Airport 1975
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| Airport 1975 | |
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| Directed by | Jack Smight |
| Produced by | William Frye Jennings Lang |
| Written by | Don Ingalls (screenplay) |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Karen Black |
| Music by | John Cacavas |
| Cinematography | Philip H. Lathrop |
| Editing by | J. Terry Williams |
| Distributed by | Universal |
| Release date(s) | October 18, 1974 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Airport |
| Followed by | Airport '77 |
| IMDb profile | |
Airport 1975 is a 1974 disaster film and the first sequel to the successful 1970 hit Airport. Unlike the original film, Airport 1975 was a bona fide "blockbuster" disaster film, with an "all-star" cast and extensive promotional campaign. The film is one among many of a class of campy 1970s disaster movies. Its plot devices and shallow characterizations, including a singing nun (Helen Reddy), a former glamorous star (Gloria Swanson), an alcoholic (Myrna Loy), a child in need of an organ transplant (Linda Blair), and a chatterbox (Sid Caesar) were parodied in 1980's Airplane!. The characteristics of Airport 1975 were also used in numerous similar films to come, including the film's own sequels: Airport '77 and The Concorde: Airport '79.
Though derided by the critics upon its release, Airport 1975 was ultimately a success. With a budget of US$3 million, the film made over US$47 million [1] at the box office. Helen Reddy was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female. The film was included, however, in the popular book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time three years later in 1978. Notable from a modern perspective is the film's blatant sexism and contrived plot and characters.
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[edit] Plot
While flying his small Beechcraft Baron private plane from New Mexico to Idaho, businessman Scott Freeman (Dana Andrews) suffers a fatal heart attack and crashes into the flight deck of a commercial Boeing 747 airliner attempting to land at Salt Lake City, Utah, tearing a hole over the co-pilot's seat. With the co-pilot (Roy Thinnes) ejected, the flight engineer (Erik Estrada) dead, and the pilot (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) blinded, stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) takes control of the damaged plane with the help (over the radio) of chief training pilot/lover Alan Murdock (Charlton Heston). Unable to climb, leaking fuel, and dodging the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains, an air to air rescue attempt is undertaken from a jet-powered HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter flown by the USAF Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service.
[edit] Trivia
Columbia Airlines is the name of a fictional airline used in the film. The plane used in the film was an American Airlines Boeing 747-123, registration number N9675, which was redressed as the fictitious "Columbia Airlines" plane. The aircraft's current operator is United Parcel Service under the registration number N675UP and, as of 2005, is now stored at Roswell, New Mexico. A recent picture of the actual aircraft used in the film (prior to retirement in 2005) can be found here: [2]
Charlton Heston spent time training to fly a Boeing 747 during production, and several scenes show him actually flying a real 747.
The Beech Baron in the film uses the callsign 232 Zulu, which implies that its registration would be N232Z. Exterior shots show the registration as N9750Y. In a tragic coincidence, N9750Y was involved in a fatal midair collision with a Cessna 180 near Stockton, California on August 24, 1989 killing both pilots. [3]
Footage of the Boeing 747 featured in "Airport 1975" has been re-used numerous times as stock footage in various other films (such as Elizabethtown), due to the fictional "Columbia Airlines" logo on the aircraft.
The Boeing was also seen in The Incredible Hulk TV series Season 1, Episode 5: "747" Original Air Date: 7 April 1978. Here is the link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0610850
The movie is referenced in an episode of Family Guy, where the actress Karen Black appears in order to land a plane. Peter Griffin mentions that she landed a plane in "Airport '75", but the cast of Dawson's Creek is too young to remember the movie.
[edit] Cast
- Charlton Heston as Alan Murdock
- Karen Black as Nancy Pryor
- George Kennedy as Joe Patroni
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Captain Stacy
- Susan Clark as Mrs. Patroni
- Gloria Swanson as Gloria Swanson
- Martha Scott as Sister Beatrice
- Helen Reddy as Sister Ruth
- Guy Stockwell as Col. Moss
- Jerry Stiller as Sam
- Roy Thinnes as First Officer Urias
- Erik Estrada as Flight Engineer Julio
- Dana Andrews as Scott Freeman
- Sid Caesar as Barney
- Linda Blair as Janice Abbott
- Nancy Olson as Mrs. Abbott
- Kip Niven as Lt. Thatcher
- Ed Nelson as Maj. Alexander
- Beverly Garland as Mrs. Freeman
- Myrna Loy as Mrs. Devaney
- Linda Harrison as Winnie (credited as Augusta Summerland)
[edit] Sequels
[edit] External links
- Airport 1975 at the Internet Movie Database
- Photo of the aircraft used in the film prior to retirement in 2005: [4]
