Airport

George Seaton directed this massive box-office hit about an busy airport(of course!) threatened not only by a blizzard, but a bomber on one of its planes. All-star cast includes Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bissit, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, and George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, a role he would reprise in the three sequels. Though long, contrived, and potentially silly, this film still managed to be entertaining in spite of the melodrama, thanks to the good cast of actors who still give it their all(and a wonderful, Academy Award winning performance by Helen Hayes as a chronic "stowaway".) Though star Burt Lancaster was embarrassed by its success, and despite later spoofing, this holds up as fine escapist fare.

Airport is a classic film that was one of the films that began the disaster film genre. It contains great actors like Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Helen Hayes, George Kennedy and Jaquline Bissett. Helen Hayes won the films only Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her comic role as the Stow away. I have one question. Where was George Kennedy's Oscar? I think he should have recieved an Oscar for his role as Joe Patronni. To recieve 10 Oscar nominations is an incredible achievement for a film of this Genre. Alfred Newman gives an upbeat and suspenseful music score and Ernest Laszlo's cinematography is good. Altogether, this film is a great one and there isn't any down spots that I noticed. Dean Martin was great as the smart mouthed airline pilot and Burt Lancaster as Bakerfeld, the airport manager. Van Hefiln was also good because he made you believe that his character had problems. A great film, worth your time to watch.

"Airport" is an impressive disaster epic that rises high above the ground due to its characters. Every key player adds to the plot and that fact makes "Airport" a very good film from a great decade of movies. Oscar-winner Helen Hayes, in particular, dominates when she appears on the screen. Unfortunately this film would spawn one of the most trivial genres in the history of the cinema. 4 out of 5 stars.