Airport **** (1970, Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Barry Nelson) – Classic Movie Review 3432

Airport is rightly considered by many to be the grandfather of the disaster movie genre as the precursor to later epic Seventies disaster films. In a dramatic 12 hours, the twin hazards of a severe snowstorm and a crazed bomber hit an American airport, Lincoln Airport. But luckily there’s manager Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) to help bring the plane down, And there’s a sweet little old lady stowaway called Ada Quonsett, played by Helen Hayes who won a best supporting actress Oscar, to entertain us.

At a time of radical change, the Hollywood of 1970 seems very happy with this old-style hokum, based on Arthur Hailey’s number one best-selling novel. And it comes up with a crafted, old-fashioned movie in its most lavish, polished style, choc-a-block with guest stars, pace and entertainment.

Written for the screen and directed by George Seaton, the movie belongs to sterling stalwart star Lancaster and cheeky old twinkler Hayes. But there are hit turns also from Dean Martin (surprisingly effective as the pilot Vernon Demerest), Van Heflin (as the mad bomber D.O. Guerrero), Maureen Stapleton (as his wife Inez) and, especially, the late, great George Kennedy (as the engineer Patroni), who is an indispensable ingredient and featured in the ensuing series.

It’s very good and highly entertaining, but just a tiny bit more wit in Seaton’s screenplay would have made it really special.

Also in the cast are Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, Barry Nelson, Dana Wynter, Jessie Royce Landis, Lloyd Nolan, Barbara Hale and Gary Collins.

After the runaway box-office success of Airport, Universal was keen to try another disaster movie, recruiting producer Jennings Lang, who came up with Earthquake (1974), which also stars Kennedy and Nolan. Earthquake’s stars Kennedy and Heston both starred in Airport 1975.

Perhaps feeling he was way too good for his kind of thing, Lancaster self-deprecatingly called Airport ‘the biggest piece of junk ever made’, but then he hadn’t seen the three sequels: Airport 1975, Airport ’77 and Airport ‘80: The Concorde.

Hailey, who died of a stroke in his sleep aged 84 on November 24 2004, said: ‘I don’t think I have really invented anybody. I have drawn on life.’

George Kennedy, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Cool Hand Luke and was a fixture of Seventies disaster movies, including including Airport (1970) and its three sequels and Earthquake (1974), died on February 28 2016 in Boise, Idaho, aged 91. He was also memorable in Charade (1963) and in Airplane! (1980).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3432

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