Sam Panico George Seaton (Miracle on 34th Street) directed the initial installment, which originated the entire big budget disaster genre that ruled the 1970's. The actual story is simple - there's a big snowstorm in Chicago and a flight to Rome is in danger, thanks to a down on his luck demolition expert (Van Heflin in his last role) looking to blow up the plane so that his wife (Maureen Stapleton, who won a Golden Globe for her work) can cash in. Along the way, we meet airport manager Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster), whose is married to the airport over his wife (Dana Wynter from Invasion of the Body Snatchers) while a co-worker (Jean Seberg, the gorgeous star of the original Breathless whose support of the Black Panthers led to the FBI COINTELPRO hounding her for the rest of her short life) pines for him. Then there's Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), who is married to Bakersfield's sister (Barbara Hale, mother of William Katt) but is having an affair with a stewardess (Jacqueline Bisset, The Mephisto Waltz). Then there's Mrs. Quonsett (Helen Hayes, who won an Oscar for the role), an elderly woman who sneaks her way onto planes.This big cast all interplays with one another, ending up on the seemingly doomed flight or aiding in its rescue. Will love win out? Will anyone who works in the airline industry get along with their spouses? Can Patroni shovel out a plane in time after being called in while he's trying to enjoy a night of passion with his wife? Sure. Yes. Of course.To get big stars like Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, the producers gave that 10% of the profits after the film reached $50 million. With a US gross of over $100 million, the stars did more than fine making this one.

Hitchcoc Many of the airport runway scenes were filmed here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. I recall that some of the bit parts went to local TV people or actors. This movie doesn't wear well because the silly subplots are almost laughable now. First of all, I could never stand Dean Martin as an actor. He did a nice job on those Italian songs and his TV show was OK. The romantic stuff with him is such a diminishing factor in this film. Everyone thought that Helen Hayes was so cute. I just never got it. Anyone could have played this part. The main drawback was the formulaic nature of the whole thing with everyone fitting a particular niche. As I said in my brief comments on "The Towering Inferno" there are people who fit a prescribed pattern and they just happened to show up on this flight. These disaster films were so predictable. Finally, see "Airplane." It is much better and mocks the whole airport milieu.

paulsp2 I guess out of all the 70's "Disaster Movies" Airport is about the most watchable (along with "Towering Inferno") Both have their boring parts and this one some pretty corny dialogue (These days that has morphed into banal so not a lot of change there.) The best feature of this movie is the casting of a real professional actor in Burt Lancaster, I don't like all of his movies but he never gave a poor performance in his life. There is the usual line up of "veterans" who have all seen better days. I'm totally mystified by the Oscar for Helen Hayes as best supporting actress, there is nothing special about her acting and in fact her character is Hollywood at it's most corny. Worth seeing through but don't expect anything very special or you might be very disappointed.

g-bodyl So I confess that I have a love for disaster films, no matter what other people think of them. Thank heavens for movie subjectivity! Anyhow, Airport is a movie that is the pioneer for modern disaster movies, but I really enjoyed it. There are undeniably many flaws, but my gosh I had a blast watching the film and the campy tone gave the film spirit. My biggest flaw I had with the film is the scenes involving the personal lives of the manager. I mean, his pending divorce has nothing to do with the rest of the plot, including trying to save the plane. Other than that plot issue, I really had fun watching the granddaddy of all disaster films.This film is about this airport that is stricken due to a blizzard. But even more serious problems arise when a bomb-damaged plane needs an emergency landing in order to save the people on the plane. The manager of the Lincoln Airport, Mel Bakersfield, has his hands full in trying to combat the weather and personnel in order to save the plane.The film has a stacked cast full of Oscar nominees. Now while no one truly gives Oscar-worthy performances, there is no denying that they were solid performances. Burt Lancaster did a good job as Mel and Dean Martin as the head pilot, Vernon. Those performances came across as serious despite the campy tone, but they were still good. However, I felt the best performance came from Helen Hayes, a 70-year-old woman who makes a fuss about plane tickets which causes her to hitch airplane rides while avoiding authorities. Her comic relief was excellent, and maybe she did deserve that Oscar.Overall, Airport is a fun disaster movie and in hindsight, it set the tone for the major disaster movies that will come in the future. It is a great movie? Not really. Is it a fun, entertaining movie? You bet it is! I am very amazed how this film achieved ten Oscar nominations. If this same film was released in 2015, it more likely would have received ten Razzie nominations. Oh how the time change! But on the whole, a really fun movie with some cool sequences including my favorite which was the bomb going off in the plane.My Grade: B+/A-