A few years ago my pal Chris called me up because he’d discovered gold. He randomly pulled into a garage sale only to find a huge collection of CDs, DVDs, and VHS Tapes for sale. He picked me up, and we went in hoping to find treasure. We each left with large stacks of booty. One of the things I unearthed was the Airport Terminal Pack, a DVD set containing all four the classic Airport disaster movies from the seventies. I always have been a fan of these kinds of movies, my favorite being The Poseidon Adventure with Gene Hackman and many others. The Airport series is made up of four films, each film deals with an airplane disaster and boasts a star-studded cast.
In the years since I’ve bought the set my wife I have randomly popped one in the DVD player when nothing else seemed right. While it’s true that they are dated and regularly cheesy they are almost always exciting and suspenseful. This past weekend we finally finished the series. Overall we really enjoyed them. The original is a classic led by Dean Martin and Burt Lancaster. It keeps you on the edge of your set and manages to keep all of the various storylines distinct and cohesive. The second film Airport ’75 led by Charleton Heston stumbles a bit. You can’t help but feel you are watching the same movie again. The plot and actual disaster are different, but it isn’t as engaging as the original. Though it does hold the distinction of beginning the now cliché plot device of the stewardess (sorry, flight attendant) flying the plane. Number 3, Airport ’77 (clever name, right?), in my opinion gets us back in track. In this one the capable pilot played by Jack Lemmon is forced to make a water landing, submerging the plane. Now things are different. It’s Airport, but under water! (Actually, now that I write that it occurs to me that it’s Airport meets The Poseidon Adventure. Maybe that’s why I like it so much). This poses a new set of problems, making this the most unique of the series. It also randomly co-stars an ancient Jimmy Stewart. This brings us to the final entry, The Concorde: Airport ’79, which was a total turd. Completely boring, not suspenseful and even now I don’t actually know what happened. It ended the series on a real low note which was a shame. As much as I like Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, this lacked the star or the original trilogy. (Charro and Jimmie Walker… really? I guess La Toya Jackson was busy or something.) The only actor to go the distance was George Kennedy as Patroni. He was always entertaining and seemed to have an endless list of careers. He started out as a mechanic, moved up to VP, then was a disaster consultant and finally an experienced pilot. What a resume. Overall this was a fun series. I say skip #4, but watch the first 3. Even though #2 is a bit of retread it’s still enjoyable. 1 and 3 are excellent. Also watch The Poseidon Adventure (the original, not one of the remakes with Steve Guttenberg or Josh Lucas) and its sequel Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. Oh, also, Earthquake… and The Towering Inferno... and, well just go to Wikipedia and pull up a list of 1970s disaster movies. They are awesome in their own special way.
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