Airport

1970
G
2h 17m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

23K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer3:29

Dark Comedy Disaster Action Drama Thriller

A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.

Directors
- George Seaton
- Henry Hathaway
Writers
- Arthur Hailey
- George Seaton
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

23K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,919

3,386

Directors
- George Seaton
- Henry Hathaway
Writers
- Arthur Hailey
- George Seaton
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 19 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 3:29

Official Trailer

Photos110

+ 102

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Burt Lancaster, who headlined the movie above the title with Dean Martin, made a great deal of money from the film, which was a huge hit. His contract gave him a 10% profit participation once the movie hit $50 million; it grossed $45.3 million in North America alone. Despite the financial windfall, Lancaster said that the movie was "the worst piece of junk ever made." He said he only made this film in return for the studio agreeing to finance several non-commercial films, in which he was interested. Lancaster added it was a joke that this film was nominated for any awards at all.

Goofs
Both the aircraft stuck in the snow, and the Rome flight use an aircraft marked with registration N324F.

Quotes
[the precocious nerd figures out they're turning around]
Mrs. Schultz: Captain, our son has a question. Schuyler, here's our captain.
Schuyler Schultz: [pointing out the window] Before, Virgo and Leo were right there, sir. Now I'm beginning to see Ursa Minor and Cassiopeia. We MUST be turning around.
Capt. Vernon Demerest: You have a young navigator here! Well, I'll tell ya, son... due to a setslow wind, Dystor's vectored us into a 360 turn for some slow traffic. Now, we'll maintain this board and hold until we receive a Forta Magnus clearance from MELNIX.
Schuyler Schultz: Oh... yes... of course!
Mr. Schultz: What did he mean by that, son?
Schuyler Schultz: Never mind, father, I'll tell you later.

Crazy credits
Unusually, the Universal Pictures logo animation is not shown at the beginning of this movie...it's instead shown at the end. The in-credit notice "UNIVERSAL presents" replaced the usual opening logo.

Alternate versions
TV prints and early videotape pan and scan versions have alterations beyond simple pan and scan. On some of the multi image scenes, instead of panning to the image best serving the scene, they substitute a full screen version of that segment that was originally part of the multi image shot. Like the scene where Burt Lancaster is talking to his wife and 2 daughters all at once. The theatrical version(and present wide screen DVD) maintained images of his wife, him and both daughters separately(recent pan and scan editions temporarily letterbox or otherwise modify the theatrical composition). On the early TV and video versions, only the person talking is seen in a full screen shot used for that multi image shot(showing more image information then when it was composed as part of the theatrical multi image shot). Also, on the split screen shot of Dean Martin in a cab and Jackie Bisset getting out of the shower, the split screen is recomposed for 4:3, cropping each image to better fit.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: Take 2: Movies That Changed the Movies (1979)

User reviews234

Review

Featured review

7/10

Airport scales the lofty heights

I recently watched "Airport" on TCM. It was the first time I had seen it in its original widescreen format since it came out in 1970. I was surprised at how well it has held up with the passage of time. Although there have been disaster movies from the beginning of cinema in the late 19th century and one that dealt specifically with an airplane in danger ("The High and the Mighty"), this was the film that launched the modern disaster craze that produced "The Towering Inferno," "The Poseidon Adventure," and countless others including "The Day After Tomorrow." The hilarious spoof "Airplane" which poked fun at the clichés and pretentiousness of the films did much to discredit the genre until recently.

"Airport" was based on the popular best seller by Arthur Hailey. Although over two hours long, the movie moves and the viewer never gets bored. The stellar cast does an exceptional job with a standout performance by the legendary Helen Hayes. The ending is both happy and sad. So it does not cop out on several key themes of the story. Many of the roles, such as George Kennedy's Joe Patroni, are played lightly and this adds zest to the performances. When the script begins to get syrupy a new element of emergency is thrown in to pick it up and go.

Forget all the cliché-ridden disaster flicks you have seen since "Airport." You will be entertained and not feel cheated when the closing credits appear.