Airport 1975, spoofed by the parody AIRPLANE! in 1980, has to be the quintessential action/disaster movie of the 1970's right up there with Towering Inferno. Repleat with a Who's Who of Hollywood name talent whose portraits probably appeared in little boxes on the original movie poster, although I don't know how you could fit them all! Everyone from Charleton Heston, George Kennedy (who made a career of playing in films like this) to Helen Reddy and Sid Caesar is somewhere in this film. Even Jim Plunkett, the pro-football quarterback, makes a cameo. This movie, three decades later, seems a laugh-a-minute, a riot in scenes where it's hard to believe the actors weren't on the verge of cracking up. I mean, can you really take this seriously? This film begged to be spoofed, although maybe it stands on its own! The lines and kooky characters alone are worth the price of admission, and most of them make an encore appearance in AIRPLANE! (by different actors). Does a typical group of airline passengers really look like this? But that's what makes it fun and impossible to take soberly. The big question is this: if the filmmakers were attempting to make a thought-provoking disaster movie, where did these guys go to screen-writing school? Screen writing for Dummies? Unless they were writing for laughs all along and we the audience were so dumb we thought we were watching a serious film.
Let's look at the characters. This is utterly fantastic. You've got the full-of-herself over-the-top movie star, Gloria Swanson, playing herself essentially. You know the type "Dahhhling" with the long cigarette holders. A couple of nuns, one of whom just happens to sing, of course, care of Helen Reddy. A couple of Hari-Krishnas. A sick girl flying to an operation. Old drunk guys, care of Norman Fell and Jerry Stiller, constantly asking the stewardesses for more booze. Actually, at one point, the entire coach sections get shamelessly sloshed! I guess who wouldn't knowing your plane might crash! A boy and his mother who just happen to be the son and wife of the director of operations of the airline. Stewardesses who are not only drop-dead gorgeous but are the kindest people you've ever met on an airline. And the pilots, one of whom named Julio played by a young Eric Estrada who can't seem to stop flirting with the stewardesses.
And now we have the even-better part: the lines! Eric Estrada says at the beginning of the movie after seeing some of the beautiful stewardesses "That's why I love my job." Or how about the hot-headed George Kennedy "It's the only chance we've got!" The TV reporter has some of the best: "The plot thickens!" And of course, Helen Reddy sings for, you guessed it, the little sick girl, played by Linda Blair who always played sick girls in the 1970's. That was so embarrassingly bad, I had to fast-forward it. Heston's line at the end of the movie will have you rolling over the floor.
When you watch this, are we really supposed to believe this is to be taken seriously? The action-packed thriller that never let's up on lame but memorable lines or its crazy memorable characters! We spend more time on the plane than at the airport, and yet is called "Airport 1975". That about says it all. This should have been called AIRPLANE.
Let's look at the characters. This is utterly fantastic. You've got the full-of-herself over-the-top movie star, Gloria Swanson, playing herself essentially. You know the type "Dahhhling" with the long cigarette holders. A couple of nuns, one of whom just happens to sing, of course, care of Helen Reddy. A couple of Hari-Krishnas. A sick girl flying to an operation. Old drunk guys, care of Norman Fell and Jerry Stiller, constantly asking the stewardesses for more booze. Actually, at one point, the entire coach sections get shamelessly sloshed! I guess who wouldn't knowing your plane might crash! A boy and his mother who just happen to be the son and wife of the director of operations of the airline. Stewardesses who are not only drop-dead gorgeous but are the kindest people you've ever met on an airline. And the pilots, one of whom named Julio played by a young Eric Estrada who can't seem to stop flirting with the stewardesses.
And now we have the even-better part: the lines! Eric Estrada says at the beginning of the movie after seeing some of the beautiful stewardesses "That's why I love my job." Or how about the hot-headed George Kennedy "It's the only chance we've got!" The TV reporter has some of the best: "The plot thickens!" And of course, Helen Reddy sings for, you guessed it, the little sick girl, played by Linda Blair who always played sick girls in the 1970's. That was so embarrassingly bad, I had to fast-forward it. Heston's line at the end of the movie will have you rolling over the floor.
When you watch this, are we really supposed to believe this is to be taken seriously? The action-packed thriller that never let's up on lame but memorable lines or its crazy memorable characters! We spend more time on the plane than at the airport, and yet is called "Airport 1975". That about says it all. This should have been called AIRPLANE.