One of the biggest movie genres of the 1970s was the disaster film, and these films covered a large of events. From earthquakes to fires to tidal waves, almost every subject was covered. But only one disaster created a franchise that actually stretched the entire decade. The novel by Arthur Hailey was a huge success when it hit the stands in 1968, so it was inevitable that Hollywood would come looking. So in 1970 the first Airport movie was released and audiences rushed to the theaters and ate up the story and the characters, and turned it into the highest grossing film for the year. Now in true Hollywood fashion, because this film did so well, the studio had a sequel drawn up to get into the theaters as soon as they could. The formula that was created, of the airliner in trouble and the effort to land it safely, worked on so well that it spawned two successful sequels. But in 1979, the fourth and final film the formula was changed and drew the franchise to a weak and horrible close.
Airport - During a flight to Rome a suicidal man tries to blow up the plane, a Boeing 707, with a home made bomb. With a cast the starts with Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin and ends with George Kennedy and Helen Hayes, this film involves an all star cast that doesn’t miss a beat. The seven individual stories that are laid out in the plot do not slow the action down in the least, and when it comes time for the thrilling climax, your not disappointed.
Airport ’75 - During the red eye flight from Washington DC to Los Angeles, the Boeing 747 is struck in mid-air by a small twin engine plane, tearing into the cockpit. With another stellar cast which includes Charlton Heston, Karen Black, Sid Caesar, and in her last appearance on film Gloria Swanson. George Kennedy does return as Joe Patroni, the role he plays in all four films, a small role at the beginning of the series but keeps a thread of continuity in the stories that is helpful. As in the first film the tension level is ramped up after the accident and is carried all the way to the end.
Airport ‘77 - A private Boeing 747 is hijacked for all of the art treasures that on board, and then crashes into the ocean inside the fabled Bermuda Triangle. The cast again is large, this time around Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Lee Grant, and Christopher Lee, join the fun. The combination of the air disaster with water isn’t mind-boggling, but with the plane submerged we’re given a chance to see how fragile planes are. Darren McGavin uses the line that the plane was never designed to with stand that amount of pressure, but of course no one asked why the plane didn’t tear itself apart when it crashed into the water in the first place.
The Concorde: Airport ‘79 - When a television reporter finds out that her boyfriend has been selling arms illegally overseas, she and everyone else aboard the Concorde become targets. The big named cast is missing from this film, which diminished the audience draw. Along with a weak story coupled with bad special effects the audience is forced into believing that this plane can bend the laws of physics and aerodynamics.
True disaster films like these are a thing of the past since the events of 9/11, because most film makers think that the audiences are to sensitive to watch something that is to close to real believability. Or maybe they that plots set in reality may give someone the wrong impression. Well whatever the reason, the new generation of disaster films are on a much more massive, biblical scale and with this leap forward the disaster become unbelievable. Then once reality is taken out of the equation everyone is safe and nothing that is presented could ever happen. The hay day of the true disaster film has come and gone, but at least with home video libraries the audience can watch what they want, when they want, with as much death and destruction as they want.
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