Airport (film)

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Airport

Airport promotional poster
Directed by George Seaton
Produced by Ross Hunter
Written by Arthur Hailey (novel)
George Seaton
Starring Burt Lancaster
Dean Martin
Jean Seberg
Jacqueline Bisset
George Kennedy
Helen Hayes
Van Heflin
Music by Alfred Newman
Cinematography Ernest Laszlo
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) March 5 1970 (U.S. release)
Running time 137 min
Language English
Followed by Airport 1975
IMDb profile

Airport is a 1970 film which earned over $100,000,000 [1] at the box office. The film centers around an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snowstorm, whilst a suicidal bomber plots to blow up an airplane (a Boeing 707) in flight.

Although it had a complex plot, Airport paved the way for the disaster film genre and established many of the conventions for that genre.

The movie was adapted by George Seaton from the novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey. It was directed by Seaton and Henry Hathaway, and photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Ernest Laszlo. It was the last film scored by Alfred Newman before his death.

The majority of the filming was done at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, which stood in for the fictional Chicago-area Lincoln International Airport. Only one Boeing 707 was used in the filming: N324F, a 707-349C, was leased from Flying Tigers by Universal Studios and sported an El Al cheatline over its bare metal finish, with the fictional Trans Global Airlines (TGA) titles and tail.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards

and It was nominated for

[edit] Further Comment and Plot Outline, Airport (1970)

The one actor appearing in all four films is George Kennedy in the key role of airline mechanic Joe Patroni, although the sequels seem to have confused his wife's name and how many children he had. (Marie is the wife in the first movie, an absolutely solid marriage indicated, but Helen is his wife in the second movie. Joseph Patroni Jr. is in the second movie. Whoever his wife is, she is deceased by 1979.) Also, his position changes in each film, Senior Mechanic in Airport, VP of Operations in Airport 1975, Co-Pilot in Airport 1979).

Like the novel, the movie gives some insight to the operations of a modern airport of its day, although the book is, of course, far more detailed with narrative about some functions that may persist to this day and others that may have been computerized. Some details are inexplicably changed between novel and screenplay: runway identification, for example. (In fact, one of the runway designations, 4/22, is in reality a runway at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where the movie was filmed.) One learns about conga lines, noise abatement, stowaways, pilots going onto oxygen masks when one leaves the cockpit, and so forth. In the book, one learns about the delicate details of how an aircraft's freight is to be loaded. One also learns that public places like airports have methods of alerting their police without the public knowing by using code phrases such as: "Attention, Mr. Lester Mainwaring".

"Airport" has begun to show its age at the dawn of the 21st century: in 1970, Trans Global's passengers encounter no security check-in posts and may freely board their Rome-bound flight without any inspection of their carry-on baggage. The film evokes a nostalgia for a simpler, more trusting time before the rise of air terrorism. Had even 1980s security measures been in place, much less the security restrictions imposed in the United States after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the chief antagonist of the story would have been stopped long before he could have boarded the ill-fated Boeing 707.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Several personal dramas find their way woven together on board the prestige flight of Trans Global Airlines (Trans America in the novel) - Flight Two, The Golden Argosy, flying from Chicago to Rome. The flight is leaving on an evening when the American Midwest has been struck with the worst winter storm in several years. Lincoln International Airport (a fictional airport that clearly takes the place of Chicago's O'Hare) is struggling to stay open, a feat made more difficult after a Boeing 707 (an incoming Trans-Global in the movie, an outgoing Aéreo-Mexico in the novel) gets stuck in such a way that one of its wings is blocking the main runway, 29 (30 in the novel).

Pilot Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) is one of the two pilots on the trip, officially flying as check pilot on Anson Harris (Barry Nelson) for his periodic check flight to make sure he "hasn't picked up any bad habits". (In the novel, Harris has decided to become an international captain and requires one more check flight before he is certified to be captain of international flights.) Demerest is married to Sarah Bakersfeld (Barbara Hale), sister of Lincoln's general manager, Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster). Besides being an arrogant, self-absorbed boor, Demerest is also an unfaithful husband, having taken up with the chief stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset). (In the novel, everybody but Sarah knows Demerest is unfaithful; in the movie, not only does Sarah know, she seems understanding of it though she doesn't know all the details.) Just before the flight, Gwen tells Demerest she is pregnant, and he is the father. (In the novel, the two immediately begin discussions about an abortion, which is later spoofed as a discussion between two P.A. announcers at LAX in the movie Airplane!.)

Demerest is outspokenly critical of the airport's snow management, naming the airport general manager, Mel Bakersfeld, as the one responsible for the shortcomings. Bakersfeld, a wartime pilot, has his own problems. He is in an unhappy marriage, and his wife Cindy (Dana Wynter) is intent on climbing the social ladder; Mel is a problem for her because his frequent absence from social affairs hurts her attempts to gain social favour. (He also doesn't want to get involved in her father's business, even though they keep trying to twist his arm, so the movie version shows.) He was due at a charity event that evening, but he decided he couldn't attend because of the problems that escalated when the runway became blocked. In the book, Bakersfeld has not been unfaithful, but Tanya Livingston (Jean Seberg) is a good friend with whom he enjoys talking and having lunch; the movie alludes to an affair between the two. Tanya works for Trans Global (Trans America in the novel), the airline involved with the flight to Rome (and in the movie only, the airline involved with the stuck plane as well).

In the novel, Bakersfeld has an additional concern, although he is unaware of just how urgent it is to take action. His younger brother Keith is wracked with guilt over his role in a fatal mid-air collision about three years earlier. Keith feels that he lingered too long on a break before returning to duty at a regional air traffic control center in Maryland; the trainee who had replaced him while he was on break did not notice the impending collision, and the supervisor was busy, but Keith noticed it immediately upon his return to duty. Keith blames himself for not getting back in time, though the investigating committee decided he was not to blame. Keith has since suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, haunted by memories of his actions on that day and the screams of the doomed passengers as their plane plummeted to the ground. Keith has been transferred from Maryland to Chicago, with the hope that Mel would be a stabilizing influence, but Keith is still a captive of his guilt, and Keith has never told his wife. Indeed, he has become so desperate that he is planning suicide by barbituate overdose.

Mrs. Ada Quonsett (Helen Hayes) is a widow who lives in San Diego; she has a married daughter who lives in New York. She cannot afford plane tickets, but when she feels lonely, she goes to LA Airport and boards a plane for New York, flying as a stowaway; she has become quite skilled at it, knowing exactly how to get on a plane and forge an acceptable boarding pass. She was caught this time, and Tanya Livingston finds her rather formidable by her quaintly disarming attitude; even Bakersfeld is impressed by Mrs. Quonsett. She is to be sent back to Los Angeles.

D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin), who served in World War II as a demolition expert, ran his own contracting business for many years, but he has fallen on hard times, and had to sell his heavily-mortgaged home. His wife Inez (Maureen Stapleton) barely keeps them afloat by working as a waitress in a shabby diner. The two live in a terrible South Side apartment; they had to send their children to live with Inez's sister. Out of money, unable to hold down a job due to his temper, and desperate, Guerrero has decided to provide for his family by insuring himself heavily and then killing himself. Guerrero has purchased a ticket on The Golden Argosy, although he could only make a partial down-payment on the ticket. He has fashioned a simple, briefcase-mounted bomb using dynamite (left over from his contracting days in the novel, stolen from a previous employer in the movie), and he plans to explode the bomb when the flight is over the Atlantic Ocean, killing himself and allowing Inez to reap the proceeds of the insurance policy.

Guerrero is among the passengers taking a bus from downtown to the airport, and also on the bus is a passenger, Marcus Rathbone (Peter Turgeon), whom we will come to know as "the complainer". (In the novel, we do not meet Mr. Rathbone until the middle of the flight.) The bus is caught in traffic, delaying the departure of The Golden Argosy. At the same time, Inez arrives at home and finds a letter referring to her husband's Rome ticket purchase. She realizes that he had lied to her when said he was going to Milwaukee, and after calling the airline and learning of the delay, she heads for the airport with the small amount of money she had intended to appease the landlord with.

Mrs. Quonsett, who has been accompanied by a passenger agent, Peter Coakley, gives him the slip and heads for the gate for The Golden Argosy.

Guerrero arrives at the airport and purchases a life insurance policy which is to be paid, on his death, to Inez. With minutes to spare, he boards the plane, and Mrs. Quonsett watches, waiting for Tanya to leave the gate. As Tanya leaves, US Customs Officer Standish (Lloyd Nolan), who is going to have dinner with her and Bakersfeld, says that Guerrero was acting nervous, holding the attaché case under his arm. Mrs. Quonsett uses one of her regular tricks to get onto that plane. Inez Guerrero arrives only to see the plane departing from the gate.

Meanwhile, Joe Patroni (George Kennedy), a mechanic for TWA, finally arrives at the airport (in the novel, he helped clear a jackknifed truck from the road so he could continue to the airport) and begins to personally direct efforts to clear the stuck jetliner. Patroni becomes frustrated because the pilot doesn't give the engines enough power, and the plane gets stuck even deeper. He takes over the plane from its pilot and concocts his own plan for getting the plane unstuck; Mel bets him a box of cigars (against a pair of baseball tickets) that he can't get the job done.

The loss of the main runway has forced Lincoln to route departures on a shorter runway (22 in the movie, 25 in the novel) which passes over Meadowood, a residential neighbourhood on land that dishonest real estate agents sold years earlier, not revealing the jetliner noise that was coming with the "jet age". The residents have been complaining for years, and the airport and FAA agreed to minimize take-offs on 22/25 in that direction. Pilots are also advised to follow "noise-abatement procedures" when using 22/25 that make take-offs, in good weather, dangerous. In the storm, the pilots are ignoring the "noise-abatement procedures" due to their inherently unsafe nature; unfortunately, this has made the din in Meadowood nearly unbearable. The residents are furious with the night's racket, and they have hired a lawyer within the last few days. (In the novel, the Meadowood situation is extensively played, with Bakersfeld finally gaining the residents' understanding and trust, despite the efforts of the lawyer - who saw a pot of gold at the end of Runway 25 - to foment worse relations.)

Tanya Livingston finds Coakley at her office, and they begin calling every airline's gate to ask about Mrs. Quonsett. Tanya figures out that Mrs. Quonsett is on board Flight Two to Rome, and the pilots are notified. Demerest has Gwen go aft to spot Mrs. Quonsett, but not to disturb her.

Cindy Bakersfeld comes to the airport to speak to Mel, not to argue with him. Their oldest daughter left home because of their marital fighting, and he finally agrees that the only sensible answer is a divorce, to stabilize the home. Although Cindy is still appalled by Mel's seeming obsession with the airport, they are no longer fighting, she holds out the olive branch of visiting the girls, and she leaves the office after their discussion is done.

Inez was wandering around, and a policeman (Albert Reed) takes her to Tanya, pointing out that she had Trans Global correspondence in her purse. Tanya has been worried about Guerrero, and she persists in investigating the man. She has some concern, and when Bakersfeld questions Inez, they learn her husband is desperate, possibly mentally unbalanced, and has an explosive device. The pilots of Flight Two are warned.

Harris turns the plane around to return to Chicago, but in a gentle turn that nobody should notice (a smart kid (Lou Wagner) does notice, but Demerest gives him double-talk). Demerest decides the way to get the bomb - Guerrero is in a window seat, past two people, one of whom is Mrs. Quonsett - is to use Mrs. Quonsett. He sends Gwen Meighen to fetch Mrs. Quonsett on the pretext that she is in trouble for stowing away. Once Gwen and Mrs. Quonsett are in the cockpit with Harris and second officer Cy Jordan, he tells Mrs. Quonsett to forget all that. Gwen and Mrs. Quonsett return, both now acting as Demerest instructed, both keeping up the fiction that the plane is still headed for Rome, Mrs. Quonsett fearing being turned over in a foreign country.

With the distraction of being held by Mrs. Quonsett, Guerrero's hands are off the attaché case and Gwen sweeps it away, but before Demerest can take it, "complainer" Rathbone intervenes and gives it back to Guerrero, who is then cornered in the back of the plane. Demerest seems able to talk Guerrero into handing over the case, when someone comes out of the toilet and (in the movie) Rathbone spoils things again. Guerrero enters the toilet, and as Gwen is yanking on the door, Guerrero sets off the bomb.

The plane decompresses, but only Guererro is sucked out; Guerrero has misjudged the physics of setting off an explosion in a pressurized aircraft, and the main force of the blast is sucked out of the plane when it decompresses. Gwen absorbs part of the force of the blast and is gravely injured, but becomes wedged in a manner that prevents her from being sucked out of the airplane. Harris, risking destruction of the damaged plane, dives the aircraft from the rarefied atmosphere and killing cold of 28,000 feet to 10,000 feet, where the air is breathable and the temperatures survivable.

In the movie, the airport commissioners want Bakersfeld to shut down Runway 22 (meaning the whole airport) until morning. Bakersfeld receives this instruction, but he is armed with information about Flight Two. The only airports they could reach are closed due to the storm - Toronto, Detroit - although Detroit could clear a runway that is covered in ice. They have to return to Lincoln, and Bakersfeld tells Commissioner Ackerman (Larry Gates) that they have to remain open.

Demerest gets ornery (with his worry about Gwen's injuries not helping), telling controllers in Cleveland that they must land on 29, and that if they have to land on 22, there'll be "a broken airplane and dead people". Bakersfeld must act to clear the stuck jet... one way or another. Patroni insists he'll drive the plane out, while Bakersfeld is ready to have snowplows clear the plane away. Ignoring Bakersfeld's warnings that he was out of time, Patroni pushes the jet engines to the limit and forces the plane out of the way. The tower (Keith Bakersfeld in the novel) tells Flight Two that Runway 29 is open.

The jet makes a PAR approach through the clouds and finally sees the runway, which they must land on with several difficult factors. They are heavy with fuel for the flight to Rome, and they didn't risk dumping fuel because of the possibility of electric sparking due to the damage. The "power-steering" equivalent for their rudder is inoperative. The tail section might break off when they touch down, or even sooner in the buffeting of the blizzard. And even though the runway is Lincoln's longest, they might still run out before being able to brake.

In the movie, Rathbone is now scared, and wails that they are doomed. The Roman Catholic priest across the aisle from him lifts his head from the crash position to pray for forgiveness for what he's about to do, crosses himself, but in finishing the cross, slaps Rathbone across the face to get him to get a hold of himself.

Using precision guidance from the tower/Keith Bakersfeld, Flight Two lands safely and stops right at the end of the runway, then taxis to the gate. (In the novel, at this point, Keith quits his job, leaves the airport, and is about to carry out his planned suicide, when he decides to let the past be the past, accept what's happened, and go home to the wife who he's kept in the dark all these years but who's stood by him.)

Inez breaks through the security barriers and wanders in tears among the passengers, apologizing for her husband. Demerest goes with Gwen to the hospital, and it becomes evident to his wife that he is the one responsible for the stewardess's pregnancy, a detail she heard from the physician attending Gwen on the plane.

Demerest does keep his promise to Mrs. Quonsett: a first class ticket to New York. She laments that it was much more fun to stow away.

The storm is lifting by morning. His divorce with Cindy now agreed by both, Mel suggests Tanya cook breakfast for them at her place, Patroni leaves with the box of cigars Mel promised him, and Harris wants to send a thank-you to Boeing for the aircraft that held up to Guerrero's bomb.

[edit] Trivia

  • Trans Global Airlines has been seen in many other Universal Studios productions, such as the television program Emergency!, when a fictional airline is needed.
  • At the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, where the movie was filmed, a display, along with stills from the field and from the film itself told the story thusly: "Minnesota's legendary winters attracted Hollywood here in 1969, when portions of the film Airport were shot in the terminal and on the field. The weather remained stubbornly clear, however, forcing the director to use plastic 'snow' to create the appropriate effect." Closer examination of the opening "Conga Line" scene in the film clearly show freshly fallen snow on the ground, but also show a clear blue sky and shadows from the arcs of snow being cleared by the ground equipment.
  • In one scene you see Burt Lancaster and Lloyd Nolan (customs agent Standish) using primitive pagers, about the size of a stapler. The devices hang from their belts, and the only feature is a loud buzzing sound from what was then standard consumer technology.
  • Also, in reality, there is a Trans Global freight company named "Aerly Bird Trans Global" situated in Dublin.[3] Their logo is yellow, white and red, unlike the gold and red seen in Airport.

[edit] Sequels

The success of Airport spawned three sequels, of which the first two were box office hits.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ See The Numbers site [1]
  2. ^ See aviation safety[2]
  3. ^ See home page[3]Aerly Bird Trans Global

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/i/r/Airport_%28film%29.html"