 |
| An original poster for George Seaton's event picture Airport, which flashes its starry cast and for some reason repeats its title 8 times |
Chicago Airport: A blizzard, too few landing strips and snow plows, a man with a mysterious attaché briefcase, impending divorce and a stowaway passenger.
These are just some of the obstacles presented in Airport, the film that's called the first disaster movie ever, defining genre conventions for countless disaster movies to follow by combining small-scale melodrama with big-scale disaster aspects. It is written and directed by George Seaton (Diamond Horseshoe (1945)), adapting the same-titled 1968 novel by Arthur Hailey (Overload (1979)). Henry Hathaway (Nob Hill (1945)) directed some winter outdoor scenes.
The film is entertaining and worth watching particularly for its stars; the glorious Jean Seberg (À Bout de Souffle/Breathless (1960)), Dean Martin (Rio Bravo (1959)) as a veteran sky captain who might finally choose love over individual freedom, and Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity (1953)), who made millions off the flick but still disparaged it gloriously in public, calling it "the worst piece of junk ever made."
The start of Airport is a bit cardboardy, as characters and their wives and girlfriends are introduced, but later on it gets quite exciting, and the film still works perfectly as a lazy afternoon watch.
Cost: 10.2 mil. $
Box office: 128.4 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 12.58 times its cost)
[Airport was released 5 March (North America) and runs 137 minutes. Through profit participation deals, Martin was paid 7 mil. $ for his performance; Lancaster 5 mil. $. Shooting took place from January - June 1969 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in California. The film grossed 100.4 mil. $ (78.2 % of the total gross) in North America. It was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning one: Best Supporting Actress (Helen Hayes (Ah, Wilderness! (1959, TV movie)). It lost another Supporting Actress nomination (Maureen Stapleton (Passed Away (1992)), Art/Set Decoration to Patton, Cinematography (Ernest Laszlo (The Last Sunset (1961))) to Freddie Young for Ryan's Daughter, Costume Design to Cromwell, Editing to Patton, Score (Alfred Newman (Bus Stop (1956))) to Francis Lai for Love Story, Picture to Patton, Sound also to Patton and Adapted Screenplay to Ring Lardner Jr. for MASH. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, win 1/4 Golden Globe nominations, 1/2 Grammy nominations and a few other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. The Boeing 707 used in the film was only leased: It later crashed in 1989 in Brazil, killing the 25 people onboard. The film was followed by 4 sequels, the first being Airport 1975 (1974). Seaton returned with Showdown (1973). Lancaster returned in Lawman (1971); Martin in The Red Skelton Hour (1970, TV-series), Swing Out, Sweet Land (1970, TV movie) and theatrically in Something Big (1971). Airport is fresh at 73 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Airport?
No comments:
Post a Comment