Airport ’77 (1977) Universal/Drama-Thriller RT: 113 minutes Rated PG (language, violence, mature themes) Director: Jerry Jameson Screenplay: Michael Scheff and David Spector Music: John Cacavas Cinematography: Philip Lathrop Release date: March 11, 1977 (US) Cast: Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland, Darren McGavin, Christopher Lee, George Kennedy, James Stewart, Robert Foxworth, Robert Hooks, Monte Markham, Kathleen Quinlan, Gil Gerard, James Booth, Monica Lewis, Maidie Norman, Pamela Bellwood, Arlene Golonka, Tom Sullivan, M. Emmet Walsh, Michael Richardson, Michael Pataki, George Furth, Richard Venture, Ross Bickell, Peter Fox, Beverly Gill, Charles Macaulay, Tom Rosqui, Arthur Adams, Anthony Battaglia, Elizabeth Cheshire, Charlotte Lord. Box Office: $30M (US)
Rating: ***
Another plane, another disaster, another cast of all-stars in panic mode. It’s an apt description as any of Airport ’77, the third installment of the series kicked off by the hugely successful adaptation of Arthur Hailey’s best seller Airport in ’70.
This time, it’s a luxury 747 owned by multimillionaire Philip Stevens (Stewart, It’s a Wonderful Life) that runs into trouble. The trouble this time is a gang of art thieves who attempt to hijack the plane in order to steal valuable paintings belonging to Stevens. The co-pilot (Foxworth, Damien: Omen II), the leader of the motley crew of crooks, crashes into the ocean after clipping an oil derrick while trying to fly below radar. He splashes down right in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. The plane starts to sink due to a huge hole in the forward cargo hold. Now it’s up to the pilot Captain Gallagher (Lemmon, The Odd Couple) to save the day and everybody on board.
The passenger manifest is pretty impressive this time out. They’re all guests of Stevens; he’s flying them in style to his estate in Florida for the weekend to view his art collection. They include an oceanographer (Lee, Horror of Dracula) and his alcoholic wife (Grant, Shampoo) who’s having an affair with his associate (Gerard, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), a philanthropist (de Havilland, Gone with the Wind) and an old flame (Cotten, Citizen Kane) who happens to be on board, the philanthropist’s aide (Norman, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), a blind piano player (blind musician Sullivan), the young lady crushing on him (Quinlan, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden), Stevens’ estranged daughter (future Dynasty star Bellwood), the grandson (Battaglia, Serial) he’s never met, a doctor (Walsh, Slap Shot) and a little girl (Cheshire, Looking for Mr. Goodbar). There’s also the head stewardess (Vaccaro, Midnight Cowboy) who’s romantically involved with the pilot, the project coordinator (McGavin, A Christmas Story), the bartender (Hooks, Aaron Loves Angela) and the two thieves (Markham and Pataki). Look also for Arlene Golonka, George Furth, James Booth and Monica Lewis (better known as the voice of Chiquita Banana). Oh yeah, I almost forgot. George Kennedy returns as Joe Petroni, now a consultant brought in to help the Navy with the search-and-rescue operation.
Maybe I shouldn’t refer to Airport ’77 as a typical disaster flick. Director Jerry Jameson (Raise the Titanic) successfully weaves an action plot into the formula adding an extra level of thrills and tension. Of course, it’s as silly as everything else in the movie. In order to execute the theft with as little resistance as possible, they’ve rigged the plane’s ventilation system with sleeping gas that knocks out everybody except for the thieves who wear gas masks. They have a getaway plan, but it gets derailed when the co-pilot tries to fly through a fog bank at night. Uh, what flight school did he go to?
ANYWAY, let’s jump to the exciting climax where it’s decided that the best way to rescue the doomed passengers is to raise it up to the surface with big inflatable balloons. It sounds silly but closing titles inform us that everything the Navy does in Airport ’77 is 100% accurate. The movie was made with their cooperation. Okay, I’m willing to believe it even if it sounds as plausible as the helicopter-to-plane transfer in Airport 1975.
What can I say about Airport ’77? I already mentioned how impressed I am by the big name cast. That the producers somehow convinced Stewart, de Havilland and Cotten to appear in it says a lot for their selling skills. In regards to the acting, I can only say that each player gives the kind of performance the material calls for, one that involves a lot of screaming and panicking. As per usual, the screenplay is filled with dippy dialogue like Grant telling her husband, “You’ve got a lot of brains, Martin, but you’re not a smart man.” Looking to recreate the magic of Helen Reddy’s song in the previous movie, Sullivan sings a number called “Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder”. Moments later, he’s crushed to death by the piano. Geez, everybody’s a music critic! Speaking of grave injuries, the little girl spends most of the movie unconscious with only a veterinarian (Walsh’s character) to tend to her.
I think I’ve said all there is to say about Airport ’77. It’s fun if you like disaster movies. The special effects are actually pretty good, that’s a plus. At the very least, it’s better than what follows, a disaster-in-every-sense movie called The Concorde… Airport ’79. Cue Dragnet theme.
