonate the bomb inside a bathroom, causing significant damage to the plane and injuring several passengers in the bargain, including a pregnant chief stewardess (Jacqueline Bisset). They have to fight the bad weather in the air and make it to Chicago, advising Lincoln Tower that they have to land on the main runway or there's no guarantee that anyone will survive Although clearly meant to be nothing more than old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment (and even in 1970, it definitely looked old-fashioned), AIRPORT, for all its melodramatics and sometimes off-center sense of humor, generated primarily by Hayes' dotty performance as the elderly stowaway (which won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar), works quite well for what it was intended to be. The performances by Lancaster, Martin, Bisset, Kennedy, and Hayes are all what you'd expect from professionals like them; and the cast includes Larry Gates, Maureen Stapleton, Jean Seberg, Lloyd Nolan, Barbara Hale, and Whit Bissell. Alfred Newman's score (his last; he passed away only a few weeks before the film's release) is also quite good and appropriate (its love theme was turned into a million-selling instrumental hit by studio guitarist Vincent Bell in 1970), and got Newman both an Oscar and a Grammy nomination posthumously.While a lot of the clichés introduced in this film and tits three subsequent sequels would nauseate critics for most of the rest of the decade, AIRPORT nevertheless moves at a fairly good clip, given that it's close to 140 minutes in length and its special effects are painfully dated in the 21st century age of CGI. It also helps that some of the concerns raised in this movie, which came true in light of 9/11, have somehow managed to keep this film relatively relevant, which is saying something, given how many Hollywood films come and go every year.

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!

I should qualify my above statement by saying I'm 25 and my entire experience with Airport before hand was none. I have seen both Airplane movies, I own them and the Naked Gun movies, their my favorite comedies.So I wondered when this came up on Turner Classic Movies if I could take this movie seriously.I was not surprised how much unintentional comedy is in this movie. There are so many things in this movie that could only happen not only pre-9/11, but pre-Lockerbie Bombing. Like how a passenger (Helen Hayes) managed to sneak aboard an international flight and it did not caused every federal agency to freak out. Or the captain leaving the flight deck during the flight. Or that the captain smoked a pipe... while flying. Or that George Kennedy is in this movie. I'm know he was a serious actor, but I will always remember him as the man foaming at the mouth in the Naked Gun 2 1/2.But I was even more surprised how much intentional comedy there is in this movie. There is a scene when the plane is returning because something went horribly wrong (not much of a spoiler in the "original disaster movie") and one of the passengers is freaking out screaming "we're all gonna' die!". On the other side of the aisle is a priest in one fluid movement crosses himself and backhands the guy in the face.The drama is also pretty good as you see a three or so minor plots all pull together in one major disaster threatening to kill everyone on board this Boeing 707. As someone who watches that air disaster documentary I felt like it was a story done by someone who actually knew a thing or two about airlines. Actually Airport is apparently based off a book written with enough technical details worthy of Tom Clancy... and since Tom Clancy is my favorite author I might read it.There are some things like slightly stilted acting and some odd editing choices like when characters are talking via phone or radio they insert the person on the other end. It's not a bad idea, but I normally associate this kind of shot with sitcoms and feels out of place in a drama. It was better used in the middle of the movie when a woman disappears and they use the PA to alert security and as they make the announcement it shows security guards in different points in the airport all snapping to attention, I thought it was very effective there.Also points where I thought when the plane comes in for its inevitable emergency landing that I thought we needed more exterior shots or the people on the ground waiting for the plane, but I assume they just didn't have the budget since in 1970 they would have had to use practical effects. But that is also what I liked, everything was practical. Even seeing the obvious toy airplane gliding on a string through dry ice just made me smile.Airport is in summary a good movie. It has comedy, it has drama, it has romance, it has interesting cinematography, it has good actors, it has practical effects, and it has the charm of an old movie. I think having seen Airplane first enhanced my enjoyment. It's one of those movies that has something for everyone.

So it was the start of 70's where special effect guys were still struggling to give out the best.This one is quite enjoyable although special effects were sought of cheesy.It lacks the glamor of big budget with mediocre sound track.Star cast was promising which delivers as expected.Sometimes dialogs feels like you are watching a 50's movie only in color which i suppose due to the fact that book came in 1958. The old stowed away lady provided the much needed comic relief.Only thing that got me was the post marital relationship was taken as too casual.In the end everyone gets along with the ladies and not with their spouses. Go watch this flick you will never get bored.