Airport (Widescreen Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean SebergDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 137 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-01
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Good Times Video
Movie Reviews of Airport (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: "This Plane Is Built To Withstand Anything -- Except A BAD PILOT!!"
Summary: 5 Stars
The line of dialogue in my review title is one of my favorite lines from 1970's "Airport", which is recognized by some as the very first "All-Star Disaster Movie" ever made. (Although, I suppose you might get an argument regarding that particular distinction from fans of a similar type disaster-in-the-skies flick -- 1954's "The High And The Mighty".)
"Airport" has long been a personal favorite of mine, despite a script that is filled to the brim with convenient contrivances and despite the rather low-quality "special effects" (it's not too difficult for the viewer to visualize several stagehands off camera moving the airplane's set back and forth by hand to simulate turbulence; and the shots of the Boeing 707 in flight reveal the easily-noticeable fact that the flying jetliner we see in the film is obviously just a toy).
But those weaknesses are overcome many times over (IMHO) by a genuinely tense story and some good acting performances. By the time this sleek 137-minute drama comes in for a landing for its final act, it's fairly easy to forgive the THREE separate cases of adultery that have been spelled out in previous portions of this "G"-Rated motion picture (I've always been a bit perplexed as to how this movie was able to garner such a lenient MPAA U.S.A. rating, considering the adult-related subject matter eluded to throughout the script).
And, by the end of this lengthy cinematic ride, the viewer might even feel a little bit of compassion for "Mister Fourth Row" (as I call him), the very rude and obnoxious passenger who boards Rome-bound "Trans Global Airlines" Flight #2 in Chicago on that very snowy night when everything seems to go wrong at the fictitious "Lincoln International Airport".
My made-up "Mr. Fourth Row" moniker for the out-of-sorts airline traveller stems from one of the several funny lines of dialogue spoken by this irritable Trans Global flyer throughout the film. His name in the movie is actually "Marcus Rathbone", and he's played by Peter Turgeon. Some fans of the "Dark Shadows" television series might recognize him. He played a doctor on that ghoulish soap opera in 1967.
Rathbone had "specifically asked for the fourth row" when he bought his ticket for Trans Global Flight 2, but the gate agent was unable to accommodate his request.
Anyway, Mr. Rathbone/"Fourth Row" comes up with several laugh-aloud gems during the movie, and, in fact, it is Rathbone himself (when you come to think about it) who is somewhat responsible for the fate of Flight 2.
Besides the secondary (and hilarious) character of Marcus "4th Row" Rathbone, "Airport" offers up a veritable smorgasbord of popular Hollywood names to fill the theater marquee. Let's have a gander at the cast roster (plus a memorable "Airport" quote from each of them).......
>> There's Burt Lancaster as "Mel Bakersfeld", the Lincoln Airport General Manager. .... "It's time for you and all the other commissioners to start fighting for a bond issue that will finance THIS kind of an airport -- instead of running around checking to see if the toilets flush!"
>> The very lovely Jean Seberg as "Tanya Livingston", who is an executive for "Trans Global". .... "The airlines won't do a thing about it {stowaways}, and she {Mrs. Quonsett} knows it. Crafty little old biddy!"
>> Dean Martin as "Captain Vernon Demerest", one of the pilots of the crippled-in-flight Boeing 707 jetliner. .... "Are you guys sleeping down there?! We need help! If we're brought in on {runway} two-two, there'll be a broken airplane and a lot of dead people! We need two-niner! So you call Lincoln, mister, and turn the screws! And tell that airport manager to get off his penguin butt, and clear that runway!!"
>> A stunning Jacqueline Bisset as "Gwen Meighen", a stewardess aboard Flight 2. .... "I'm afraid I was careless and stopped taking the pills because they were making me gain weight. So, instead of being plump, I'm pregnant."
>> George Kennedy as "Joe Patroni", the gruff, no-nonsense TWA maintenance expert. .... "If you had any GUTS we'd be on the runway by now!" .... "Who do you think you're talking to, some kid who fixes bicycles?! I know every inch of the 707! Take the wings off this, and you could use it as a tank! This plane is built to withstand anything -- except a BAD PILOT!!"
>> Van Heflin as the disturbed Flight 2 passenger "D.O. Guerrero". .... "No! Stay back! Don't come any closer!!"
>> Maureen Stapleton as "Inez Guerrero", the wife of the bomb-toting "D.O." (and she's wonderful here). .... "His last job -- they found something missing -- some dynamite!"
>> Helen Hayes as the likeable and cunningly-resourceful stowaway "Mrs. Ada Quonsett". .... "I think you should tell them, my dear -- very often elderly people can't tolerate garlic -- gives them gas." :)
>> Barry Nelson as "Captain Anson Harris", another pilot in control of Flight #2. .... "Mayday! Mayday! Trans Global Two, explosive decompression! Making emergency descent!"
>> And then there's Dana Wynter as "Cindy Bakersfeld", Mel's very-easy-to-dislike wife (no wonder Mel spends so much time at the airport). .... "There's someone else, Mel. And there has been for quite some time." ... {pause} ... "You had no idea, had you? Too busy to even consider the possibility."
>> In smaller roles, look for Barbara Hale, Lloyd Nolan, Gary Collins, Whit Bissell, and Lisa Gerritsen.
Some of the best parts of "Airport" (for me anyway) take place during the many scenes on the ground, in the airport, prior to Flight 2's departure for Rome, Italy. The sense of really being at a busy airport during the height of a major snowstorm is fully realized, IMO, during these on-the-ground segments of the film. And the plush-looking executive offices which loom over the main terminal of the airport offer up a nice (and elegant) touch of class throughout the movie.
"Airport" is based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey (also highly recommended). George Seaton directed the movie and is also given a writing credit as well. Henry Hathaway, although uncredited, also directed a few portions of the movie (some of the outdoor scenes). Ross Hunter was the producer.
The music score for this motion picture was composed (with style) by Alfred Newman. The title theme always is good for a few shivers down the spine when I crank it up (especially via the nicely-done Surround Sound audio that this DVD provides). Newman received a "Best Original Score" Oscar nomination for his energetic "Airport" musical composition. On a sad note, Mr. Newman died just two weeks before "Airport" hit theater screens. He passed away on February 17, 1970. He was 68.
"Airport", to the surprise of many people (especially now, in retrospect), received an impressive 10 Academy Award nominations in 1970, including a chance at winning "Best Picture" of the year. But "Patton" won that coveted honor.
Other major Oscar nominations for "Airport" included two nods for "Best Supporting Actress", with both Helen Hayes and Maureen Stapleton competing in that category. And it was the 70-year-old Hayes who took home the Oscar statue.
Some "AIRPORT" Trivia And Misc. Stuff About The
>> "Airport" premiered in U.S. theaters on Thursday, March 5th, 1970.
>> Many of the interior airport scenes that were shot for the movie were filmed at a real U.S. airport -- at Minneapolis-St. Paul International in Minnesota.
>> The Boeing 707 aircraft shown in the film was leased from Flying Tigers Airlines, and re-painted to display the livery of "Trans Global Airlines" (TGA), which was an airline name invented by the filmmakers. Tragically, that exact plane crashed in Brazil on March 21, 1989, killing all three people on board the 707-300. In addition, eighteen people on the ground died as a result of that crash, as the jet plowed into a series of houses after stalling while trying to land.
>> Only one B707 was actually used during the filming of "Airport", although the impression of THREE different planes is eluded to in the picture -- one being the aircraft that gets stuck in the snow at the very start of the film; another being the plane on the Rome-bound flight; and the third being the jet that we see take off early in the movie, which causes a local homeowner some grief due to the rattling dishes on the dining-room table as the jet roars overhead. I've always thought that this illusion of three separate 707s was a pretty slick "sleight-of-planes" trick performed by the filmmakers.
>> Helen Hayes was not present at the Academy Awards ceremony to accept her "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar in person. Actress Rosalind Russell accepted the award on behalf of Hayes.
>> "Airport" earned a very impressive $100,489,151 at the box office during its theatrical run in 1970, making it a bonafide "blockbuster" by pretty much anyone's standards. When adjusted for inflation, that $100-Million domestic gross equates to approximately $400,000,000 in 21st-century dollars.
>> The film's production budget was ten million dollars.
>> Goof/Flub? ... Ever notice this gaffe in the film (I consider it a gaffe anyway)? --- In the scene where "Mrs. Quonsett" enters and exits the restroom, there's something very strange here. The oddity being: the bathroom door opens OUTWARD, instead of inward. Which means, of course, that every time a person swings that door open, a passing pedestrian in the corridor is potentially going to get knocked right on his or her hind quarters! LOL! Now, since when are doors manufactured to open OUT, into oncoming foot traffic? (I'm guessing that the bathroom door we see here was probably not a normal part of "St. Paul International Airport". Perhaps it was just added for the filmmakers. Or, maybe that specific scene was filmed in Hollywood. I'm not sure. But it struck me as funny anyway.)
GoodTimes Home Video has offered up two separate DVD versions of "Airport". There's a Full-Frame (Pan-&-Scan) version; and an Anamorphic Widescreen variant, which comes much more highly recommended. My advice would be to stay away from the inferior Full-Frame disc, and watch the film the way it was seen on movie-house screens in 1970 -- in Widescreen.
The enhanced 2.35:1 Widescreen image sparkles on this DVD. My hat is off to GoodTimes Home Video for this effort. Audio sounds great too, thanks to a full-bodied Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound Stereo track that's been used for this disc. If you're looking for "Special Bonus Features", though, you'll have to search elsewhere, because this GoodTimes disc is bare to the bone as far as extra stuff goes. But at least the film looks great, in its original Widescreen "Scope" format.
Universal Studios Home Video released this film on DVD in February 2004, as one of four movies in its "Airport Terminal Pack: The Franchise Collection". The three "Airport" sequels are along for the ride as well in that Universal release (which is a very nice 2-Disc set, btw). It appears to my eyeballs that this GoodTimes DVD video transfer of "Airport" is pretty much identical to the newer 2004 Universal DVD print. The Universal edition may be just a tad cleaner-looking, but any differences are fairly negligible, IMO. The audio for the film got two new souped-up 5.1-channel soundtracks on that Universal version, however.
In closing the "Airport" (review)........
For a fun piece of pioneering "disaster movie" history, and for a pre-"9/11" glimpse at how absurdly easy it was for a stowaway to walk onto a jet airliner bound for another continent without anybody noticing, and for just a plain old good time at the movies ... it'd be hard to beat the original "Airport".
(Review edited and expanded by author in January 2006.)
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