The Film
It's hard to image a disaster film getting released with a G rating. Well, this is 1970, people -- or it was. And this is no ordinary disaster film; it's Airport.
Airport is the film that paved the way for disaster films. That said, it asks for a lot in return. Based on the Arthur Hailey novel, Airport is more of a serial drama, with an insane amount of characters that have a lot of baggage -- and not the kind you can check at the carousel.
At 137 minutes, this film is long, especially since it takes over an hour for the full-on disaster to start. Sure, there's a blizzard, an affair gone awry, an old lady stowaway, environmental protesters, and day-to-day airport operations. Oh, there's also a guy that wants to blow up one of the planes. That seems like small potatoes compared to everything else that's going on, though.
Airport doesn't hold your attention like The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, or some of the other '70s disaster flicks. That said, it's a fun piece of film history, which snagged an Oscar for Helen Hayes and has a stunning cast, including Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset, and Maureen Stapleton. It also spawned three sequels, which kept co-star George Kennedy busy for the entire decade.
The Picture
Airport starts off with a little noise, but this disaster film isn't a disaster at all. Once the credits pass, the image is pretty impressive overall. The snow flakes, in particular, look pretty nice. That's a good thing, too, because there are a ton of them. Occasionally, that noise creeps back in, but it's barely noticeable and it certainly doesn't detract from this nice presentation. For its age, Airport looks darn good. Clothing, couches and faces show off a good amount of details and there are solid, lifelike colors throughout.
The Sound
The sounds of Airport are equally as nice. The DTS-HD Master Audio track sticks close to the front for the most part. Despite the title, dialogue is the main focus here, but it's very clear. For a "disaster" film, however, the mix doesn't offer a ton of surround action, except for the film's score and the plane's takeoff.
The Extras
Airport offers one of the weaker selections of extras we've seen from Universal's 100th anniversary collection. The studio has included two anniversary shorts on "The 1970's" and "The Lot." If you have one of the other releases from this era (such as The Sting), you've seen these shorts. Otherwise, it's just the film's original theatrical trailer.
Final Thoughts
If you like a bit of action in your action flick, Airport won't deliver that shot of adrenaline you need. However, it's an all-star extravaganza and a piece of cinematic history. Of course, you wouldn't know that by the lack of extras on this release. That said, it does have a nice enough transfer that would make Airport worth picking up.
Product Details
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