Airport 1975

Starring: Charlton Heston, Karen Black, George Kennedy, Gloria Swanson, Linda Blair, Myrna Loy, Jerry Stiller, Erik Estrada
Directed by: Jack Smight
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Action, Thriller
1974

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After a small plane collides with the cockpit of a much larger airliner, a flight attendant (Karen Black) must take over the controls when the pilots are killed. She is forced to fly the plane, with instructions from a former pilot (Charlton Heston) as she tries to prevent the deaths of everyone aboard.

Review:

Tim: I actually liked this movie more the moment I was finished watching it. As the minutes ticked away, though, I started questioning what I saw, and the sheer ridiculousness of the entire movie became more and more apparent. I already know that I like the Airport movies better than I probably should, but I even have to admit this is a very weak entry. The problem is the very premise of the film- two planes collide mid-air, and the larger one only suffers a hole in the cockpit, and the convenient death or disfigurement of all the pilots. This starts a whole series of hard-to-believe events, which really cause this movie to crash and burn.

The movie has a pretty extensive cast, but they are all pretty disappointing. Charlton Heston is in the lead role, but he doesn't really add a whole lot. Besides his welcome presence, he doesn't have enough to do to make him very worthwhile. Besides, this movie is really about Karen Black, an odd-looking flight attendant forced to fly the plane. Her performance isn't exactly strong or particularly believable, unfortunately. I did like seeing George Kennedy here, although he wasn't spectacular. Gloria Swanson is a pretty big name star, who inexplicably plays herself. This was very strange, because she comes across as an egotistical, out of touch has-been (and she is playing herself!). I didn't like her presence or her dialogue very much at all. The rest of the cast, including Jerry Stiller and Erik Estrada, are pretty weak as well. The whole cast looked much better on paper.

While acknowledging the film's flaws, I couldn't bring myself to hate this movie. There is something very exciting about watchning a pilotless plane careening through mountains, threatening to crash and kill hundreds of people. That is automtically exciting, and there are a few very tense moments in this film. I loved some of the shots of the plane flying very low against the backdrop of the mountainous west. They were beautiful and nerveracking.

Airport 1975 has a few good moments, but it is mostly a far-fetched, silly and occasionally laughable movie. The biggest problem is that nearly every aspect of this movie is very, very hard to buy. The events here are just asking us to suspend too much disbelief. This move needed to be grounded a bit more in reality. Sadly, this movie doesn't work well because it is just plain silly.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Airport, Airport '77, Airport '79