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Airport 1975 (1974)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 8/08

Airpo75
8/08: Made and released in 1974, I wonder why it's called Airport 1975.

In many ways, the film is a disaster, and I'm not even talking about the airline disaster per se. Although the first half hour is hilarious and camp, it quickly goes downhill afterwards. The characters are loathsome, and the plot is stupid. Momentum dies after a small jet collides with the Boeing 747, and the ending is as predictable as ever.

Charlton Heston, Karen Black, George Kennedy, Gloria Swanson, Linda Blair...why do I feel I'm reading off a list of C-list celebrities...Sid Caesar, Myrna Loy, the insatiably horny Erik Estrada, and Jerry Stiller all star in this crapfest. Oh, my goodness...Linda Blair. Her performance is so painfully bad and cheesy that it's infamous enough. Whenever I see Karen Black's pupils, the probability of her eyeballs switching places is exponentially multiplied.

When the Boeing 747 is flying during the rescue mission, I strangely don't see a hole inside the cockpit, and obviously from there, the scene seems to take place in front of a traveling matte. The idea of a stewardess being the only one who's asked to fly the plane is ludicrous to believe. Why not ask the passengers if they know how to or maybe have some flying experience? It's probable a few may have a private pilot's license or had flown while in the armed services.

When one of the passengers said he saw fuel leaking from the wing, he ended up being treated like a Jew by the Gestapo. From that point onward, I stopped caring and wanted the plane to crash over the Rocky Mountains. Oh, my...the lines. They're unbelievable such as:

"But it's so exiting. The people are so interesting."

"Or worse!" in response to "Oh, you mean an actress?"

"One nine zero."

"I can do wonders in thirty minutes."

"I won't take poisoned food."

The radio talk between Charlton Heston and Karen Black sounds like an unintended foreplay. By the time the plane lands, the passengers are frantically rushed out as if the plane is going to explode any time soon, yet Murdock and Nancy walk leisurely down the steps. I take it as the passengers are nothing but a mere inconvenience.

All in all, if not for the first thirty minutes, Airport 1975 would've been among worst pictures made.