Airport (Widescreen Edition)

Airport (Widescreen Edition)
by George Seaton, Henry Hathaway

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Category: DVD
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Seberg
Director: George Seaton, Henry Hathaway
Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo
Writer: George Seaton
Editor: Stuart Gilmore
Producer: Jacques Mapes
Producer: Ross Hunter
Writer: Arthur Hailey
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
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: Where have you gone Joe Patroni?
Summary: 4 Stars

I think the knock on Disaster Films, besides the fact they are action-oriented plots with minimal character development, is that most of them were churned out during the early 1970s, a Golden Era of Hollywood history (Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood). When some of the industry's greatest directors were achieving all-time artistic highs with "The Godfather," "The Taxi Driver" and "Jaws," next door the older generation (over 30) was going through the motions with films like "Airport" and its sequels (Airport Terminal Pack (Airport/Airport '75/Airport '77/Airport '79 - The Concord). "Airport" made a staggering amount of money, the No. 1 box office success the year it was released, sparking a wave of equally profitable Disaster epics for several years (including "The Towering Inferno (Special Edition)," the box office king of Disaster Films).

Watching "Airport" today, with its seasoned stars bouncing to the old-time movie score of Alfred Newman (Airport: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on creaky sets probably left over from "From the Terrace," is akin to stepping back into the 1950s. The year 1970 was a time of incredible social upheaval, and fans could buy a movie ticket and remember a more innocent era (the film was rated G). "Airport" is an artistic tribute to bygone decades, with recognizable faces such as Van Heflin, Helen Hayes, Lloyd Nolan, Dana Wynter and, to a lessor extent, Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, going through the machinations of the plot (based on the Arthur Hailey bestseller Airport, perfect for a pool-side read), relying on their historical reps to fill in the gaps. It's an enormous tribute to an antique age.

The special effects, tame by today's standards, are still quite good. And the concluding moments, with Heflin hugging a suitcase bomb and co-pilot Gary Collins staring at a growing crack at the rear of the airplane, are terrifying. But the tension-filled screams and terror of the closing dramatics are not really what remains in memory after viewing "Airport." What you remember is George Kennedy as Joe Patroni.

Kennedy, an underrated actor at the peak of popularity in 1970 following his Oscar win for "Cool Hand Luke (Deluxe Edition)," steals the show. His performance as Patroni, a cigar-chomping bad-ass who probably totes a lunch pail to work everyday, is electric. He would star as Joe throughout the "Airport" series, the lone connecting thread during the sequels. I have always loved the famous scene where he angrily guns the airliner through the snow to clear the runway, a moment likely producing audience applause during it's initial run. And the final scene, when Kennedy lumbers past the suits and slaps the side of the airplane with a clipboard, mumbling proud praise to the damaged craft, ends "Airport" on a perfect note.

I've seen actors attempt the tough-guy-blue-collar persona before, usually failing miserably. None did it better than Kennedy in the 1970s. Look no further than his terrific performance when trying to decipher why "Airport" made such an incredible fortune. He's a working class stud, with little time for meetings, brass or pleasantries. His character, comforting to 1970's audiences, harkens back to the era of WW II when working class men symbolically rolled up their sleeves to get the job done in Europe, a very different war from what was going on in Vietnam at the time.

Kennedy's Patroni symbolized a venerable American ideal which exists to this day. During the great frustrations of the Nixon/Vietnam age (Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man), it was inspiring. At times of personal and professional crisis, we would all like to face our fears in Patroni fashion, spitting into its eye and throwing the rule book into the nearest wastebasket. One could argue that independents like Patroni, crucial to any working team, have slowly and inexorably been eroded into extinction by the growing culture of corporate America, symbolized (even at this time) by the educated suits standing zombie-like in the hangar as Patroni strolls past them to get back to work. Today, "Airport" indeed reminds audiences of a bygone era, but not for the reasons you would think. In a hysterical world, Kennedy's Patroni is a touchstone.

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Summary of Airport (Widescreen Edition)

One of the first of the big disaster films, this stodgy Hollywood product lumbers and creaks as it tries to sort out the various plot threads of Arthur Hailey's doorstop of a novel. Set at (what else?) a busy metropolitan airport, it details what happens one eventful night when, among other things, a huge blizzard threatens to disrupt air traffic for the airport manager (Burt Lancaster) even as a suicidal bomber (Van Heflin) heads into the air with mayhem on his mind. There's also an impish old lady (Helen Hayes, who won an Oscar for this role) who specializes in sneaking aboard airliners, and the married pilot (Dean Martin) is having an affair with a stewardess (Jacqueline Bisset). An old-fashioned movie that inspired a bunch of sequels, the Airplane spoofs, and a host of other disaster films. --Marshall Fine

Action & Adventure DVD Video

DVD Video

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