Rating: 
Summary: Murphy takes a plane trip
Review: "Airport" began a trend in movies, with several sequels, plus two parodies ("Airplane" and its sequel). In "Airport" we see a big-name cast show us the dramas that can unfold in an airport, with many converging storylines, including a blizzard, a plane that gets stuck, and a despairing and desperate suicide-bomber (played superbly by Van Heflin).
While the problems of a snowstorm hitting an airport are not uncommon (the Winter of 2004-2005 gave us many examples) and planes do get stuck in the mud (this happened at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Fenruary 2005), the bomber storyline was the most unusual (especially as it was not a foreign terrorist). What made me think of Murphy's Law is that all these things are happening at the same time and in the same airport.
While there is that air of improbability, and the story drifts from drama to melodrama at times, the acting and the general sincerity of the stories saves the movie. It is well worth watching, but I'm not sure whether I'd buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Airport got its wings.
Review: If you are interested in this film, I would suggest looking into the AIRPORT TERMINAL PACK which includes AIRPORT, AIRPORT 75, AIRPORT 77 and THE CONCORDE AIRPORT 79. There have been some gripes about the cropping of one of these films in that set, but if you're just looking for a quick AIRPORT fix, it clearly fits the bill.
The decade of the seventies gave us many `disaster' films. Top amongst them is AIRPORT, based on the bestselling novel by Arthur Hailey. Although it was not critically loved, it did well with the Academy and Helen Hayes even took home an Oscar for her performance as a professional stowaway. Like other disaster films of the 70s, AIRPORT has an All-Star Cast! Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster and Jacqueline Bisset juggle the impending disaster. Van Heflin is excellent and sympathetic as the bomber, looking to get insurance money to his unknowing wife, another wonderful performance by Maureen Stapleton. And of course, George Kennedy is in as Patroni, who will (maybe unfortunately) become an AIRPORT staple. Also of note is the great musical score by Alfred Newman.
Unlike its sequels, AIRPORT handles the balance between drama, soap opera and entertainment with excellence. Nowadays, the film is a bit sappy, but it is still great fun; especially on those late Saturday nights went you can't get to sleep... this'll do the trick! If you are a fan of the film AIRPLANE, this is must see entertainment. Especially when you see how spot-on those filmmakers were with their parody.
Rating: 
Summary: Airport
Review: This first of the big airplane disaster movies features an outstanding cast, a host of distinctive characters, and a widely interesting web of subplots. While all things lead to disaster in the air, there is a much greater human component to Airport than what you will see in the disaster movies of today. Perhaps the human drama does not play out to perfection on one or two occasions, yet it all kept my rapt fascination even as I wondered why disaster had not yet struck an hour and a half into the film (which lasts for two hours and seventeen minutes). Airport (1970) picked up ten Academy Award nominations, including best picture, Helen Hayes walked away from it with her second Oscar, and a host of sequels followed in its wake, so obviously it did many things right. The first half of the film actually seems like some kind of 1970s TV pilot. Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster) is the airport manager working himself to death in order to keep the place running smoothly, campaigning when he can for expansion and modernization. His brother-in-law pilot Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) assumes the role of Bakersfield's antagonist, criticizing airport measures for keeping the runways operational and the flights on schedule, especially on nights such as the one in question, when a major snowstorm is wreaking havoc on the ground as well as in the air. Bakersfield is locked in an unhappy marriage with a regal yet noxious social gadfly, facing the fact that the woman he now cares about may be leaving her job at the airport for a better opportunity elsewhere. Demerest has some kind of marriage of convenience to Bakerfield's sister, and he is carrying on with a lovely and suddenly pregnant stewardess (they still called them stewardesses back in 1970) played by the engaging Jacqueline Bisset. Then you have the heavy of the group, Joe Patroni (George "If it's an airplane movie, I'm in it" Kennedy), the only man for the job of getting an airplane stuck in the snow out of the way of the main landing strip. Helen Hayes plays a delightfully entertaining serial stowaway, and while she is naturally fantastic in her role, the size and importance of her part would not seem to merit the Best Actress award she received for her performance. About the time you start looking for Aaron Spelling's name to come up in the closing credits, we are finally introduced to a nervous fellow putting together an attaché case of explosives. He is presented in the most sentimental of lights, and one can't help but feel sorry for him and for the rash decision he has made, nor can one do anything but curse the otherwise forgettable character who plays the dumbest airplane passenger in history. Eventually, the plane takes off for Rome with both the stowaway and the bomber on board; soon thereafter, puzzle pieces begin to fall into place, and the pilots, aware of the danger, try to turn around and head for home. Their safe return faces two major obstacles: the bomber on board and the stuck airplane jutting out on the only landing strip they can safely attempt to land on through the roaring blizzard. Don't expect a lot of special effects or outrageous acts of unrealistic heroics (although there is a priest who delivers a most unorthodox and intensely satisfying blessing to the aforementioned dumbest airplane passenger on earth). What happens is presented very well, but the real drama lies in the characters' relationships. I am a huge Dean Martin fan, and I thought the man delivered a terrific dramatic performance in this movie, standing equally beside the likes of the legendary Lancaster, Bisset, and Hayes. The story may seem to develop slowly for those used to or expecting quick and impressive action and special effects, but this movie follows the old creed that there can be no real tragedy unless the audience knows and cares about the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Often Imitated, never Duplicated
Review: The granddaddy of transportation disaster movies with an all-star cast (Helen Hayes stole an Oscar as Ada Quonsett) and big budget set (lots of snow). Best line in the movie: Dean Martin to Jacqueline Bissett, after Dean hears she may not have her pregnancy terminated and instead give the chid up for adoption - "you have religious scruples?" This from a man who is cheating on his wife and has just heard he's knocked up a stewardess. Aaaaahh, you gotta love it!! Only a Rat Packer could pull that one off. Too much time on runway two-niner methinks. Classic stuff, even if a little dated.
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