Airport 1975

Rating:
Summary: Best of the bunch
Review: My personal favourite of all the Airport movies, Airport 1975 is a camp classic. Right from the opening credits I am whisked away to the 70's and the familiar feeling of snuggling up at the drive-in....I can almost smell the thermos coffee. Airport 1975 doesn't take itself too seriously, yet all the characters play it straight. With a cast that reads like a guest list for a post Oscars party this movie seems to be full of cliches, yet it was this movie that started the said cliches, which I suppose debunks that theory. This is the movie that Airplane (aka Flying High) stuck closest too. With the sick child (Linda Blair), singing nun (Helen Reddy) and commitmentphobe pilot (Charlton Heston) all represented in the direct spoof. The movie however belongs to Karen Black, the poor old flight attendant. The plane is rendered pilotless when a midair collision with a small plane collides with the cockpit. Ms Black then has to take control of the 747 with no experience in flying whatsoever. Entertaining and hilarious.
I was disappointed however in the DVD which was very light on features. I would have loved to see a trailer, a commentary or better yet, a feature on all four Airport movies, but alas, it was not to be. I had to settle for a filmography on the top 2 stars only and that was it.
If you want a blast from the past, or are just fond of the disaster flicks churned out in the 1970's I would heartily recommend Airport 1975.

Rating:
Summary: 3 Stars 'Cause I Already Rated 'Airport' 4 Stars
Review: Like everybody says, it's Karen Black's film, although George Kennedy and Machine-Gun Heston do a pretty good job of almost crashing the film through their own disasterous talents.

'Airport 1975' stars a few screen legends - Gloria Swanson (needs no intro), Dana Andrews (pilot of small private plane and big time movie star from 'While the City Sleeps,' 'Laura,' 'Tha Fallen Angel') and Myrna Loy, whose majority of spoken lines revolve around the subject of alcohol (a major nod to her 'Thin Man' series with William Powell). Magic.

Best line: George Kennedy, while clinging to the outside of an emergency vehicle that's speeding down the runway chasing the landed plane: "he can't stop her!!" (Why he couldn't ride in the cab of the truck, I'll never know).

Also, contrary to popular belief, Charlton Heston did not lose his mind shortly after becoming president of the NRA. He lost it in this film. When he finally gets aboard the 747 - a plane Karen Black has been flying with no experience for the past hour - he gets right into the whining about 'back-up systems' and isn't sure whether the 'wheels are locked' and . . . oh, it goes on. Hard to believe she bothers to walk off the plane with him at the end.

A film to see, particularly for Chuck and George's over-the-top acting.

Rating:
Summary: A Disaster Film Classic but bad acting
Review: I recently bought the Airport Terminal pack for myself because I always had a passion for disaster films. Before I bought the terminal pack, I wanted to see if I could rent the Airport sequels at the VHS store, they didn't have them, when I finally bought the terminal and when I saw Airport 75, I thought it was a classic for a disaster film, but for acting i though it was a joke, in the entire film, from the beginning and to the end, Karen Black who plays the Head Stewdess on a Boeing 747 that collides with a small private plane during flight looks like she has her eyes crossed, now that was hiliarious! Her acting was just as bad, it became even worse when she had to take instructins for Al Murdock ( Charlston Heston) to fly the plane, that scene was really painful to watch, and one other thing to, the man who was flying the small private who eventually crashed into Flight #409 looked like he was having a heart attack when he lost control, before that happened, if he did have a heart attack then why didn't the movie tell anything about heart problems, I guess that was just to add excitment to the movie. All in All the movie was good, the acting was a joke, esepically Karen Black's acting!

Rating:
Summary: Buy this version unless they remaster the Terminal Pack...
Review: I won't comment on the film or the acting; it's hard to take any Airport film seriously after Airplane! skewered the genre.

However, if you appreciate the film for what it is, fun entertainment, this is certainly one of the better in the 70's disaster film genre and the special effects have held up well over the years.

If you're interested in this film, I strongly urge you to buy this copy instead of or in addition to the Airport Terminal Pack; there is a mastering error that does not fully expand the film horizontally in that collection, with the result that objects are somewhat compressed horizontally from their true proportions. Another reviewer's references to "tire ovals" and "stick people" is a bit of an exaggeration, but you'll wonder why the plane is so short and stubby and why the airport's pickup trucks look as if they have 4' beds. :-)

In short, another mastering error on Universal's part and, frankly, a somewhat better transfer on GoodTimes' part make THIS the better transfer of Airport 1975...

Rating:
Summary: A Respectable Sequel - It Should Have Been The Only Sequel!
Review: The following is an update to my original (edited) review from 1999:

In my mind this sequel should have been the only one done after the success of the original. The script utilizes the material not used from Authur Haley's novel in the first film (i.e. the chapters about an overworked air traffic controller who deals with his experience with a midair collision) and expands on it.

The film is quite suspenseful but slightly dated. It features some hair raising moments when the head stewardess has to try to fly the damaged plane after the collision and the flight crew is either dead or disabled. Next, an attempt is made to place a pilot into the pilotless plane. The film features an all star cast, including Karen Black as the head stewardess and Charlton Heston as her boyfriend and exec of the airlines, and a plausable script with some great special effects (considering it was produced in the mid 1970s).

All in all, it's the best of all the "Airport" sequels!

Rating:
Summary: Superfluous from Beginning to End
Review: I first watched this movie on NBC back in April 1977. Though edited to make it fit its two hour timeslot and allow room for commercials, I later purchased the video from Goodtimes Video to watch the parts not shown by NBC. From the beginning of the movie shot at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia, the cast who star as the crew and passengers aboard Columbia Airlines flight 409, board a Boeing 747-123 (on loan from American Airlines) and it is typical Hollywood overacting, particularly the passengers. Some of the crew, especially Erik Estrada, who plays flight engineer Julio, does quite a bit of womanizing with one of the stewardesses. I've flown a lot during my lifetime, even aboard 747s, and have never heard so much redundancy as depicted in this movie. The sound effects were a little primitive from the Boeing 747 sounding like a Boeing 707 on take-off down to the telephone gongs that are the same ones used on the beginning of the "Rockford Files". This was in the days before George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic came into the vogue. By the way, his film "American Graffiti" was the inflight movie. Some faults are present in the film. The private pilot (Dana Andrews) identifies his plane as "two-three-two-zulu" instead of the correct identitication: N9750Y. Another fault was at the time the stricken 747 lands at Salt Lake City and runs out of runway before Charlton Heston has to turn the nose tiller to make the plane go left at a high rate of speed. Here, we see the passengers get thrown to the left instead of to the right. Another fault we see is that the passengers are catching a glimpse of the daring midair transfer. In reality it would be difficult for anyone to see such an operation. If you were to watch the movie more than once, you could see all these errors.

Rating:
Summary: Better transfer than the "Terminal Pack" transfer
Review: As hard as it may be to believe, this being a "Good Times" release, the transfer on this DVD is better than that included in the "Terminal Pack". Yes, the "Terminal Pack" transfer is anamorphic, and this one has SLIGHTLY more grain....but this transfer is in the correct proportion. Tires are round and the actors don't look like stick people.

My recommendation...buy this disk to supplement your "Terminal Pack".

Rating:
Summary: THIS DEFINES 1970'S CHEESE!
Review: Help!

We have NO pilot or NO plot!

Rating:
Summary: Timeless Classic
Review: Given the era in which this was filmed, this movie is a true depiction of the time. I have worked for a major airline since 1984, and, always welcome the chance to view this classic take on the behind-the-scenes aspect of the aviation biz ... Personally, I think this should become the 'Rocky Horror' cult film for airline employees ...

Rating:
Summary: Universal and Airport Movies at Best
Review: This is the best movie,that I have ever seen!I thought it was well thought out,and they said flight attendant and pilot could'nt fall in love? Well,in this movie it proves that theory wrong.Having seen this movie several Hundred times,memorising it,and knowing all the lines..I tell ya!Now that is dedication!Gather the family,the kids,the mother in law..sure! why not even bring in the dogs and cats..its a movie for the entire family!If my friend and I to this date,still watch this movie..you can too..and you'll love 747's like I do..hey who needs airbus?