Airport '79 - The Concord)

Starring:Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland, James Stewart, George Kennedy, Darren McGavin, Christopher Lee, Robert Foxworth, Robert Hooks, Monte Markham, Kathleen Quinlan, Gil Gerard, James Booth, Monica Lewis, Maidie Norman, Pamela Bellwood, Arlene Golonka, Tom Sullivan
Director: Jerry Jameson, Jack Smight, George Seaton
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Description

The Academy Award-nominated Airport and the sensational sequels that followed are now together in one high flying collection, the Airport Terminal Pack. Prepare to take off for non-stop thrills and edge-of-your-seat excitement as you fly to extremes with Hollywood's royal jet set, including: Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Jacqueline Bisset, Dean Martin, George Kennedy and many more.

Airport
The original airplane disaster movie nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Airport 1975
A mid-air collision leaves a 747 without a pilot and little hope for survival.

Airport `77
A 747 is trapped underwater in the Bermuda Triangle. It's a race against time and the elements to save the passengers and crew!

The Concorde: Airport `79
At twice the speed of sound, the Concorde must evade a vicious attack by a traitorous arms smuggler!

Customer Reviews:

airport terminal pack........2007-06-12

cannot review, because when i went to watch either disc it would not play. tried three differnt dvd players. all said the same thing. cannot read disc.

The airport terminal pack.......2007-05-28

A great collection of airline disasters. Not enough death though.
George Kennedy saves the films!

Hard to total a rating score on such a diversified pack........2007-05-14

This isn't like reviewing "The Omen" or "Die Hard" series that are now packaged as one volume as they are, for the most part, all decent flicks. The "Airport" films are widely, and I mean Grand Canyon widely, ranging in quality. Here are my reviews of each film in the package:

Airport (*****) - It probably didn't deserve the 10 Academy Award Nominations that it earned, including Best Picture, but it is an outstanding adaptation of Arthur Hailey's soap-opera trimmed novel on the airport business. His books were excellent in bringing to life various industries which were appropriately titled to reveal the industry being examined, such as "Hotel" (guess the business there), "Wheels" (on the automotive world), "The Moneychangers" (a personal favorite of mine on the banking industry), and "Overload" (on the public electric business) to name just a few of his many many works.

"Airport" successfully brings to life Hailey's classic novel and it, in spite of the soap-opera trappings and stereotypes, is rousing and memorable entertainment. The cast is brilliant with Burt Lancaster dead-on as the beleagured airport manager, Dean Martin perfectly cast as the arrogant and committment-phobic pilot, George Kennedy as Joe "Mr. Fix It" Petroni that he would play in all four "Airport" films, and Helen Hayes in the elderly stowaway role that won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress that year. All other supporting cast members are just as terrific.

This film is Intelligently written, skillfully directed, and brilliantly acted which make this a must-see and own classic. It is worth the price of the whole package just to have this one film.

Airport 1975 (***) - With the success of the original and the onslaught of disaster flicks in the 70's a sequel of sorts to the first Airport film was destined to happen. All and all, this one isn't as bad as it could have been. That cast is made up of mostly has-beens throwing ad-libs around and stereotyping America to the point that your teeth will ache, but there are some notable things about this film in spite of its obvious flaws. First, I love Charlton Heston and he became something of a stable item in disaster flicks in this era. His sturdy leadership is much needed in these kinds of films. He was great in "Earthquake" which was also in this era and where he again acted along side George Kennedy. I'm also a big big fan of Karen Black, a horror actress icon who is still around ("House of 1,000 Corpses") and still radiant looking, who plays the stewardess who ends up flying the 747 after it is hit by a single engine plane flown by Dana Andrews who suffers a heart attack while flying and goes off course.

The effects of the film are good, but nothing great and rather dated; however, I do love the scenes where they try the mid-air transfer of pilots and where the planes collide which leads to a wonderful line by George Kennedy, again playing Joe Patroni. When he's consulted/asked how bad the damage could be after such a hit by a single engine aircraft he responds in a sarcastic tone with, "Oh, it's not too bad. There's just a big hole where the pilots usually sit."

Overall, this film is fun entertainment, but nothing serious and certainly not up to the level of other great disaster flicks of this era such as "The Poseidon Adventure", which really started it all in 1972, "Earthquake", in wonderful sensesurround sound, and "The Towering Inferno" which was probably the best one of its genre. FYI: Earthquake and The Towering Inferno were once re-released and double-billed as "Shake and Bake" -LOL.

Airport 1977 (****) - This entry into the Airport series really soars. It got a lot of bad press, but the special effects are terrific and still hold up well enough even by today's standards. In addition, the script is actually intelligent and even clever at times. The actors are all familiar faces and do a very good job in this one. Jack Lemmon, who certainly over acts here, is the arrogant pilot who could use a lesson in anger managment, and the head stewardess isn't played by an actress as engaging as Karen Black, but Brenda Vaccaro is beautiful and her raspy-sexy voice keeps your attention. Christopher Lee (LOTR) is also perfect in this film with his confident and gentleman-like manners opposite his dispicable, vicious wife, played with great venom by Lee Grant. This is a really fun film in spite of the stereotypes and poor dialogue at times.

Airport 1979 (*) - This is the film that killed the franchise with it's terrible acting, awful and implausible script, horrific "special" effects, which is an oxymoron in this film, and unintentional humor which gave me reason to give it one star instead of zero stars. This film has fewer familiar faces than we are used to in such films, but that may be a good sign that most were intelligent enough to steer clear of this stinker. George Kennedy returns for his final playing of Joe Patroni who is to fly the maiden American flight of France's Concorde. Robert Wagner (The Towering Inferno) plays the heavy as the villain trying to bring down the plane after he finds out that his news reporter girlfriend, Susan Blakely (also of TI and a "Sport Illustrated Swimsuit" model), who is on the flight has the goods on him for illegal arms sales. Sounds like a perfectly good reason to kill a hundred people --NOT!

The whole film is just laughable and I do mean side-splittingly hysterical to the point where after its premiere audiences were left dying with laughter in their seats the film was actually re-marketed as a comedy-drama. Is it no surprise that the following year we got the sensationally funny "Airplane" which ripped apart the whole disaster film genre and not just the "Airport" films. "Airport '79" is one of those it's so bad, it's "kinda" good. If you don't believe me, just rent this stinker and enjoy a good laugh as you watch the Concorde do barrel rolls to avoid missles and have cutaways with the passengers flipping out in the interior. It is truly priceless.

I Love Airplane Diaster/Drama/Suspense flicks!.......2007-05-13

Call me (and millions of other moviegoers, pseudo-critics and connaisseurs) just declasse... but as Don Henley sang: "...It's Interesting when People Die..." (from the song "Dirty Laundry") ...so we are (I mean I am) transfixed by the adrenaline-pumping-plot-premise of this film genre including this series, also "Die Hard II: Die Harder", and more.... and to have *ALL* of the Airport-series films under one cover! What *WILL* they think of next?!!!

pie in the sky.......2007-03-14

What a treat! An intrigueing disaster movie from the 70's! I highly recommend the Airport Terminal Pack, as it is filled with memorable characters creatively crafted by the film's writers, intertwined with excellent plots that will keep you engrossed for hours. Excellently written and acted - I give it 5 stars!

DVD:

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