For shizzle it was a simpler time when a passenger can fairly conveniently (albeit visibly in a shaky state) sneak a makeshift bomb inside his attaché case on board of a trans-Atlantic Boeing 707, in George Seaton's AIRPORT, whose runaway box office success (not to mention its earth-shattering 10 Oscar nominations) would launch a disaster film franchise that unsurprisingly fizzles out at the end of its decade, Van Heflin (rather compelling in his final role) is the said bomb-carrier, pushed to despair by his hardscrabble reality, which partially should be answerable by that unjustified war, this is as political as one can get from this adaptation of Arthur Hailey's popular novel, and the rest is sheer schlocky drama.Mustering a vast cast and condensing its story on one blizzard-assailing night in the fictive Lincoln airport in Chicago, AIRPORT takes its multi-threads narrative in a balanced if unimpressive stride, on the ground we have airport manager Mel Bakersfeld (Lancaster, not so often on automatic pilot) mired in workaday imperatives and private crises, the dissolving of his marriage with Cindy (a piercingly fierce Wynter) is imminent, while he still dithers about his feeling towards his widowed co-worker, Tanya Livingston (Seberg, unremarkable to a fault, is this the same girl from Godard's BREATHLESS, 1960, one cannot help but wonder), the customer relations agent for Trans Global Airlines. And later aloft in the ionosphere, Mel's brother-in-law captain Vernon Demerest (a swarthy Dean Martin), must contend with a similar but more life-threatening situation when the bomb explodes (the frisson-free one-the-fly special effects cruelly show up its shoddiness), and his pregnant paramour, the chief stewardess Gwen Meighen (Bisset) is seriously injured, an emergency landing is actualized without much flair. Although one can understand its appeal at that time (its grandiose production scale, eye-pleasing cinematography from Ernest Laszlo, the innovative use of split-screen and a heroic act in its core), AIRPORT is unavoidably goes down in the history as one of the major undeserved Oscar BEST PICTURE contenders, that said, two outstanding performances are worth dwelling on a bit more, firstly the bodacious Helen Hayes, who won her second Oscar as the larger-than-life stowaway Ada Quonsett, spryly and magnanimously proffers cheeriness and wittiness which the film is gravely in need of, and all the more, defies any cheap entrapment of relegating her character into a substantial laughing stock, which means she can take a slap in the face for a greater cause. On the other side of the spectrum, we have the inimitable Maureen Stapleton, also Oscar-nominated here, evokes pathos in spades as the bomber's distressed wife, makes great play of her limited screen time and her catatonic reaction belongs to one of the high-water marks of method acting, sticks out like a sore thumb while the rest bigger names are just going through the motions, and further counterpoints the mediocrity that permeates this well-meaning but overall ponderous and characterless overachiever, where beautiful gals are all docile and sensible in front of their much senior married male counterparts, yet, it is the bitter wives that get their raw deals, a patriarchal America ever so outdated and self-congratulatory, that is its last straw.

There is no reason that Van Helfin couldn't have exploded his bomb in the isle-way of the plane except it would have been a very short movie. Today with TSA screening such a disaster could not happen, or could it? In almost 50 years, air travel has changed so much. Most credit cards offer some type of travel insurance and maybe there is a vending machine for this at the airport? Also, very few stowaways these days because of gate checks and head counts. The novel is quite a bit "spicier" than the movie, and includes an "over-endowed" counter clerk selling travel insurance. More explicit sexual encounters, also. Alex Haley didn't write "G-Rated books! Several good and great performances. I always thought Helen Haye's performance was over-rated. Both Jean Seberg and Jackie Bisset "sizzle". George Kennedy and Dean Martin are terrific as the "master mechanic" and "wise-guy" pilot who talk to the Boeing 707 like she's a "lady" Parts of it are spellbinding, especially the last half hour. Read the book, if you can find it!

Early disaster movie about the daily problems of a US Airport.The Alfred Newman opening title music is some of the very best, and most powerful, film music ever composed...and I have heard all the great old scores! In fact, the music is so good that it bothered that the following Airport films (75, 77, 79) had much less pleasing scores.As for the film itself, I like it, but it is a very hard film to review as I have no logical reason for liking it. The flick almost seems like Airport 1966 for some reason, as the general look it seems stuck in the 1960s. Which is not a bad thing. All I can say is, the movie holds you from beginning to end, you never get bored, but at the end of it you sort of shake your head wondering why the movie held you the way it did? That is the best review I can do for this one.Airport is a Universal movie and a couple of years later MGM released Skyjacked, which resembles Airport...which is best? The MGM film has much less light hearted talk from the characters, which some might view as a good thing, but the Universal film has the above mentioned opening title music that will stay forever locked in your memory...so take your pick.

Spend the first Act of the film developing the characters (what a concept!) so that we know all of them and their relationships to the story for later on. Then introduce the central plot, who is carrying out and even why. Then put the plot in motion and allow all the characters we know to work together to triumph over the impossible. This was the basic structure of the great disaster films of the 70s - Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Earthquake and this terrific thriller. The acting is top-notch. Burt Lancaster looks terrific in his suit and red tie courtesy of Edith Head. The ladies are gorgeous. George Kennedy was never better. Dean Martin is sober and believable as a pilot. And Helen Hayes is perhaps the most deserved Supporting Actress in movie history. Even the 'bad guy' has his motivation fully detailed, and you even feel sympathy for him and for his wife. If you're looking to introduce your younger viewers to the disaster genre before bludgeoning them with San Andreas, start with this one. You'll have a great time. It's a great movie.