While Airport started the series, Airport 1975 is the movie you are thinking about when you think about Airport. And by Airport, I mean Airplane! because it skewered its conventions so effectively. This movie is filled with moments that were parodied in 1980’s Airplane: a singing nun, a child in need of an organ transplant; Hare Krishnas at the airport.
Despite its latter infamy, on its own terms Airport 1975 is the franchise finding its feet. The 1970 movie featured an averted air disaster as the climax; its sequel focuses on the aerial disaster as the primary storyline.
With an under two hour runtime, we are in the air by the 20 minute mark and most of the runtime is either focused on keeping the plane aloft after being hit, or trying to get it on the ground.
Right from the start, this movie seems to have been made in a different universe - it features more naturalistic lighting and real locations. By contrast, Airport does not look like a movie made in 1970. With its high key lighting, use of split screen and focus on soapy dramatics, Airport looks more like a late fifties romantic comedy like Pillow Talk.
Special effects are minimal but the focus on the actors maintains a certain level of credibility.
Karen Black is terrific as the veteran flight attendant who has to save the plane - Charlton Heston is dependably taciturn but Black gives proceeding a reality and sense of stakes beyond the patronising tone of the script and the ridiculousness of the concept.
The most bizarre casting is Gloria Swanson, Norma Desmond herself, playing a slightly exaggerated version of herself as a celebrity passenger.
By no means is Airport 1975 some misunderstood masterpiece.
At best, it is an earnest genre picture that improves the template set by its predecessor. But compared with 1974’s major disaster entry The Towering Inferno, it is a little underwhelming.
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