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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than some recent disaster movies!, July 25, 2000
This review is from: Airport '77 (DVD)
This is my favourite on the AIRPORT series(the second best being the CONCORDE - AIRPORT 79 for its sheer hilariousness - although look what happened outside Paris in the news today!) with some rather impressive special effects for its time. The plot revolves around an art billionaire Philip Stevens, played by JAMES STEWART, who invites an assortment of characters on to his private 747, piloted by JACK LEMMON. Lo and behold, his co-pilot(ROBERT FOXWORTH, who was also in THE PROPHECY and OMEN 2) has masterminded a hijacking, which goes horribly wrong when the plane hits an oil rig, ditches into the sea and settles underwater! Somehow the fuselage remains intact - who will survive! We can surely guess the outcome. Also there's a vet treating human injuries - this was done a year earlier for spoof value in Paramount's disaster movie send-up THE BIG BUS! Dear me! But this is a great piece of 1970s vintage cheese which will be enjoyed by all. The effects and underwater photography during the submarine-style rescue attempt are still superb, the plane interior sets are quite realistic for this type of movie and the cast of stars, as well as LEMMON and STEWART you get JOSEPH COTTEN, Dynasty's PAMELA BELLWOOD, Buck Rogers star GIL GERARD, LEE GRANT, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND and once again GEORGE KENNEDY as Joe Patroni, liasing with the US Navy(some great military action here as well!) with the rescue attempt. I saw this on TV not so long ago for the first time in ages, and it'll definitely be included in my DVD collection!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Airport '77 is all wet, June 12, 2004
This review is from: Airport '77 (DVD)
Airport '77 is the story of bazillionaire Phillip Stevens (a slumming James Stewart) who is jetting some of his friends and colleagues and others on a luxury 747 to view his art collection which is going to become a museum, because, as we learn later...he has A FEW MONTHS TO LIVE!!! Unfortunately, some hijackers unleash some gas on the passengers and plan to swipe the artwork. But the plan goes awry when the plane crashes into the Bermuda Triangle. Quite realistic, don't you think? The problem is the movie is boring. None of the characters make an impression. Let's see, there's the feuding couple with the wife who cheated on her husband, but that's never mentioned again; the old lady renewing a friendship with an old man; some kids who like to play Pong; a blind pianist who sings about seeing through "the eye of the beholder"; a bartender whose wife is about to give birth to twins, etc., etc. What are their names? I don't know, all I know is that they're bland characterizations meant to sustain interest before the big crash scene. Jack Lemmon is the pilot, and Brenda Vacarro is Eve, his love interest. They generate no heat at all. To make a boring movie short, I just found this film bland and uninteresting. The big rescue scene is silly, and everything leading up to it is a waste of time. George Kennedy, who appeared in every Airport movie as Patroni, has about one minute of screentime here wherein he does nothing. Most of the movie is spent with people staring vacantly out the window, or squealing in pain. Much like the viewer would do.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lost treasure, December 22, 2002
This review is from: Airport '77 (DVD)
This film, like all of the Airport movies is loaded with stars (something that a low-budget film could NEVER do today). Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Grant, George Kennedy, Olivia DeHavilland, Kathleen Quinlan, etc, etc... While I must admit, the plot of the movie is rather fantastic, consdering a 747 hitting the water at 200 knots+ would break up. But, one thing that I am impressed with is the aircraft realism (the same goes for Airport '75). The production unit really went out of their way to represent the 747 in an accurate way. This film, along with Airport '75, utilized the American Airlines 747 flight simulators in Dallas, TX, thus providing the audience with a true-to-life cockpit environment. Therefore, this is a MUST for aviation buffs... My only complaint about this movie is the quality of the DVD...Despite being a below-average transfer, it offers no special features or deleted scenes. Anyone who has seen the TV version of this movie knows that there is a lot of extra footage, especially in the beginning. Hopefully, there will be another release somewhere down the road...Maybe a collector's box of all the Airport films?
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