Airport (film)

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Airport
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by	George Seaton
Produced by	Ross Hunter
Written by	Arthur Hailey (novel) George Seaton
Starring	Burt Lancaster Dean Martin Jean Seberg Jacqueline Bisset George Kennedy Helen Hayes Van Heflin
Music by	Alfred Newman
Cinematography	Ernest Laszlo, ASC
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	March 5, 1970
Running time	137 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000
Gross revenue	$100,489,151
Followed by	Airport 1975

Airport is a 1970 American film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. This film, which earned over $100,000,000^[1] at the box office at a time when achieving that milestone was rare, focuses on an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snowstorm, while a suicidal bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 in flight. The story takes place at the fictional Chicago-area Lincoln International Airport. The film was written for the screen and directed by George Seaton. Seaton was assisted by Henry Hathaway, and Ernest Laszlo photographed it in 70 mm Todd-AO. The film cost $10 million to produce. This was the last film scored by Academy Award winning composer Alfred Newman.

Airport paved the way for the 1970s disaster film genre, establishing the widely-followed convention of "microcosmic melodrama combined with catastrophe-oriented adventure".^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Box office 4.2 Reviews 4.3 Awards 5 Score 6 Sequels 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

This film was based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Hailey. With considerable attention to the details of day-to-day airport and airline operations, the plot of the movie concerns the response to both a paralyzing snowstorm and to an attempt to blow up an airliner.

Demolition expert D.O. Guerrero, down on his luck and with a history of mental illness, purchases a life insurance policy with the intent to commit suicide by blowing up a Rome-bound Boeing 707 Intercontinental jet from a snowbound Chicago airport. He plans to do this while he is on board using a self-made bomb hidden inside an attache case, while in flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Guerrero does this in the hope that his wife, Inez, will benefit from the insurance money.

Co-pilot Vern Demerest tries to persuade Guerrero not to trigger the bomb while airport manager Mel Bakersfeld deals with a variety of personal, weather, runway and stowaway problems from the ground. The ultimate detonation causes explosive decompression and Guerrero is sucked out of the plane. Chief stewardess Gwen, pregnant with Demerest's child, is seriously injured in the blast. The plane returns to Chicago to attempt an emergency landing -– all while the airport is in the midst of a blizzard with one runway closed from a stuck-in-the-snow airliner that chief mechanic Joe Patroni is trying to move in time.

The film is characterized by ensemble acting in which many personal stories intertwine while decisions are made minute-by-minute by the airport staff.

[edit] Cast

• Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfeld, airport manager
• Dean Martin as Vernon Demerest, checkride captain
• Jean Seberg as Tanya Livingston, public relations agent
• Jacqueline Bisset as Gwen Meighen, chief stewardess
• George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, chief mechanic
• Helen Hayes as Mrs. Ada Quonsett, stowaway
• Van Heflin as D. O. Guerrero, airplane bomber
• Maureen Stapleton as Inez Guerrero, wife of D.O. Guerrero
• Barry Nelson as Anson Harris, line captain
• Dana Wynter as Cindy Bakersfeld, wife of Mel Bakersfeld
• Lloyd Nolan as Standish, head of Customs
• Barbara Hale as Sarah Demerest (sister of Mel Bakersfeld, wife of Vern Demerest)
• Gary Collins as Cy Jordan, second officer/flight engineer
• Ena Hartman as Ruth, tourist class stewardess
• Patty Poulsen as Joan, tourist class stewardess
• Marion Ross as Passenger (uncredited)

[edit] Production

The majority of the filming was done at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. A display in the modern-day terminal, along with stills from the field and from the film itself illustrated the story as such: "Minnesota's legendary winters attracted Hollywood here in 1969, when portions of the film Airport were shot in the terminal and on the field. The weather remained stubbornly clear, however, forcing the director to use plastic 'snow' to create the appropriate effect."

Only one Boeing 707 was used in the filming: N324F, a 707-349C, was leased from Flying Tiger Line by Universal Studios and sported an El Al cheatline over its bare metal finish, with the fictional Trans Global Airlines (TGA) titles and tail. On March 21, 1989 that aircraft, flying for Transbrasil with registration PT-TCS, crashed while making a high speed approach at runway 09R of São Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport after departure from Manaus Eduardo Gomes International Airport.^[3]

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office

Airport was released into theatres on March 5, 1970. Overall, it made $100,489,151 and was the highest-grossing film of the year.^[4]

[edit] Reviews

Critics have mostly panned Airport in the years since its release,^[5][6] with the most generous reviews complimenting the film's influence on the disaster genre and its "camp value."^[7][8]

[edit] Awards

The film won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Helen Hayes), and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Maureen Stapleton), Writing (adapted screenplay), Art Direction (Alexander Golitzen, E. Preston Ames, Jack D. Moore, Mickey S. Michaels), Cinematography, Costume Design (Edith Head), Film Editing, Original Score, and Sound.^[9]

[edit] Score

This movie is the final film project of composer Alfred Newman. Newman's health was failing at the time and so he was unable to conduct the sessions for the commercially-released recording of his music (this duty was handled by Stanley Wilson); Newman did conduct the sessions for the music heard in the film.

[edit] Sequels

The success of Airport spawned three sequels, the first two of which were box office hits.

• Airport 1975
• Airport '77
• The Concorde...Airport '79 (titled Airport '80: The Concorde in the UK)

The one actor appearing in all four "Airport" films was George Kennedy in recurring role of Joe Patroni. Patroni's character evolves over the series, however, and he goes from a chief mechanic in Airport to a Vice President of Operations in Airport 1975, a consultant in Airport '77, and an experienced pilot in The Concorde...Airport '79.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Airport at the Internet Movie Database
• Airport at Allmovie
• Airliners.net Photos of the aircraft used in the movie

v • d • e Films directed by George Seaton 1940s Diamond Horseshoe (1945) · Junior Miss (1945) · The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) · Miracle on 34th Street (1947) · Apartment for Peggy (1948) · Chicken Every Sunday (1949) 1950s The Big Lift (1950) · For Heaven's Sake (1950) · Anything Can Happen (1952) · Little Boy Lost (1953) · The Country Girl (1954) · The Proud and Profane (1956) · Williamsburg: the Story of a Patriot (1957) · Teacher's Pet (1958) 1960s The Pleasure of His Company (1961) · The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) · The Hook (1963) · 36 Hours (1965) · What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968) 1970s Airport (1970) · Showdown (1973)