Airport 1975

• (Also known as Airport ’75)
• Directed by Jack Smight
• October 18, 1974
• Based on Arthur Hailey’s 1968 novel Airport

A small aircraft collides with an airborne Boeing 747 blinding the pilot and leaving nobody onboard capable of flying the aircraft.

Five years after the original came Airport 1975. The disaster genre was in its glory so why not? This is quite the stacked cast of either general talent from the era or people who were just significant at the time. There is Charlton Heston as flight instructor Murdock, Karen Black as stewardess Nancy, George Kennedy returns as Joe Patroni, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Captain Stacy, Susan “Webster” Clark as Mrs. Patroni, Helen “I Am Woman” Reddy as Sister Ruth, Linda “The Exorcist” Blair as Janice Abbott, Dana Andrews as Scott Freeman, Roy “The Invaders” Thinnes as Urias, Sid “Your Show of Shows” Caesar as Barney, Myrna Loy as Mrs. Devaney, Ed Nelson as Major Alexander, Larry Storch as Purcell, Martha “I Played Charlton Heston’s Mom in Two Movies” Scott as Sister Beatrice, Jerry “Ben’s Dad” Stiller as Sam, Norman “Mr. Roper” Fell as Bill, Beverly Garland as Mrs. Scott Freeman, Linda “Nova” Harrison who was credited as “Augusta Summerland” as Winnie, Gloria Swanson as herself, and Erik “Francis (Frank) Llewelyn ‘Ponch’ Poncherello” Estrada as Julio. The most interesting one to me is Gloria Swanson as a fictionalized version of herself. She was there to talk about healthy eating and her general views while adding the sheen of high quality.

This was a first time watch for me and I could not help but notice passing similarities between this and the classic Airplane! If you have seen both then you will know. While Airplane! may have used the plot of Zero Hour, it was also mocking this film series. The most overt example is Linda Blair’s sick character which was mocked hilariously in the comedy classic.

Since having Burt Lancaster show up again as Mel Bakersfield might be a bit of a stretch of credibility (plus he was openly disdainful of the original) they replace him with the manly Chuck Heston as Captain Al Murdock who much like Bakersfield’s brother-in-law in the last movie is having a relationship with a stewardess here played by Karen Black. They provide the core relationship of the film as well as the best done storyline though as a general rule the stories here are more like short bits than soapy narratives.

After all is said and done the movie kind of just ends. It just feels like it stops. They land the plane, get everybody off, and that’s it. There’s a declaration of love between Chuck Heston and Karen Black but does her desire to have a more committed relationship get fulfilled? Maybe but not sure. In Airport you could be much more certain than here.

The solution of getting a pilot on the plane to replace the dead or injured pilot is a little outlandish, but then again an outlandish solution was often the way problems were dealt with in disaster films. And you know the first attempt is going to be a failure because you need a sense of danger.

The effects are not nearly as good as they were in the 1970 film. There’s supposed to be a hole in the side of the plane but the most you really see when they show the plane is a vague dark spot. I know this was in the day before CGI but can’t you just do a miniature up that looks right? The Universal films around this time that used effects tended to look as bad or worse than something from television that aimed for a similar look.

But this is entertaining. It’s exciting and even if it is ludicrous I still enjoyed it. It’s entertainment with nothing much below the service but it is well done entertainment. You’re not going to finish this and have a new perspective on anything.

Airport 1975 is a good movie. Not great but good. If you enjoy the disaster genre then this will appeal to you.