Airport is a 1970 American film starring Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin and based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. The film, which earned nearly $100,500,000,^[1] focuses on an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snow storm, while a suicidal bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight. The story takes place at a fictional Lincoln International Airport located near Chicago. 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 Alfred Newman, who died shortly before the film's release. Airport was also the last major film role for Van Heflin.

The film was a critical success and surpassed Spartacus as Universal Pictures' biggest moneymaker.^[2] It won Helen Hayes an Academy Award for her supporting role as an elderly stowaway. It was nominated for nine more Academy awards, including Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design for renowned Hollywood designer Edith Head.

Airport originated the 1970s disaster film genre, establishing the convention of "microcosmic melodrama combined with catastrophe-oriented adventure".^[3]

Plot[link]

This film was based on the novel by Arthur Hailey. With attention to the detail of day-to-day airport and airline operations, the plot concerns the response to a paralyzing snowstorm, environmental concerns over noise pollution, and an attempt to blow up an airliner.

Demolition expert D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin), down on his luck and with a history of mental illness, buys life insurance with the intent of committing suicide by blowing up Trans Global Airlines Flight Two, known as The Golden Argosy, a Rome-bound Boeing 707 intercontinental jet, from a snowbound Chicago-area airport. He plans to set off a bomb in an attache case while over the Atlantic with the intent that his wife, Inez (Maureen Stapleton), will collect the insurance money.

When the Golden Argosy crew is made aware of Guerrero's presence and intentions, Captain Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), a pilot flying as co-pilot seat to evaluate Captain Anson Harris (Barry Nelson), goes back into the passenger cabin and tries to persuade Guerrero not to trigger the bomb. Meanwhile, airport manager Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) deals with personal, weather, runway and stowaway problems from the ground.

When confronted by Captain Demerest, Guerrero briefly considers giving the attache containing the bomb until a male passenger yells out to a passenger exiting the lavatory that Guerrero has a bomb. Guerrero, holding the case close to him, runs into the lavatory at the rear of the aircraft and triggers the bomb. The detonation blows a hole in the wall of the lavatory and Guerrero with it. Chief Stewardess Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is having an affair with the married Demerest and is pregnant with Demerest's child, is injured in the explosion and subsequent rapid decompression. With all airports east of Chicago unusable due to bad weather, the plane returns to Lincoln International for an emergency landing, even though another airliner stuck in snow has closed the primary runway. TWA (Trans World Airlines, an actual airline of the time) chief mechanic at Lincoln, Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) is enlisted by Bakersfeld to lead the efforts to move the stuck aircraft, another Boeing 707, even though it belongs to a different airline, TGA (Trans Global Airlines, a fictional airline and the parent company of the film's Golden Argosy jet) Patroni, who is "taxi-qualified" on Boeing 707s, is trying to move the stuck aircraft in time for Demerest's damaged aircraft to land. By exceeding the Boeing 707 flight manual's engine operating parameters, Patroni frees the stuck jet, allowing Lincoln International's primary runway to be reopened just in time to permit the crippled Golden Argosy to land.

The film is characterized by personal stories intertwining while decisions are made minute-by-minute by the airport and airline staffs, operations and maintenance crews, flight crews, and FAA air traffic controllers.

Cast[link]

• Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfeld, airport manager at Lincoln International Airport in nearby Chicago, Illinois
• Dean Martin as Vernon Demerest, checkride captain for Trans Global Airlines (TGA)
• Jean Seberg as Tanya Livingston, public relations agent for TGA
• Jacqueline Bisset as Gwen Meighen, chief stewardess for TGA's "Golden Argosy"
• George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, chief mechanic for Trans World Airlines TWA at Lincoln International, on loan to TGA
• Helen Hayes as Mrs. Ada Quonsett, stowaway
• Van Heflin as D. O. Guerrero, failed contractor, and bomber of The Golden Argosy
• Maureen Stapleton as Inez Guerrero, wife of D.O. Guerrero
• Barry Nelson as Anson Harris, TGA line captain
• Dana Wynter as Cindy Bakersfeld, wife of Mel Bakersfeld
• Lloyd Nolan as Standish, head of U.S. Customs at Lincoln International
• Barbara Hale as Sarah Demerest (sister of Mel Bakersfeld, wife of Vern Demerest)
• Gary Collins as Cy Jordan, second officer/flight engineer
• Marion Ross as Passenger (uncredited)
• Christopher Lloyd as Patron in diner (uncredited)
• Eve McVeagh as Mrs. Henry Bron (uncredited)

Production[link]

Most of the filming was at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. A display in the terminal, with stills from the field and the film, says: "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: N324F, a 707-349C leased from Flying Tiger Line. It sported an El Al cheatline over its bare metal finish, with the fictional Trans Global Airlines (TGA) titles and tail.

Reception[link]

Box office[link]

Airport was released on March 5, 1970. It made $100,489,151, and adjusted for inflation this was equivalent to $558 million in 2010, the 42nd highest-grossing film of all time.^[4]

Reviews[link]

Variety wrote: "Based on the novel by Arthur Hailey, over-produced by Ross Hunter with a cast of stars as long as a jet runway, and adapted and directed by George Seaton in a glossy, slick style, Airport is a handsome, often dramatically involving $10 million epitaph to a bygone brand of filmmaking" but added that the film "does not create suspense because the audience knows how it's going to end." ^[5]

Modern critics have mostly panned it,^[6][7] with the most generous reviews complimenting the film's influence on the disaster genre and its "camp value."^[8][9]

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards[link]

• USA Academy Awards
  • Oscar Award - Best Actress in Supporting Role: Helen Hayes
• USA Golden Globes (1971):
  • Golden Globe Award - Best Supporting Actress: Maureen Stapleton (Tied with Karen Black for Five Easy Pieces)
• Laurel Awards (1971)
  • Golden Laurel - Best Supporting Female Performance: Helen Hayes
• Motion Picture Sound Editors (1971):
  • Golden Reel Award - Best Sound Editing

Nominations[link]

• USA Grammy Awards (1971):
  • Grammy Award - Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special: Alfred Newman
• USA Golden Globes (1971):
  • Golden Globe Award - Best Motion Picture
  • Golden Globe Award - Best Original Score: Alfred Newman
  • Golden Globe Award - Best Supporting Actor: George Kennedy
• USA Academy Awards (1971):^[10]
  • Oscar Award - Best Actress in Supporting Role: Maureen Stapleton
  • Oscar Award - Best Art Direction
  • Oscar Award - Best Cinematography: Ernest Laszlo
  • Oscar Award - Best Costume Design: Edith Head
  • Oscar Award - Best Film Editing: Stuart Gilmore
  • Oscar Award - Best Music: Alfred Newman
  • Oscar Award - Best Picture: Ross Hunter
  • Oscar Award - Best Sound: Ronald Pierce and David H. Moriarty
  • Oscar Award - Best Writing: George Seaton
• American Cinema Editors Awards (1971):
  • Eddie Award - Best Edited Feature Film: Stuart Gilmore
• BAFTA Awards (1971):
  • BAFTA Film Award - Best Supporting Actress: Maureen Stapleton
• Laurel Awards (1971):
  • Golden Laurel - Best Composer: Alfred Newman
  • Golden Laurel - Best Supporting Male Performance: George Kennedy
  • Golden Laurel - Best Picture
• Writers Guild of America Awards (1971):
  • WGA Screen Award - Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium: George Seaton

Score[link]

This movie was the final film project of composer Alfred Newman. His health was failing and he was unable to conduct the sessions for the recording of his music. The job was handled by Stanley Wilson, although the cover of the 1993 Varese Sarabande CD issue credits Newman. Newman did conduct the music heard in the film. He died before the release of the film. Newman received his 45th Oscar nomination posthumously for this film, the most received by a composer. John Williams matched him in 2006.

Soundtrack[link]

• From the soundtrack, the instrumental, "Airport Love Theme" by Vincent Bell peaked at number thirty-one on the Hot 100 and number two for three weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart.^[11]

Soundtrack album listing:

1. Airport (Main Title) (3:11)
2. Airport Love Theme (3:30)
3. Inez' Theme (1:29)
4. Guerrero's Goodbye (2:37)
5. Ada Quonsett, Stowaway (1:26)
6. Mel And Tanya (2:27)
7. Airport Love Theme #2 (2:40)
8. Joe Patroni Plane Or Plows? (2:22)
9. Triangle! (3:50)
10. Inez-Lost Forever (1:45)
11. Emergency Landing! (1:38)
12. Airport (End Title) (2:36)

Sequels[link]

Airport spawned three sequels, the first two of which were hits.

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

The only actor in all four films is George Kennedy as Joe Patroni. Patroni's character evolves 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.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Airport (1970 film)

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