Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

thejcowboy22 In seventh Grade I noticed half my gym class was absent. I asked a fellow student where is everyone and he answered Mrs. Lind had a field trip for her three classes to see Airport. Confused I responded, "JFK or LaGuardia?" My classmate said "No silly It's a movie." Still not sinking into my gray matter. A movie about an Airport? Must be boring!" The next day I asked one of the classmate who went to see the movie how it was and he said it was about a Man who is a demolitions expert, down on his luck, who takes out a large life insurance policy smuggling a bomb on a jet liner headed for Rome, plus an old lady giving forged boarding passes and the Airport manager has a blonde girlfriend while his wife bitches on the phone and furthermore The pilot of the plane impregnated his stewardess girlfriend who is also married to the airport manager's sister.A blizzard, snow on the runways Oh by the way the Pilot of the Boeing 707, is Dean Martin. I guess it's not boring. Was Dean Singing and drinking while flying? Was there an up in the clouds movie? Is Jerry Lewis the co-pilot? The classmate said it wasn't a comedy. A few years passed and I finally caught this film on Television. Exceptional all-star cast lead by Burt Lancaster as Mel Bakersfield, Dana Wynter as his fussy wife. Jean Seberg as his girlfriend Tanya Livingston. Van Heflin as the "mad bomber" Guerrero. Maureen Stapleton as Mrs.Guerrero. Familiar faces, the likes of Larry Gates as the Commish deciding to shut down the Airport and Lloyd Nolan as the head of Customs but fails to check for explosives when passengers board flights. Other notables in the film.... Gary Collins, Barbara Hale,Lou Wagner as the brainy nerd and Barry Nelson as Dean Martin's co-pilot. Two stand out performances in the film are the cigar smoking George Kennedy as Joe Patroni who disables a stalled jet on a runway just in the nick of time. Maureen Stapleton as the daunting Wife pleading for someone to stop her suicidal Husband.The shining star in all this controversy is the matriarchal veteran of the stage Helen Hayes. As Ada Quonsett the innocent sweet old trickster of flight tickets is the consummate actress with her mannerisms and timing keeps you fixated waiting for her next line. Jacqueline Bisset as the head stewardess and Dean Martin's Girlfriend who get seriously injured and plays a nice patient. Oh I almost forgot; Dort Clark and Whit Bissel are passengers as well on this bombing expedition in a blizzard outside Chicago. Piece this explanation together and you have the movie Airport which did well at the box office and carried it's name brand franchise for the rest of the decade with horrible sequels one after another all the way to new aircraft called the Concorde SST death flight piloted by Mr Brady (Robert Reed) with Regis Philbin the trademark of a bombed movie. A bit sterile the original, but entertaining and I'll watch it as this movie was lightning in a bottle but bottles run dry by the sequel in most cases.

FlashCallahan An airport struggles to remain open during the worst snowstorm in 25 year.Mel Bakersfield is the airport manager who must not only fight the weather, but his pilot/playboy brother-in-law, his divorce seeking wife, a deranged man with a bomb, a plane stuck in the mud and blocking the main runway, and a stowaway........among other things...You can define disaster in many ways, Many will see this film as a straightforward 'Plane is under attack movie' in the same vein as something like the much later 'Executive Decision', but there is so much more to this film than just a bomb on a plane.The disaster could be crumbling relationships, fear of losing a career, fear of not making somewhere on time, just usual everyday things that could cause 'disaster' in someones routine if things don't go to plan for them.This mainly lies on the shoulders of Burt Lancaster, whom is either sitting in an office listening to peers quite concerned, or putting on a lovely looking warm jacket and going out to the runway to look at a stalled plane.On the other hand, we have the dashing crooner Dean Martin suffering the disaster of his hair going slightly off style for a couple of minutes, or trying to deal with the 'disaster' of falling in love with someone over half his age and fathering her unborn child.The problem is, if you saw Airplane! before this, you cannot take the film seriously, and even more so if you've seen the more over the top disaster films that followed this.It has a plethora of sub-plots going on, from a know it all child, to a hilarious old woman who hitches free rides and feigns illness almost every act in the film.It's just too serious for it's own good, and there are a few passengers on board you would gladly punch in the face if you were on the same flight.The film does inject an element of humour into the script in the final third, but it's pretty blasphemous, as it consists of a Nun chugging a bottle of spirit, and a Father slapping a delusional passenger.Kennedy is the best thing about the film, and it's no wonder they bought him back for the three sequels.It's the cinematic equivalent of the picture of food you see on a menu in a chain restaurant, it looks grand, but the finished product is far less palatable.

StuOz Early disaster movie about the daily problems of a US Airport.The Alfred Newman opening title music is some of the very best, and most powerful, film music ever composed...and I have heard all the great old scores! In fact, the music is so good that it bothered that the following Airport films (75, 77, 79) had much less pleasing scores.As for the film itself, I like it, but it is a very hard film to review as I have no logical reason for liking it. The flick almost seems like Airport 1966 for some reason, as the general look it seems stuck in the 1960s. Which is not a bad thing. All I can say is, the movie holds you from beginning to end, you never get bored, but at the end of it you sort of shake your head wondering why the movie held you the way it did? That is the best review I can do for this one.Airport is a Universal movie and a couple of years later MGM released Skyjacked, which resembles Airport...which is best? The MGM film has much less light hearted talk from the characters, which some might view as a good thing, but the Universal film has the above mentioned opening title music that will stay forever locked in your memory...so take your pick.

DKosty123 I read Arthur Hiller's work on this and this script is very faithful to it. It is the first movie of it's time and kind and made a lot of money for Universal along with Dean Martin and Lancaster who got pieces of the box office. The cast is loaded and yet only Helen Hayes won a best supporting actress for it. This series drama inspired some terrible sequels and then a series of Airplane Comedy films. This one is the drama and played straight. Funny how Dean Martin does so well in drama films including this one as his persona proved many times over he could act. He actually upstages the great Lancaster in this one but then he got a better role. Lancaster is only the manager of the airport, not as dramatic as being a pilot on the plane. That might have influenced his opinion of the film as his script is not well written compared to his other films.This is one of the few films which had Jacquelin Bisset Pregnant and hurt. This film was prior to her becoming the ultimate wet tee shirt model. Now over 70, I am hoping she has aged well after becoming a lot of men's fantasy but this movie as a stewardess, though younger she does not jump out at you though she has a good role. Watching it now, the slap scenes in it show you what inspired the same on the air plane series.This movie has a lot of reasons to watch as it shows how team work can save lives and though the technology looks ancient today, great drama ages well.