Ada Quonsett: “My late husband played the violin. Not professionally, but he was very good. He once played the Minute Waltz in 58 seconds.”
If you’re looking for one of the most wildly intense nights of chaos set on film, then Airport (1970), co-written and directed by George Seaton (Miracle on 34th Street) is in the running for that honour.
Often deemed a disaster movie with plenty of drama, moments of action, tinges of comedy (see above), as well as some obvious thrills, it’s a mixed bag of sorts, as it’s got an impressively massive cast, clever use of split screen to keep the narrative moving along (it might remind some of the popular 2000s tv show 24), and throw a wild number of ideas at the screen to create one frantic evening effect, yet its languid pacing holds some of these elements back from being a more memorable disaster thriller. In fact, star Burt Lancaster even called it “a piece of junk”.
Following many different stories as a gargantuan snow storm hits Chicago’s Lincoln International Airport, much of the stress falls upon airport manager Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster – Kiss the Blood Off My Hands; From Here to Eternity) and his widowed head customer relations agent Tanya Livingston (Jean Seberg – Paint Your Wagon). . . who has been in a long flirt-a-thon with Mel, despite the fact he still resides within an unhappy marriage.
With a plane trapped on a runway due to the heavy snow, Mel has put cigar chomping chief mechanic Joe Patroni (George Kennedy – Savage Dawn) in charge of trying to get it dug out and removed safely from any danger.
At the same time, the busy night continues at the airport, with Flight 2, piloted by Captain Anson Harris (Barry Nelson – the world’s first James Bond, which he performed on tv eight years before Sean Connery) and checkride captain Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), already loading their passengers. Not only is there drama onboard, as chief stewardess Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset – Day for Night) has just informed the married Demerest that she is pregnant with his child, as well as sneaky stowaway Ada Quonsett (Helen Hayes – Arrowsmith) posing as a passenger in one of the seats, but the ever more dangerous D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin in his last role – The Strange Love of Martha Ivers; Act of Violence) has also boarded – an at the-end-of-his-rope man who nervously sits holding a briefcase with a deadly bomb in it.
As all of the bedlam caused by the weather, heightened emotions, and bomb risk merge into one tense moment, what will come of the pilots and passengers flying on Flight 2? Can Demerest stay focused on his job upon hearing of the stressful baby news? And, will the ill-placed plane stuck on the tarmac be moved before it causes any future danger?
Featuring many a notable actor, it was certainly Helen Hayes who won the hearts of viewers, as her role of the craftily comedic quirk who has devised many a method to grift her way upon any flight for free, brought her a second Academy Award for acting – her first coming all the way back in 1932 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet. It is also worth noting that this one earned nine other nominations for the iconic statuette, but no else heard their name called during that soirée.
A gargantuan box office hit in 1970, it spawned the disaster movie craze (though they range back to the 1930s and before), with studios over the next half decade pumping out memorable titles like The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno, while the film reviewed here today got three sequels of its own released in 1974, `77, and `79. Though some of the elements here also helped the classic spoof Airplane! (1980) get some ideas (and you can definitely see it), it is important to note that the main focus of that joke-a-second comedy was the obscure movie Zero Hour! (1957). Lastly, it also must be mentioned that this was the final score composed by the legendary Alfred Newman (Miracle on 34th Street; The Seven Year Itch), who sadly passed away the same year this film was released. So, see the movie that didn’t bomb despite having a bomb in its plot, it assuredly left an explosive wake.