Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

lasttimeisaw For shizzle it was a simpler time when a passenger can fairly conveniently (albeit visibly in a shaky state) sneak a makeshift bomb inside his attaché case on board of a trans-Atlantic Boeing 707, in George Seaton's AIRPORT, whose runaway box office success (not to mention its earth-shattering 10 Oscar nominations) would launch a disaster film franchise that unsurprisingly fizzles out at the end of its decade, Van Heflin (rather compelling in his final role) is the said bomb-carrier, pushed to despair by his hardscrabble reality, which partially should be answerable by that unjustified war, this is as political as one can get from this adaptation of Arthur Hailey's popular novel, and the rest is sheer schlocky drama.Mustering a vast cast and condensing its story on one blizzard-assailing night in the fictive Lincoln airport in Chicago, AIRPORT takes its multi-threads narrative in a balanced if unimpressive stride, on the ground we have airport manager Mel Bakersfeld (Lancaster, not so often on automatic pilot) mired in workaday imperatives and private crises, the dissolving of his marriage with Cindy (a piercingly fierce Wynter) is imminent, while he still dithers about his feeling towards his widowed co-worker, Tanya Livingston (Seberg, unremarkable to a fault, is this the same girl from Godard's BREATHLESS, 1960, one cannot help but wonder), the customer relations agent for Trans Global Airlines. And later aloft in the ionosphere, Mel's brother-in-law captain Vernon Demerest (a swarthy Dean Martin), must contend with a similar but more life-threatening situation when the bomb explodes (the frisson-free one-the-fly special effects cruelly show up its shoddiness), and his pregnant paramour, the chief stewardess Gwen Meighen (Bisset) is seriously injured, an emergency landing is actualized without much flair. Although one can understand its appeal at that time (its grandiose production scale, eye-pleasing cinematography from Ernest Laszlo, the innovative use of split-screen and a heroic act in its core), AIRPORT is unavoidably goes down in the history as one of the major undeserved Oscar BEST PICTURE contenders, that said, two outstanding performances are worth dwelling on a bit more, firstly the bodacious Helen Hayes, who won her second Oscar as the larger-than-life stowaway Ada Quonsett, spryly and magnanimously proffers cheeriness and wittiness which the film is gravely in need of, and all the more, defies any cheap entrapment of relegating her character into a substantial laughing stock, which means she can take a slap in the face for a greater cause. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the inimitable Maureen Stapleton, also Oscar-nominated here, evokes pathos in spades as the bomber's distressed wife, makes great play of her limited screen time and her catatonic reaction belongs to one of the high-water marks of method acting, sticks out like a sore thumb while the rest bigger names are just going through the motions, and further counterpoints the mediocrity that permeates this well-meaning but overall ponderous and characterless overachiever, where beautiful gals are all docile and sensible in front of their much senior married male counterparts, yet, it is the bitter wives that get their raw deals, a patriarchal America ever so outdated and self-congratulatory, that is its last straw.

FlashCallahan An airport struggles to remain open during the worst snowstorm in 25 year.Mel Bakersfield is the airport manager who must not only fight the weather, but his pilot/playboy brother-in-law, his divorce seeking wife, a deranged man with a bomb, a plane stuck in the mud and blocking the main runway, and a stowaway........among other things...You can define disaster in many ways, Many will see this film as a straightforward 'Plane is under attack movie' in the same vein as something like the much later 'Executive Decision', but there is so much more to this film than just a bomb on a plane.The disaster could be crumbling relationships, fear of losing a career, fear of not making somewhere on time, just usual everyday things that could cause 'disaster' in someones routine if things don't go to plan for them.This mainly lies on the shoulders of Burt Lancaster, whom is either sitting in an office listening to peers quite concerned, or putting on a lovely looking warm jacket and going out to the runway to look at a stalled plane.On the other hand, we have the dashing crooner Dean Martin suffering the disaster of his hair going slightly off style for a couple of minutes, or trying to deal with the 'disaster' of falling in love with someone over half his age and fathering her unborn child.The problem is, if you saw Airplane! before this, you cannot take the film seriously, and even more so if you've seen the more over the top disaster films that followed this.It has a plethora of sub-plots going on, from a know it all child, to a hilarious old woman who hitches free rides and feigns illness almost every act in the film.It's just too serious for it's own good, and there are a few passengers on board you would gladly punch in the face if you were on the same flight.The film does inject an element of humour into the script in the final third, but it's pretty blasphemous, as it consists of a Nun chugging a bottle of spirit, and a Father slapping a delusional passenger.Kennedy is the best thing about the film, and it's no wonder they bought him back for the three sequels.It's the cinematic equivalent of the picture of food you see on a menu in a chain restaurant, it looks grand, but the finished product is far less palatable.

Hitchcoc Many of the airport runway scenes were filmed here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I recall that some of the bit parts went to local TV people or actors. This movie doesn't wear well because the silly subplots are almost laughable now. First of all, I could never stand Dean Martin as an actor. He did a nice job on those Italian songs and his TV show was OK. The romantic stuff with him is such a diminishing factor in this film. Everyone thought that Helen Hayes was so cute. I just never got it. Anyone could have played this part. The main drawback was the formulaic nature of the whole thing with everyone fitting a particular niche. As I said in my brief comments on "The Towering Inferno" there are people who fit a prescribed pattern and they just happened to show up on this flight. These disaster films were so predictable. Finally, see "Airplane." It is much better and mocks the whole airport milieu.

dpandlisa Spend the first Act of the film developing the characters (what a concept!) so that we know all of them and their relationships to the story for later on. Then introduce the central plot, who is carrying out and even why. Then put the plot in motion and allow all the characters we know to work together to triumph over the impossible. This was the basic structure of the great disaster films of the 70s - Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Earthquake and this terrific thriller. The acting is top-notch. Burt Lancaster looks terrific in his suit and red tie courtesy of Edith Head. The ladies are gorgeous. George Kennedy was never better. Dean Martin is sober and believable as a pilot. And Helen Hayes is perhaps the most deserved Supporting Actress in movie history. Even the 'bad guy' has his motivation fully detailed, and you even feel sympathy for him and for his wife. If you're looking to introduce your younger viewers to the disaster genre before bludgeoning them with San Andreas, start with this one. You'll have a great time. It's a great movie.