May 20, 2025
Airport (1970)
"The instruction book said that was impossible."
"That's one nice thing about the 707. It can do everything but read."
#airport#1970#disaster film#american cinema#george seaton#arthur hailey#burt lancaster#jean seberg#dean martin#jacqueline bisset#george kennedy#van heflin#dana wynter#barry nelson#virginia grey#john findlater#maureen stapleton#barbara hale#gary collins#helen hayes#pop culture would have me believe this is a bathetic melodrama whose failings were laid bare by Airplane! a decade or so later but actually#getting round to it‚ it's a grand old time and there's plenty of value here. the kind of big spectacle‚ big cast triumph of a film that#simply does not exist anymore; this gets the blame for igniting the 70s obsession with big budget disaster flicks too‚ but here it's#actually a good length of time before anything goes wrong and we spend just as much time with these characters and their world before it#all goes to hell. benefits from some expert pacing so that it never really flags as well as a glittering cast that mixes old Hollywood#royalty with up and comers. Van Heflin wrings a lot of pathos from his nervy‚ despairing bomber‚ Seberg and Lancaster are their dependable#professional selves. it's a great shame we seem to have lost the knack for this kind of human drama mosaic on a grand scale: they're#invariably entertaining and allow for films which can mix genre and mood within one greater whole (comedy‚ tragedy‚ action‚ suspense)#whatever its modern reputation‚ this was a smash hit at the time and earned a clutch of awards and spawned a series of sequels
