Cinema Suicide

As a rule I’m a pretty consistent person. I find something that I like and i stick with it. Up until now all you readers know is that I like Vincent Price, AIP, and Horror films. What you may not know is that I have strange obsession with all things 70s… I like my music dirty, me television campy, and my films gritty and disastrous. It is with these sentiments that I bring you my thoughts on the “Airport” series that spanned my favorite decade.

Tragedy was big in the 70s for sure. Films like “Poseidon Adventure”, “Earthquake”, and “The Towering Inferno” made disaster the hottest thing in film since Dorothy skipped down the road. No film made quite as large an impact as the critically acclaimed and often forgotten “Airport” films. All together these films boast the biggest all star cast in Hollywood history. Greats like Jimmy Stewart, Dean Martin, Charlton Heston, Jack Lemon, Karen Black, Burt Lancaster, and George Kennedy all come on board to bring us some of the movie industry’s biggest adventures. The plots to these films are by no means genius, but there in lies the beauty. Each film follows the same formula; happy travelers board the plane, disaster ensues and they are left to bail themselves out or perish. Whether its a hole in the side of the plane (”Airport”), a hole in the front (”Airport ‘75″), being at the bottom of the ocean (”Airport ‘77″), or battling an evil genius (”Airport ‘79″) the passengers of these flights always manage to save the day. So maybe it’s not the best that Hollywood had to offer but God dammit this sure is fun!

The series kicks off with the Oscar nominated “Airport”, the story of a big airline in big trouble. “Airport” is the story of Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster), the manager of the airline, who is trying to deal with the crisis of a suicide bomber on the plane. From the ground Bakersfield must work together with pilot Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) to land the plane and get the passangers to safety. Along the way the crew of the plane must deal with an elderly stowaway and the injuries sustained after the bomb goes off blowing a hole in the side of the plane. With a run time of over two hours, “Airport” can feel a little long and slow at times. The brilliance of these classic actors can often be overshadowed by the bits and pieces of the characters’ personal lives and dramas (who’d have thought that adultry could be so appealing?). In sequal history it’s pretty common for the first to be the best, but in this case “Airport” is only the tip of the iceburg and just a taste of the what was to come.

Five years after the release of the original, Universal decided to take another crack at the disaster genre with the release of “Airport ‘75.” This time around the welfare of the passangers is threatened when a small private plan crashes into the nose of Boeing 747. The crash kills the flight crew and it’s now up flight attendant Karen Black and her grounded boyfriend Charlton Heston to get the passangers safely to the ground. The old cliche “practice makes perfect” proves to be true in this case as the producers of the film cut out the bulk of the subplots and give us straight up action. Charlton Heston is his usual manly self, but it’s the consistant George Kennedy that saves the day this time as he helps Karen Black get the passangers to safety. “Airport ‘75″ provides a whole lot of mindless entertainment and is watchable on so many levels, but it was the next entery in the series that would take my love of the films even higher.

The third film in the series, “Airport ‘77″, gives new meaning to the idea of disaster as the plane gets highjacked with the intention of stealing millionaire art collector Phillip Stevens’ (Jimmy Stewart) priceless collection. Well, as you can imagine, one thing leads to another and the plane ends up stuck at the bottom of sea. Now it’s up to piolt Don Gallagher (Jack Lemon) to get the passangers to the surface before the plane snaps in two effectivly killing everyone. This here is the film that really got me into this series as I remember seeing it as a child very late one night the mighty WLVI. The tension is high, the acting is great, and the story is totally unbelievable in what I think to be the finest film in this franchise.

As the 70s winded down and the 80s were a stones throw away things really started to change. The public seemed less interested in being saved by Burt Lancaster or Karen Black and more interested in hanging out and blowing lines. Apparenty the producers of the “Airport” series felt the same way and what we’re left with is the barely watchable “The Concorde: Airport ‘79″. As I’m sure you’ve gathered at this point, the story is pretty familiar. Nuclear weapons expert Dr. Harrison (Robert Wagner) has set his sights on destroying the Concord carrying Journalist Susan Blakely before she has a chance to get to France and expose his evil plans for world domination. Once again it’s up to George Kennedy to save everyone before they crash into the French Alps. The acting goes beyond over the top and the story is ridiculous and slightly boring, and not the good kind of ridiculous that keeps me coming back to these movies, the bad kind of ridiculous that makes me want to pee my pants.

A few years back Universal did their best to offer these films in “The Airport Terminal Pack” which contained all four films with little bonus features. Listen, for the price you’re paying (around $15) you’re going to get yourself four pretty awesome flicks that are bound to entertain you in one way or another.