Airport 1975.

Release Date: Oct. 18, 1974. Running Time: 106 minutes. Screenplay: Don Ingalls. Producer: William Frye, Jennings Lang. Director: Jack Smight.


THE PLOT:

A 747 flying from Washington to Los Angeles is rerouted because of weather. The flight crew is preparing to land in Salt Lake City when a small commuter plane's pilot (Dana Andrews) suffers a sudden heart attack - sending him into a collision with the airline.

The accident blows a hole in the cockpit, killing two of the crew members (Roy Thinnes, Erik Estrada) and severely wounding the captain (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr). Head stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) is the only one left to take the controls. The airline summons her boyfriend, pilot Alan Murdock (Charlton Heston), to talk her through leveling the plane off and diagnosing the damage.  But with treacherous terrain surrounding the Salt Lake City airport, and with increasing communications problems, Murdock and airline exec Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) determine that it will be impossible for the untrained Nancy to land the plane safely.  They will need to get a trained pilot aboard, and the only way to do that will be through a perilous midair transfer!

Stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) takes control of the plane.

CHARACTERS:

Alan Murdock: Charlton Heston gets star billing, though I doubt his total screentime adds up to much more than thirty minutes. Which isn't to say he doesn't dominate the screen time he has.  Heston is in full square jawed grit-and-gravel mode, delivering every line with a kind of heightened gravity that would make William Shatner green with envy. This is not a bad thing.  Hammy Heston is the exact right kind of actor for tripe such as this. Oh, if you're inclined to drinking games, take a shot every time he addresses Nancy as "baby" or "honey." Actually, don't - You'll be in a coma by the movie's midpoint, and you will go into toxic shock by the time the end credits roll.

Nancy Pryor: Airport 1975 is notable as the only film in the series with a female as the lead. With Heston appearing only intermittently until the last part of movie, it falls to Karen Black to carry the action. This is good news - Black's performance is particularly strong. There's a moment, when she's asked to disengage the autopilot in order to make a needed course correction, at which she freezes with terror. Black plays it perfectly, as her character stares at the gauges and switches in front of her, suddenly overcome with the enormity of the situation. The moment stretches on long enough to become uncomfortable... And then she recovers and continues listening to and executing the radio instructions, doing what needs to be done to keep the plane and its passengers alive for just a little while longer.

Patroni: The script was actually pitched as a television movie, one with no relation to 1970's Airport. Producer Jennings Lang decided the premise was perfect for a bigscreen sequel... which, I suspect, is why George Kennedy's Patroni (the only actual link to the first movie) has somehow moved from mechanic to airline VP. He also now has a wife and family... which retroactively means that all three of the original film's male leads were either cheating on their wives or wanting to! If I'm not talking much about Patroni in this film, it's because there isn't much to say - He's there to exchange exposition with Charlton Heston and berate others (including a military officer and an obnoxious journalist). Kennedy still does well with what he's given, but a bit of self-parody is already sneaking in.

The Flight Crew: Efrem Zimbalist Jr. does his usual, professional job as the pilot. His co-pilot is Roy Thinnes, who has so little to do that he could be replaced by an inflatable dummy without anyone noticing. A pre-CHIPS Erik Estrada is the flight engineer, Julio. Who is Latino. And therefore, of course, a serial womanizer who spends more time hitting on a blonde stewardess than actually doing his job. Estrada plays the role so broadly that I half-suspect he was demonstrating his own disdain for his stereotypical role.

The Passengers: Ugh. Estrada's walking ethnic stereotype looks good by comparison with this lot.  Norman Fell, Jerry Stiller, and Conrad Janis are a trio of obnoxious drunks; Sid Caesar is a would-be actor who booked the flight only because he has a seconds-long bit part in the in-flight movie. If all four of them were dropped out of the hole to their deaths, I would expect a standing ovation to result.  Taking up the metaphorical baton from the original film's Helen Hayes is silent screen star Gloria Swanson. Literally playing herself, and reportedly delivering her own dialogue in the form of anecdotes meant for her autobiography. Finally, unintentional hilarity comes from the inclusion of Linda Blair as an angelic teen transplant patient, who is comforted and, at one point, serenaded by a guitar-playing singing nun (Helen Reddy). Yes, really. It was the '70s, so I blame drugs.

Yes, this scene really happened.  To this day, no one knows why.

THOUGHTS:

"Climb, baby, climb!"
-From the Collected Wit and Wisdom of Alan Murdock (Charlton Heston)

1970's Airport was largely made of recycled parts, but it was served up handsomely. Like a celebrity chef asked to serve up a hamburger, the filmmakers went all out in delivering a gigantic, juicy piece of cinematic junk food that was handsomely plated with all the trimmings. By contrast, Airport 1975 is McDonalds. No one would seriously call it high quality... but if you're hungry for what it's offering, it does get the job done.

It should be said that the opening half-hour is dreadful. Not one of the passengers we meet is interesting or even particularly likable. Most of them are played for laughs, but this movie is only funny when it's trying not to be. By the thirty-minute mark, I was actively considering switching off...

And then Dana Andrews somewhat comically grabs his chest, the small plane crashes into the big one... And with that, the movie springs to life, transforming from tedious hokum to startlingly gripping hokum.

From the moment of the crash, the film develops energy. We all know the plane will be saved, but the script does a good job of increasing the stresses and complications. Nancy's initial turn is not a challenging piece of piloting. The tension comes from her having to deal with her own emotions as she performs this unfamiliar task. Later, however, the stakes rise. Communications with the tower become increasingly problematic. After a second course correction, the plane is too low to clear the nearby mountains - but at slowing speeds, raising the altitude risks stalling the engines. A gas leak provides a ticking clock for the rescue, while damaged bits of cockpit begin to literally fall from the ceiling. Some of the moments are cheesy and practically parody themselves - but it mostly works, fueled by the sheer momentum and Karen Black's performance.

Finally, we get to the midair transfer, which despite a few dated projection shots proves to be a top-notch set piece. A Redshirt goes first (his fate's really not a spoiler - come on, you know Heston has to end up in the plane). From inside the cockpit, Nancy tries desperately to clear away debris and to reach for him to help him into the plane. Then his release catches in a piece of metal, and he doesn't even have a chance to react before he's sucked out into open air - at which point Nancy lets out her only scream of the movie. After that, it's Heston's turn; and though we know that of course he's going to get into the plane, his transfer still effectively puts us at the edge of our seats, thanks in no small part to the demonstration of just how quickly and easily it could all go terribly wrong.

The big set piece: A desperate midair attempt to make Charlton Heston seem like the star of the movie.

OVERALL:

Just to show how ubiquitous disaster movies were in the 1970s: both Charlton Heston and George Kennedy started shooting this film almost immediately after wrapping another movie they worked on together: Earthquake, which I'll also be tackling at some point.

As for Airport 1975? It's trash, but it has the advantage of being both lean and fast. Gone are the interpersonal dynamics that dominated the first film, replaced by a tight action/adventure focus, capped by a dynamic rescue mission. Once the collision happens, the film starts moving, and it doesn't stop until we're on the ground - at which point it immediately ends.

It's all extraordinarily dumb and often unintentionally funny (several bits of this film would later be lampooned by Airplane!). But while the original Airport is unquestionably better, I suspect a lot of viewers might prefer this movie's no-frills action.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Preceded by: Airport
Sequel: Airport '77



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