During the course of this entry into the "Airport" franchise, a 747 collides with a private plane, causing some major damage and killing some of the flight crew. (One guy is sucked out through the resulting hole, in a moment probably not intended to be so hilarious.) It's up to the senior stewardess, Nancy Pryor (Karen Black), to take the controls when the Captain (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) has his vision impaired. Fortunately, Nancy has old pros such as franchise stalwart Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) and Alan Murdock (Charlton Heston) to talk her through the necessary steps to navigating through mountains and maintaining a somewhat steady flight.
The assortment of big stars here is gloriously goofy. Legendary Gloria Swanson actually plays herself, in her final feature film. Sid Caesar plays a guy who only took the trip because he wanted to see himself act in the in-flight movie. He also spends a lot of his time chatting up a drink-loving Myrna Loy. Linda Blair is a sickly teenager being transported to a critical operation in another city. (And, of course, time is of the essence in her case.) Helen Reddy is particularly amusing as a singing nun; she also composed the song that she sings here.
And that's not to leave out all the other familiar faces making appearances along the way: Susan Clark, Dana Andrews, Roy Thinnes, Ed Nelson, Nancy Olson, Larry Storch, Martha Scott, Norman Fell, Jerry Stiller, Conrad Janis, Beverly Garland, Linda Harrison from "Planet of the Apes", Guy Stockwell, Erik Estrada, Kip Niven, Christopher Norris, Austin Stoker, et al. Black does a capable job of holding things together, although she sure has some of the funniest "screamy" faces this viewer has ever seen. Heston is typically solid as a rock. And Kennedy is entertainingly volatile, going so far as to throttle pushy reporter Storch.
If any of this sounded recognizable, it should: this movie had to have influenced the later spoof "Airplane!" just as much as the 1950s thriller "Zero Hour!". It *is* a good premise, although the more genuinely thrilling and action packed later portions of the movie tend to battle it out with the ridiculous dialogue, situations (one lady actually snuck her dog onto the flight!), and characters.
A decent comical entry into this series.
Six out of 10.
The assortment of big stars here is gloriously goofy. Legendary Gloria Swanson actually plays herself, in her final feature film. Sid Caesar plays a guy who only took the trip because he wanted to see himself act in the in-flight movie. He also spends a lot of his time chatting up a drink-loving Myrna Loy. Linda Blair is a sickly teenager being transported to a critical operation in another city. (And, of course, time is of the essence in her case.) Helen Reddy is particularly amusing as a singing nun; she also composed the song that she sings here.
And that's not to leave out all the other familiar faces making appearances along the way: Susan Clark, Dana Andrews, Roy Thinnes, Ed Nelson, Nancy Olson, Larry Storch, Martha Scott, Norman Fell, Jerry Stiller, Conrad Janis, Beverly Garland, Linda Harrison from "Planet of the Apes", Guy Stockwell, Erik Estrada, Kip Niven, Christopher Norris, Austin Stoker, et al. Black does a capable job of holding things together, although she sure has some of the funniest "screamy" faces this viewer has ever seen. Heston is typically solid as a rock. And Kennedy is entertainingly volatile, going so far as to throttle pushy reporter Storch.
If any of this sounded recognizable, it should: this movie had to have influenced the later spoof "Airplane!" just as much as the 1950s thriller "Zero Hour!". It *is* a good premise, although the more genuinely thrilling and action packed later portions of the movie tend to battle it out with the ridiculous dialogue, situations (one lady actually snuck her dog onto the flight!), and characters.
A decent comical entry into this series.
Six out of 10.