Airport

In 1970 a film was made out of a then bestselling novel; something that in itself is nothing unusual. What was quite unique about this film was the incredible impact it had on popular culture and the art of cinema. The name of this hallmark film is ‘Airport’. Three direct sequels would follow as well as a parody flick that itself changed cinema and revitalized the careers of several previously established stars. Many people consider ‘Airport’ to be a classic disaster movie and while the sequels certain qualify for this very robust category the movie that started it out is far more in line with the precepts of a straight drama. The ‘incident’ looked to as the rationale for classification as a disaster flick occurs at the beginning of the third act of the screenplay and is relative short in its actual duration. I personally placed this film in the disaster genre until very recently. I have been revisiting some of my favorite movies lately and upon a fresh, colder consideration of ‘Airport’ I found a new vantage point and fresh appreciation for its cinematic contribution to the media. Now don’t get me wrong here. Although this film and an incredible, nearly historic impact on our pop culture it was by no means a great film. There are several spots in the flick were it is amazingly simple to see why a spoof became such a hit. The movie is still a solid piece of entertainment but does exhibit signs of its age and a number of technical flaws along the way. Perhaps those of that were weaned on the ‘B’ flicks of the fifties and sixties are better able to over look such misstep and sit back to enjoy a film like this but foibles and all. This one will always find itself a treasured place in my collection. Unless you are actively engaged in the academic study of cinema this flick is like a cup of hot soup on a cold day; it isn’t a fine meal by any means but there is something reassuring about it; something that is pleasant to revisit.

The author of the original bestselling novel of the same name was the highly successful Arthur Hailey. Although many criticized him for being excessively formulaic such negative observations did not seem to hamper the financial viability of his books or the films and television series based on them. This may also be one reason why the stories were so popular, it’d like going to a fast food place, and you know up front that you are not in for a fine dining experience or any form of culinary originality. Still there is a sort of comfort in knowing what you expect will be what is delivered. The same holds true for much of Hailey’s work. It is the McDonalds of storytelling. True, you won’t be surprised but then again you won’t be disappointed either. There is a lamentable indictment about our society here but there is a comfort factor that does appear able to offset that otherwise formulaic entertainment would not survive and flourish as it has; pretty much the exact same reason fast food is a multi-billion dollar industry. ‘Airport’ deftly manages to hit every cliché possible for a melodrama. As mentioned this is not truly as disaster flick so it cannot be judged on that basis. Attempting to do so will and has resulted in some comments such as slow paced and boring applied to the film.

The crux of the story is a day in the life of a major urban airport; in this case Lincoln Airport in Chicago. The city is being hit by the worse blizzard in six years and the manager of the facility, Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) has much more than his usual headaches. Runway 22 is closed down due to community protests of the constant noise. Adding to this runway 29 has a 707 with a broken landing gear blocking the air strip. With his own maintenance men proving ineffectual Mel is left borrowing the chief mechanic for TWA, Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) as the cigar chomping mechanic muses they don’t call the emergencies anymore they call them Petroni’s.. He is certain he can move the plane but it will take time. Mel’s society conscious wife, Cindy (Dana Wynter) is angry that her husband is once again choosing work over a party with her and the ‘right’ people. At the airport Mel does have a flirtatious relationship with the airport’s public relations person, Tanya Livingston (Jean Seberg).the interpersonal entanglements is not restricted to the ground. One of the pilots for Trans Global, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) is cheating on his wife Sarah (Barbara Hale) with a stewdess Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset) and they just discovered she is pregnant. They are both on a flight out on this fateful night. One passenger is the most adorable and resourceful stowaway imaginable; Mrs. Ada Quonset (Helen Hayes). She has been sneaking on planes to visit her daughter in New York for years and just got caught and being sent back to NYC. Also on board was the unemployed former demolition worker D. O. Guerrero (Van Heflin) who plans to explode a bomb mid-flight so the insurance can take care of his soon to be widowed Inez (Maureen Stapleton).

The reason so many consider this a disaster movie is, of course, the dramatic mid air explosion and subsequent race to get the plane, crew and passengers safely back on terra firma. On the plane the pilots struggle to keep a steady keel while on the ground Petroni pushes the structural limits of the 707 to taxi it out of the way of a phalanx of bull dozers poised to push it off the runway. There is just enough elements of a soap opera here to keep the audience fully engaged throughout the film. The use of entwining personal stories was established here and did carry on through the sequels to become established ingredients for actual disaster movies. the film was budgeted for $10 million, very expensive in 1970 dollars but when you consider the return on the investment was tenfold, $100 million, there was no discussion in the studio as to if there would be a sequel only a matter of when. $100 million is even today a formidable sum of money. According to several sources that is almost half a billion dollars now which places this film squarely on par with the best producing movies today. flawed by modern standards, true, but it holds up and will continue to do so for a very long time.

Posted 08/16/2010