Lørdagsunderholdning på TV

[mwalther]

Heisann alle sammen.

Til dere som ikke har sett Airport 75, og til dere som har sett den og har lyst til å se den igjen, og dere som har sett den og ikke har lyst til å se den igjen osv.

Ikveld vises klassikeren Airport '75 på TV. 23:20. Verdt å få med seg. Litt urealistisk kanskje? Men ganske allright film.

Markus

[Tarjei Lundarvollen]

Hvilken kanal går den på da ?

Vennlig hilsen

Tarjei Lundarvollen

[Eirik Tjelta]

Den går på Norsk TV3 [image]http://www.flightsim.no/ubb/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

[mwalther]

For spessielt intereserte http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/airport75.html"'>http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/airport75.html" TARGET=_blank>http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/a/airport75.html :

AIRPORT '75

United States, 1974

Running Length: 1:46

MPAA Classification: PG (Mid-air collision)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Cast: Charlton Heston, Karen Black, George Kennedy, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Susan Clark, Helen Reddy, Linda Blair, Dana Andrews, Sid Caesar, Myrna Loy, Gloria Swanson

Director: Jack Smight

Producers: William Frye, Jennings Lang

Screenplay: Don Ingalls

Cinematography: Philip H. Lathrop

Music: John Cacavas

U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures

Call it the twenty year itch. Every two decades, the world decides that it's fed up with the current era, and looks back to the music, movies, and activities of the previous generation. Now, in the deepening twilight of the 1990s, pop culture is needlessly infatuated with the 1970s. For music, that means disco. For films, it means Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, slasher flicks, and formula disaster movies. Of course, back in the '70s, film makers didn't have the kinds of special effects that are available today, but that didn't stop a proliferation of features about fires, earthquakes, shipwrecks, meteor strikes, and, of course, airplane catastrophes. Sound familiar?

Perhaps the most enduring disaster saga of the 1970s was the Airport series, which began in 1970 with George Seaton's adaptation of Arthur Hailey's novel. Five years later came Airport 1975, followed in rapid succession by Airport '77 and Concorde: Airport '79. After that, the spoof Airplane was released. There is no consensus opinion about which Airport movie is the most watchable. Some say the original, even though the slow-moving, soap-opera-ish plot causes it to drag. Others contend it's Airport '77, which was elevated by the presence of Jimmy Stewart. Almost no one votes for the completely inane '79 edition. My personal favorite is Airport 1975, which managed to generate enough tension to keep all the various, largely idiotic "character-building" stories in the background.

The action in Airport 1975 takes place on board a 747 en route from Washington D.C. to the West Coast. A mid-air collision with a small plane kills two of the three men in the cockpit and leaves the surviving captain (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) blinded and incoherent with pain. With help from the air traffic controllers in Salt Lake City, a stewardess (today, that would be "flight attendant") is able to make the proper course corrections to keep the plane from crashing into a mountain, but one of the fuel tanks is leaking, and, to save everyone on board, a daring mid-air rescue attempt must be made.

With respect to the various "guest stars" to line the marquee, the Airport films were like The Love Boat of the big screen, bringing familiar faces together for two hours on one vessel. The 1975 edition featured some interesting names. Charlton Heston, still in his leading man days, plays Alan Murdock, an expert 747 pilot who eventually saves the day. Karen Black is Murdock's lover, the stewardess who steers the plane. George Kennedy returns from the original Airport as Patroni; this time he's given a wife (Susan Clark) on board the 747. A young Linda Blair plays a critically ill girl on her way to Los Angeles for a kidney transplant. Helen Reddy is a singing nun. And film icons Myrna Loy and Gloria Swanson add a dash of class to the roster; the former portrays a hard-drinking passenger who fears nothing while the latter essays herself.

Frankly, Airport 1975 is a silly movie, but it offers a dash of guilty, escapist pleasure for anyone willing to accept its obvious shortcomings. Helmed by veteran small-screen director Jack Smight, the film has the feel of a made-for-TV offering. Despite the myriad irritating subplots and pointless supporting characters, the main storyline -- that of the efforts of a group of men and women to save the plane -- is relatively engrossing, and the special effects are surprisingly effective (albeit sparse). Nancy, the character played by Karen Black, is likable; Murdock is sufficiently heroic (as one might expect from the actor who played Moses, El Cid, and Ben-Hur); and Patroni radiates a mixture of competence and desperation. Also worth noting is that it doesn't take forever for the mid-air collision to happen. Well before the half-way point, the plot is already in full swing (unlike in the first Airport).

So, although Airport 1975 can't stand up to the likes of Deep Impact or Godzilla in terms of the "ooh-ahh" factor, it's better than either in generating tension, and certainly is no worse when it comes to character development (then again, it's hard to get worse than "nonexistent"). I'm not going to claim that Airport 1975 is the kind of film worth rushing to the video store for, but there's a new copy available on DVD, and the movie does offer its share of thrills and cheesy, unsophisticated fun. Just don't watch it if you're planning any air travel soon.

© 1998 James Berardinelli