Rating: 
Summary: "There's nobody to fly the plane!" screams the stewardess
Review: Yes, Karen Black always looked liked she was wearing too much mascara, but you look at her resume as an actress and you see films like "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," and "Nashville." She even did a film version of "Rhinoceros." But "Airport 1975" ends up being her shinning moment because as stewardess Nancy Pryor she is the one who has to hold this movie together. This "sequel" to 1970's "Airport," which was based on Arthur Hailey's novel, really only had two things in common with the original: an airplane was in trouble and George Kennedy was again chomping on a cigar as Joe Patroni, the irascible crew chief. The trouble the first time around was a jet liner damaged by a bomb explosion. The ante is upped for "Airport 1975" when a small airplane hits the flight deck of a 747, killing or incapacitating the flight crew and leaving it to Nancy the stewardess to take the controls.You have to sit through a lot before this actually happens, as if we would not be able to feel any empathy for the passengers in this situation unless there was some poor kid in need of a live saving organ transplant (Linda Blair) or a real movie star (Gloria Swanson playing herself). To tell the truth, I always flip through the channels until we get to the point where we see the little plane flying left to right and the big plane flying right to left, and the stage is set for something bad to happen. Then I hang around to watch Karen Black handle the crisis because I find it rather compelling when a stewardess opens a cockpit door and finds a gapping hole. At that point the only relevant question becomes "What would you do?", and in that regard "Airport 1975" takes the situation seriously, regardless of who is or is not sitting terrified in the passenger section. Nancy the Stewardess has an advantage in that she is dating Charlton Heston, whose presence is enhanced by playing a character with the manly name of Alan Murdock. When he and Patroni put their heads together, you know everything will be okay in the end, despite a couple of injury to insult moments that threaten to put all of Nancy's good efforts to waste. But this is Karen Black's film and you hate to think what a mess this would have been without her. The extraneous subplots are a bit too much over the top to make this superior to the original, but no where near as laughable as "Airport 1977" where passengers need to be rescued from a 747 submerged in the Bermuda Triangle.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first one!
Review: You have to see Airport before this one. A huge 747 bound for Los Angeles is in trouble. A small plane pilot has a heart attack in mid-air and crashes into the side of Columbia Airlines flight 409, leaving a huge hole in the side of the cockpit and killing the crew, except for the pilot who is unconcious. Karen Black makes an excellent movie with her role as head flight attendant, who tries to steer the plane. Aside from those troubles, a young girl's life depends on the plane landing safely because she has to have an emergency kidney operation. This is a must see for anyone who loves the book or movie version of 'Airport'!
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