Rating: 
Summary: Airport 75 DVD
Review: I have now viewed the "Good Times" DVD of "Airport 75", and can say...quite amazingly...that the "Good Times" transfer of "Airport 75" is better than the one included in this set. True, this one is anamorphic....and there is slightly more grain in the "Good Times" picture. But the "Good Times" disk is in the correct proportion. Imagine that...wheels that are round and people that don't look like stick people.My recommendation....buy both if you want all four movies in a "watchable" format.
Rating:
Summary: Airport '75 DVD
Review: I logged onto Amazon to post my complaint about the "Airport 75" DVD, only to see that someone had beaten me to the punch about the same complaint. The transfer of this movie was most frustrating to me. Due to the presence of Karen Black, this is one of my favorites in the series. To begin with, the transfer contains an abundance of grain, especially in darker shots. However, there are worse issues with this picture than that. The entire picture has been squeezed, left to right. In some scenes, it is far more noticeable than others. However, it is evident right from the start of the movie. As the passengers are being "introduced" in the first part of the movie, they all appear tall and skinny. And the jet engines and tires aren't round, either!!! At times this is tremendously distracting. Given the choice, I would have rather had information trimmed from either end of the screen, than to have to put up with this mess. I'll probably keep the set, given that the other movies (including the outrageous "Concorde") look pretty decent. And I doubt "Airport 75" will ever get another transfer....unless enough people complain!!!!!! However, Universal should be ASHAMED of treating a member of this "franchise" in this way!!! I am so tired of the movie companies putting out lousy copies of movies on an unsuspecting public! If you, as I and some other posters, have received this defective disk of "Airport 75", I suggest you call them at 818-777-1000. Perhaps if enough people complain, they will fix this "screw-up" as they had to fix the one on the "Back to the Future" set!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: NOW THEY'RE ALL TOGETHER
Review: I love the Aiport seires, when I heard they were all coming out at the same time in one pack, I hurried to my computer and quickly purchased it, when I received I was totally satisfied with the movies, the track on Airport 75 was off a little, and I thought the plot to Aiport 79, the Concorde was a little cheesy, this pack was awesome, Aiport 77 is my favorite, Aiport comes next then Aiport 79, and Aiport 75.
Rating: 
Summary: CONCORDE; AIRPORT '79
Review: I'll confine my review to the DVD of CONCORDE; AIRPORT '79 (which is contained on one side of the DVD; the other contains AIRPORT '77). This is the only DVD of the series that I've seen so far. The transfer elements for CONCORDE are decent enough, and the sound is ok. I will politely disagree with some reviewers who feel that this is one of the best of the series, and that the film has been too much malined. I don't think it has been malined enough. You get the feeling that this is a rough, 'first cut' of a film that should be much longer (that is, filled with a more complex plot and some decent characters). It has the feeling of a cheesy, Aaron Spelling TV production.
I'm surprised that "Charlies Angels" didn't tap-dance down the aisle, or try and save the plane. The problem is that there is no script: no plot and certainaly no characters that we care about. The most embarassing role was given to Martha Raye. She plays a woman with a weak bladder who is constantly locking herself in the bathroom at the first sign of turbulance. After the plane starts to come apart (from a cargo door opening in flight), Martha Raye stands in the aisle, completely discheveled, and says, totally deadpanned: "The bathroom's broken." That's it. That's her entire character. Another partr (and that's being polite) was given to Jimmi J.J. Walker, as a saxaphone-playing, weed-smoking - 'something.' It certainally didn't resemble an interesting character of any kind. Charro (the personality, but definatly not an actress of any kind), does a one scene 'bit' as a woman trying to smuggle a small dog onto the plane. She had the scene simply because it added yet another 'name' to the cast.
Do you get the feeling that the actors finally said, "Oh, to heck with it. I'm getting paid. They want me on the screen, ok, I'm on the screen. You want some decent acting? Then give me a decent script." The one exception, and sole salvation of the film, is George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, first introduced in the original AIRPORT. Kennedy works his heart out in a role that goes absolutely nowhere. He seems to be the only one actually working at his part. He earned his salary. You quickly get to the point of saying, "Let 'em crash. Who cares? I can live without this bunch." This film brought an end to the AIRPORT cycle; it should have stopped at number 3: AIRPORT '77.
Rating:
Summary: The Collection you may not want to miss....
Review: Indeed. Some have said that Airport was "Grand Hotel" in the skies and it is, but where do you find so many talented people in one true big drama hit nowadays? I gave it five stars, because it merits its historic value, having all four movies reunited in a very affordable, and may I say, for the price, very elegant package. True, the second and the fourth are not very intelligent sequels, but they also follow the rule of disparity, as for the Star Trek, Star Wars, Batman, Superman and other even installments. Yet, if one considers, what effort went into making them, on can only admire them. The 2 double-sided DVDs are impeccable, the image was never clearer and the widescreen format helps a lot in keeping all the spectacular scenes together.
The first Airport is a must in widescreen, since many scenes were shot in the split-screen process, which gets completely confusing when panned and scanned. The only regrettable thing happens to be the sound elaboration of Airport 1975 and Airport '77.
Again, Universal made the mistake to transfer them in a flat monaural version, when, as many fans of the sensurround process know, both were released, as for Midway and Earthquake in that format. I sometimes wonder why the studio didn't try harder to translate the old surround track into the modern 5.1 Digital Dolby one.
It's an easy process. In fact, I have isolated some tracks myself and digitally recreated a 5.1 stereo surround track from a monaural portion of the DVDs. It worked and it's a matter of a few hours work, with some remastering and mixing involved.
Alas, I don't have a more powerful computer, otherwise I would have remastered the entire soundtrack of all the three monaural movies and redubbed the DVDs. So my question is, if I as a private person with a knack for such things, am able to do it, why cannot Universal do the same?
Lack of interest, money, time or what? Nevertheless, despite these unnerving issues, the four movies are still worth collecting, at least until another special edition pops up, with Airport (as in this release) in Dolby Surround 5.1, Airport 1975 the same, Airport '77 ditto, and Airport '79 - The Concorde, in its proper Stereo track. I emphasize the value of this collection, if just for its filmic, historic value and for the economical side of it.
As said, when will you find actors such as Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes, Maureen Stapleton, Jacqueline Bisset, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Van Heflin a.m.o. reunited in a movie again?
Or in the others, actors as Charlton Heston, Dana Andrews, Karen Black, Gloria Swanson, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Susan Clark, Myrna Loy, Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Joseph Cotten, Olivia DeHavilland, Darren McGavin, Christopher Lee, James Stewart, Alain Delon, Robert Wagner, Eddie Albert, Mercedes McCambridge, Cicely Tyson, David Warner and to top them all of, George Kennedy as Joe Patroni? Think about it.
This is "That's Entertainment" in the clouds, with one under the water (Airport '77), alas without Esther Williams in it, but still, it's a who's who in Hollywood in the crazy '70s.
Is this not money well spent? Besides, these are movies that anyone can enjoy, without having to feel ashamed to watch them in the family and with the family. Let's hope the sound remastered collection will soon see the day. Until then, enjoy four well entertaining movies for the price of two!
Rating:
Summary: 4-Movie Set Yields Fine Quality! .... Excellent Bargain!
Review: It's nice being able to have the entire "Airport" movie "franchise" located in a compact 2-Disc DVD set, which is what Universal Studios Home Video has provided fans here with the "Airport Terminal Pack". All four "Airport" disaster flicks from the 1970s are here, and all featuring crisp-looking widescreen anamorphic DVD transfers. This budget-priced collection comes with two dual-sided discs (one movie per side). "Airport" (1970), stars Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfeld, General Manager of the fictitious "Lincoln International Airport", located in snowy Chicago, Illinois. Many scenes in "Airport" were filmed at an actual U.S. airport -- Minneapolis-St. Paul International. This initial entry in the series is by far the best (IMO), being nominated, in fact, for a whopping ten 1970 Oscars, including Best Picture. It was battling some pretty heavyweight company that year for the Best Picture Academy Award -- with the other nominees being: "Patton" (which took the statue), "Five Easy Pieces", "M*A*S*H", and "Love Story". "Airport" did manage to garner one of the other major Oscar awards however -- with Helen Hayes winning for Best Supporting Actress (besting Karen Black, Lee Grant, Sally Kellerman, and fellow "Airport" co-star Maureen Stapleton). Ironically, both Black and Grant would themselves go on to co-star in future films in the "Airport" series. Although clocking in at a fairly-lengthy 2 hours and 17 minutes (2:16:30 to be precise), "Airport" never drags, in my view (even though about half the "action" here takes place on the ground at Bakersfeld's busy and weather-plagued airport). But, for me, I liked it all the better for this type of "ground-based" storyline -- coupled later in the film, of course, with the intertwined plotline of Van Heflin as a disturbed bomb-carrying Rome-bound passenger. The combination of on-the-ground and in-the-air sequences form an overall well-balanced story. And, while the "special effects" are indeed dated (very much so in fact -- the 707 shown climbing out of Chicago is so obviously a toy, complete with alternating blinking lights), they still served their purpose well enough in this movie to convey what needed to be conveyed. The Boeing 707 aircraft shown in the first "Airport" film was borrowed (leased) from Flying Tigers Airlines, and re-painted to display the livery of "Trans Global Airlines", which also was a name manufactured by the filmmakers. Sadly, that exact 707 crashed in Brazil in 1989, killing three. Only one 707 was actually used to make the movie, 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 Dean Martin pilots on the Chicago-to-Rome flight; and the third being the jet that we see take off early in the movie, which causes a Meadowood resident some grief due to the rattling dishes on the dining-room table as the jet roars overhead. Pretty slick "sleight-of-planes" I've always thought. One thing that strikes me as very odd concerning the first "Airport" film is the "G" rating that it apparently received from the MPAA. In my view, the film should have garnered a "PG" for the several instances of mildly foul language, if for no other reason. Add to this the rather mature subject matter -- involving people being blown to bits by homemade bombs, open conversation regarding abortion, and the THREE separate cases of adultery eluded to in the movie -- and I'd say that a "G" rating was a tad bit on the lenient side. "Airport 1975" (produced in 1974) is the second of the four films. Charlton Heston saves the day in this "Airport" entry, as he boards a stricken Boeing 747 jetliner in a most unorthodox fashion, via a mid-air transfer, which looks pretty authentic even by today's higher standards.  This film isn't any "Casablanca", but it's still a fun movie nonetheless. Plus: It's significant for being Gloria Swanson's 73rd and final film role. The 747 Jumbo Jet we see in "Airport 1975" was leased from American Airlines for the making of the film (you can easily recognize the American red, white, and blue markings). And that plane is still flying today (at least as of January 2004), operating as a freighter for United Parcel Service (with registration # N675UP). "Airport '77" (1977) gives us another star-laden cast, including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Lee Grant, Christopher Lee, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland, and a very young-looking 22-year-old Kathleen Quinlan. This time 'round, it's again a Boeing 747 that's in trouble, being hijacked by a band of art thieves into the Bermuda Triangle, with disastrous results. The footage of the watery crash of the doomed 747 looks stunningly realistic. "The Concorde -- Airport '79" (1979) is the weak link in the "Airport" chain. By far. But it's still good for an (unintentional) laugh or two -- and for George Kennedy's fourth appearance as fiery Joe Patroni (this time as a pilot, "Captain" Patroni). An additional (and sorrowful) reason you might want to tune in to the '79 "Airport" offering is the fact that the Concorde we see in the movie is the very same aircraft that crashed tragically in Paris on July 25, 2000. In fact, if you look very closely, you can make out the real-life aircraft registration number (F-BTSC), which was not painted out by the filmmakers. "Airport" features two different multi-channel 5.1 Surround soundtracks on this DVD (a Dolby Digital track, plus a DTS one). The last three movies in the series sport simple Mono audio tracks. They all sound quite nice to my ears. The 16x9-enhanced widescreen versions we get in this collection all look mighty fine. We also get each film's Original Aspect Ratio -- 2.35:1 for each of the first three movies; and 1.85:1 for "Airport '79". Extras .... The only bonus features are the Theatrical Trailers, which are included for each of the four films. Packaging .... The "Terminal Pack" comes in a fold-out "Digipak" case, with an attractive (and relatively-sturdy) outer slipcase cover, which includes raised lettering for the title. Very nice case.  In conclusion .... Universal has provided nice, clear anamorphic versions of four films, with pleasing soundtracks, plus the original trailers -- all in one low-priced, space-saving, two-disc package. Hard to gripe about those stats! I can recommend the "Airport Terminal Pack" highly!
Rating:
Summary: 4-Movie Set Yields Fine Quality! .... Excellent Bargain!
Review: It's nice being able to have the entire "Airport" movie "franchise" located in a compact 2-Disc DVD set, which is what Universal Studios Home Video has provided fans here with the "Airport Terminal Pack". All four "Airport" disaster flicks from the 1970s are here, and all featuring crisp-looking widescreen anamorphic DVD transfers. This budget-priced collection comes with two dual-sided discs (one movie per side). "Airport" (1970), stars Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfeld, General Manager of the fictitious "Lincoln International Airport", located in snowy Chicago, Illinois. Many scenes in "Airport" were filmed at an actual U.S. airport -- Minneapolis-St. Paul International. This initial entry in the series is by far the best (IMO), being nominated, in fact, for a whopping ten 1970 Oscars, including Best Picture. It was battling some pretty heavyweight company that year for the Best Picture Academy Award -- with the other nominees being: "Patton" (which took the statue), "Five Easy Pieces", "M*A*S*H", and "Love Story". "Airport" did manage to garner one of the other major Oscar awards however -- with Helen Hayes winning for Best Supporting Actress (besting Karen Black, Lee Grant, Sally Kellerman, and fellow "Airport" co-star Maureen Stapleton). Ironically, both Black and Grant would themselves go on to co-star in future films in the "Airport" series. Although clocking in at a fairly-lengthy 2 hours and 17 minutes (2:16:30 to be precise), "Airport" never drags, in my view (even though about half the "action" here takes place on the ground at Bakersfeld's busy and weather-plagued airport). But, for me, I liked it all the better for this type of "ground-based" storyline -- coupled later in the film, of course, with the intertwined plotline of Van Heflin as a disturbed bomb-carrying Rome-bound passenger. The combination of on-the-ground and in-the-air sequences form an overall well-balanced story. And, while the "special effects" are indeed dated (very much so in fact -- the 707 shown climbing out of Chicago is so obviously a toy, complete with alternating blinking lights), they still served their purpose well enough in this movie to convey what needed to be conveyed. The Boeing 707 aircraft shown in the first "Airport" film was borrowed (leased) from Flying Tigers Airlines, and re-painted to display the livery of "Trans Global Airlines", which also was a name manufactured by the filmmakers. Sadly, that exact 707 crashed in Brazil in 1989, killing three. Only one 707 was actually used to make the movie, 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 Dean Martin pilots on the Chicago-to-Rome flight; and the third being the jet that we see take off early in the movie, which causes a Meadowood resident some grief due to the rattling dishes on the dining-room table as the jet roars overhead. Pretty slick "sleight-of-planes" I've always thought. One thing that strikes me as very odd concerning the first "Airport" film is the "G" rating that it apparently received from the MPAA. In my view, the film should have garnered a "PG" for the several instances of mildly foul language, if for no other reason. Add to this the rather mature subject matter -- involving people being blown to bits by homemade bombs, open conversation regarding abortion, and the THREE separate cases of adultery eluded to in the movie -- and I'd say that a "G" rating was a tad bit on the lenient side. "Airport 1975" (produced in 1974) is the second of the four films. Charlton Heston saves the day in this "Airport" entry, as he boards a stricken Boeing 747 jetliner in a most unorthodox fashion, via a mid-air transfer, which looks pretty authentic even by today's higher standards. This film isn't any "Casablanca", but it's still a fun movie nonetheless. Plus: It's significant for being Gloria Swanson's 73rd and final film role. The 747 Jumbo Jet we see in "Airport 1975" was leased from American Airlines for the making of the film (you can easily recognize the American red, white, and blue markings). And that plane is still flying today (at least as of January 2004), operating as a freighter for United Parcel Service (with registration # N675UP). "Airport '77" (1977) gives us another star-laden cast, including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Lee Grant, Christopher Lee, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland, and a very young-looking 22-year-old Kathleen Quinlan. This time 'round, it's again a Boeing 747 that's in trouble, being hijacked by a band of art thieves into the Bermuda Triangle, with disastrous results. The footage of the watery crash of the doomed 747 looks stunningly realistic. "The Concorde -- Airport '79" (1979) is the weak link in the "Airport" chain. By far. But it's still good for an (unintentional) laugh or two -- and for George Kennedy's fourth appearance as fiery Joe Patroni (this time as a pilot, "Captain" Patroni). An additional (and sorrowful) reason you might want to tune in to the '79 "Airport" offering is the fact that the Concorde we see in the movie is the very same aircraft that crashed tragically in Paris on July 25, 2000. In fact, if you look very closely, you can make out the real-life aircraft registration number (F-BTSC), which was not painted out by the filmmakers. "Airport" features two different multi-channel 5.1 Surround soundtracks on this DVD (a Dolby Digital track, plus a DTS one). The last three movies in the series sport simple Mono audio tracks. They all sound quite nice to my ears. The 16x9-enhanced widescreen versions we get in this collection all look mighty fine. We also get each film's Original Aspect Ratio -- 2.35:1 for each of the first three movies; and 1.85:1 for "Airport '79". Extras .... The only bonus features are the Theatrical Trailers, which are included for each of the four films. Packaging .... The "Terminal Pack" comes in a fold-out "Digipak" case, with an attractive (and relatively-sturdy) outer slipcase cover, which includes raised lettering for the title. Very nice case. In conclusion .... Universal has provided nice, clear anamorphic versions of four films, with pleasing soundtracks, plus the original trailers -- all in one low-priced, space-saving, two-disc package. Hard to gripe about those stats! I can recommend the "Airport Terminal Pack" highly!
Rating: 
Summary: A fly away hit!
Review: Just a notation about the Airport '75 movie on this particular release (the Aiport Terminal Pack). I don't know if some of the other reviewers received damaged discs or whether they have their DVD players or tvs set to the wrong aspect ratio, but I have no video problem at all with this transfer of Airport '75. It appears in proper aspect ratio, and round tires are indeed perfectly round, people are not stretched into stick people, or any such problem. I'm playing it on a Toshiba 3900 DVD player with Color Stream cables to a Toshiba 27" tv. There is no problem whatsoever with compression. Everything in the movie appears totally normal. I'm very picky about proper aspect ratio and compression, so I'd be the first to holler if it was messed up. As I said, the only explanation is either those reviewers got poorly encoded discs, or more likely the aspect ratio on their tv or DVD player is set wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Far better than the critics would have you believe!
Review: Much has been said and written about the first three Airport films, so I'll confine my comments to the much-maligned The Concorde: Airport '79. This fourth and final entry in the Airport series is arguably the weakest of the bunch, but it doesn't deserve the critical thrashing it's received over the years. True, the script is rife with hokey, often saccharine dialog (in one nauseating scene, a television reporter (John Davidson) and his Russian gymnast girlfriend recite wedding vows to each other when they think the plane is going down), and leaves far too many unresolved subplots (thanks mostly to the use of a huge ensemble cast of Hollywood has-beens, a series trademark). But Airport fans won't care, because the action is what matters and on that score, at least, The Concorde delivers. Even with its dated special effects, the movie still packs a wallop, delivering plenty of nail-biting suspense and a spectacular ending. Worth seeing. Two and a half stars out of five.
Rating:
Summary: Airport Terminal Pack - A Slice of History
Review: The Airport Terminal Pack is the definitive collection of the Airport series of disaster films produced in the 1970s. The release comes in a beautifully made digi-pack case which looks absolutely fantastic. This is surrounded by an outer box, with the title of the set embossed - definitely a quality much higher than originally expected! Inside has a picture montage from all the films, and a one sheet insert with a blurb about each film. Now, about the movies... Airport was a commercial box office success when it was released in 1970, taking over $100 million at the US box office. Based on a novel by Arthur Hailey, the story is set at an international airport with the main plot being about a passenger who sets off a bomb in an airliner. There are a a few intricately woven sub-plots in the film, which keep the viewer entertained throughout. Wonderfully acted by the cast, which includes Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset, and Burt Lancaster. Helen Hayes won the best supporting actress Academy Award for the film, and Maureen Stapleton won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress. The film is also lauded in aviation circles as being one of the most technically accurate "aviation films" in history. A very story oriented film, and fabulous to watch - definitely a must-see! Airport 1975 is about an airliner that hits a private plane mid-air, incapacitating the pilots. Stewardess Karen Black has to fly the plane - and will they or won't they land safely? This also did well at the US box office, with over $40 million taken. Another all star cast including Charlton Heston, Linda Blair, Gloria Swanson (in her last film role) and Helen Reddy as the singing nun. A lot of the things that happen in this film were spoofed in Airplane, which makes this a must-see so that you get the jokes in that film! A light and fun film, with some unintentionally funny moments - and you won't believe how politically incorrect some of the comments are! Airport '77 is about a private 747 that ditches in the ocean after criminals try to steal it for the art collection on board. A stellar cast including screen legends James Stewart and Olivia de Havilland, along with Christopher Lee, Lee Grant and Jack Lemmon. Again some technical accuracy as the method to raise the plane is actually used by the US Navy to retrieve submarines. Much more serious than the previous film, it's a delight to watch the cast chewing up the scenery throughout! The acting, set design and costume design (by Edith Head, the costume designer for the first three films) make this film a lot better than it would have been with a lesser cast. Finally, The Concorde: Airport '79. Suspension of disbelief is required for this one! When I was young I thought it was a great film (kids will think it's quite nail-biting), and now I just find it side-splittingly funny! Great shots of the Concorde throughout (the plane used was the one that crashed in Paris in 2000 in an eerie coincidence), and quite a fun romp of a movie! Cast includes George Kennedy (who was in all the films), Alain Delon, Charo, Robert Wagner and Sylvia Kristel. This pack will mark the first time on DVD for this movie - which is long overdue. All four movies vary in quality from superb (Airport and Airport '77), above average (Airport 1975), to good or mediocre depending how you look at it (The Concorde: Airport '79). With the DVD transfers, the quality is excellent for Airport, as it was remastered and received a Dolby 5.1 surround treatment on its 30th anniversary. For the other three films, the picture quality is well above average - my only gripe being that Airport '79 could have done with some restoration as the source print seems a little dirty in places. The sound quality for the latter three films are in Dolby 2.0 mono which is a disappointment, but beggers can't be choosers I suppose! The extra features in this set are all the theatrical trailers for the movies, which are overall above average in quality. The menu screens have a picture of the aircraft from the movie you're about to see, which I thought was a nice touch! Definitely an era in movie making to be preserved, and it is fantastic to have these 4 in their own little collection! Congratulations also to Amazon, for having it on my doorstep on the release date of 10 February 2004 - awesome timing considering it had to come from the USA!
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