Airport 1975 starts off slow and incredibly weird. I thought I was going to turn it off until the crash happened. That's where everything got incredibly interesting. Stewardess, Nancy, must fly the plane over top of a tall mountain range despite having limited knowledge of airplanes and no experience with ever flying one. This movie will have you on the edge of your seat. Will this plane land safely or will they all crash and burn?

The alcohol is flowing in this second installment of the "Airport!" series, where Myrna Loy knocks boiler makers and the trio of Norman Fell, Conrad Janis and Jerry Stiller keep their livers working overtime as well. A nervous woman begs the stewardess to keep her filled up, while Gloria Swanson's assistant sophisticatedly orders a martini. Miss Swanson sticks to her tea, complaining about the poisonous food that she refuses to touch.Fans of "Airplane!" will go nuts counting all of the references spoofed in that modern comedy classic, especially the presence of Linda Blair as a young girl in need of a kidney transplant. Try not to think of the passenger's reactions to Lorna Patterson singing when nun Helen Reddy borrows Blair's guitar and breaks out into a folk song. Gloria Swanson's "Sunset Boulevard" co-star Nancy Olson plays Blair's overly concerned mother.The basic storyline has private plane pilot Dana Andrews crashing into the huge two storied passenger plane, killing the pilots and leaving only stewardess Karen Black to frantically fly the plane. While the crash is horrific, I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of a passenger sliding down the circular staircase towards the plane's bar as if he was heading down a pool slide. The only help of landing the plane is Charleton Heston as Black's non-committal boyfriend, and if course, George Kennedy.With this huge cast of veteran and future stars from every medium, including Martha Scott as the older nun who responds to Reddy's inquiry if Swanson is a Hollywood actress with a very judgmental "Or worse!" Sid Caesar adds more subtle comedy than the trio of drunks as the man sitting next to Loy, subtly commenting on her love for bourbon with a beer back chaser. Familiar faces such as Beverly Garland, Terry Lester, Susan Clark, Larry Storch, Ed Nelson and Roy Thinnes pop in and out, with a young Erik Estrada as one of the pilots. When he looks directly at the camera and gives a big goofy grin a la the blonde pilot in "Airplane!", I had my biggest Danny Thomas spit-take in years! Brian Morrison, of TV's " Maude", plays the young son of Susan Clark whose character is ironically married to series perennial George Kennedy! Alice Nunn, memorable in her cameo in "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure", is funny in a bit as a passenger hiding her dog in her purse.Take away the unintentional comedy of the film, and you will find a magnificently wonderful bail biter. This is a good old fashioned Hollywood crowd pleaser, reminding the audience of all the wonderful talents they had. One thing that is unbelievable is the big hole in the cockpit not consumed with wind pressure, making it unbelievable that anybody entering would not quickly be sucked out as one of the pilots was earlier. Yes, it gets extremely corny at times, even removing the thoughts of everything that was spoofed, but that hardly matters. I will definitely be adding this to my collection at some point because there were so many little details to pick that you would be bound to miss a few.

Just about every 1970s disaster cliché and typical cast member is present in this ludicrous, yet entertaining movie. The first of a long line of sequels to the original Airport from 1970, this film raises the bar in terms of ridiculous situations and casting of washed-up actors. One cannot however ignore the interesting scenario of an untrained person having to fly a jumbo jet if the entire crew somehow would become incapacitated.Karen Black (an underrated talent) plays the lead stewardess on a 747 flight who has to take over the flying duties after a Cessna crashes into the cockpit and either kills or severely wounds the pilots. Luckily the script only calls for her having to make adjustments to the plane's course instead of actually bringing it safely into the gate! Instead, the plan is to lower a trained pilot from a jet helicopter into the 747 cockpit so he can make the landing. Of course there are complications involving sick passengers, fuel leaks, mountains, and finding a good rug for Charleton Heston to wear. Can this motley crew of actors bring the plane down safely?? I wonder.You gotta love the casts of these kind of movies. I can take Cid Ceasar, Myrna Loy, Gloria Swanson, and Linda Blair as passengers. I can hold my nose and accept Helen Reddy as a singing nun. The welcome sight of George Kennedy in some sort of administrative role certainly helps. But what in the world was former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett doing on board? And sitting in coach, yet?? I guess he hadn't won a superbowl yet, so he didn't rate first class! 6 of 10 stars.The Hound.

This film is slightly better than I thought it would be, and I really enjoyed the many guest stars, which are too many to name, but I'll add a few who's appearances I liked in a bit. It almost reminded of a Love Boat episode with all the recognizable faces and the like, but it was campy fun anyway, especially the scenes with the entertaining George Kennedy, Jerry Stiller(Frank Costanza), Myrna Loy, Norman Fell, Erik Estrada, Conrad Janis, Gloria Swanson, Sid Caesar, Karen Black, and Charleton Heston to name quite a few. I was glad the crash didn't occur until about 45 minutes into the movie, so at least we got some character development, although not too much. I thought the performances of Black and Efram Zimbalist, Jr. stood out, and Kennedy added his usual quirkiness as Joe Patroni, who probably has the worst luck of anyone. A few other celebrities included Linda Blair(a few years after the Exorcist), Helen Reddy(guitar playing/singing nun), Susan Clark, Dana Andrews, quarterback Jim Plunkett, Bob Hastings, Larry Storch, and Sharon Gless. Heston's Alan does a decent job of guiding Nancy(Black) to fly the plane while on the radio with her, before he eventually transports from a helicopter to the plane itself to safely land it. During the scenes where one doomed pilot tries to land in the plane buts gets himself tangled, then killed, and when Alan safely enters the plane, watch Black stick her tongue out in a strange way while she's helping both men get inside; wasn't there anyway to edit these silly mannerisms? It's probably the only scenes I remembered from this film before I just watched it again. I would still recommend this for anyone to see many guest stars and a plot which doesn't require much thinking.