Airport 1975 *** (1974, Charlton Heston, Karen Black, George Kennedy, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Susan Clark) – Classic Movie Review 5427

‘Star-studded cast trapped in a plunging airplane… And only a death-defying rescue mission can save them!’ Director Jack Smight’s 1974 first sequel to Airport (1970) is preposterous and unintentionally funny but still quite exciting and enjoyable. It is all very brisk and professional, if uninspired.

This time a small private plane hits a Boeing 747 airline jet, whose stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) has to take over when the flight crew are killed and the pilot is blinded. Charlton Heston drops in as Alan Murdock to help our heroine, a returning George Kennedy (as Joe Patroni) is at hand with the wisdom, and Helen Reddy is ready as Sister Ruth the singing nun to help Linda Blair’s sick Janice Abbott (perhaps she should have exorcised her!), sing her own song Best Friend and send you into hysterics.

Alas, the vintage guest passengers like Gloria Swanson (in her final movie swansong), Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy and Sid Caesar don’t fare so well.

Comparing his movie to the original, Heston said: ‘You must have felt safer with me than with Dean Martin at the controls.’

Also in the cast are Efrem Zimbalist Jr as Captain Stacy, Susan Clark, Nancy Olson, Roy Thinnes, Martha Scott, Larry Storch, Sharon Gless and Ed Nelson.

It runs 106 minutes, is a Universal film, is written by Don Ingalls, is hot in widescreen by Philip Lathrop, is produced by Jennings Lang and William Frye, and is scored by John Cacavas.

Producer William Frye died at the age of 96 on 3 November 2017 of natural causes at his home in Palm Desert, California. He also produced The Trouble with Angels, Airport ’77 and Raise the Titanic, as well as Boris Karloff’s Thriller for television.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5427

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