The original "Airport" (1970)

It didn't have Gloria Swanson.

This movie had so many plots you needed a chart to keep up. Plane stuck in snow, desperate husband committing insurance fraud, airport directors marriage breaking down, airport directors budding romance with secretary, elderly woman stowaway, married pilot having affair with stewardess, stewardess winds up pregnant, pilot let’s wife know by totally ignoring her while escorting stewardess on gurney. Plus some others I’m forgetting about.

It is odd how that film started the trend for the later films. "Earthquake' and "Poseidon Adventure" and "Towering Inferno" were bigger successes, but "Airport" really set the pattern.

A friend of mine LOVES this movie and owns it on like three streaming services. Tried to watch it with them at Christmas and it was SO boring.

Firstly, there’s a George Kennedy sex scene that NO ONE asked for.

Then, does anyone really believe Dean Martin - DEAN MARTIN! - could reliably fly a plane??

The best scene is Maureen Stapleton at the end, of course.

2nd best, when Jacqueline Bisset removes Helen Hayes from her seat and once the clue her in, Hayes says Bisset didn’t have to handle her that aggressively.

The rest is a real slog. Again, in bed with George Kennedy! That just be the Apex Mountain for average middle-aged white guys! Get those plows out on the runway!!

*must be

It's corny not campy.

Were they bigger successes though, R3? I mean in terms of box office and critical reception? I think the film's you listed are better remembered now primarily because of their 'so bad it's good' and exploitive elements, but I think that mediocre as it may be, the original Aiport was by traditonal standards a more successful film.

One thing that's interesting about it was to see how tiny the Minneapolis/St Paul Airport (where they filmed it) once used to be. I would bet the current airport is at least ten times larger.

I like Airport. It's the only one of the series I'll catch when broadcast. Nobody could do passive aggressive as well as Helen Hayes.

If they’d filmed this at Boston International it could’ve been a disaster movie about trying to find something to eat.

What they did to the formerly chic Jean Seberg's hair was the real disaster.

Two words: Miss Maureen Stapleton

Albert’s mother, R12?

I wanted George Kennedy to do nasty things to MY runway.

One of my favorite scenes from Airport

R13. Yes! And are we sure she didn’t want to f*ck Ann-Margaret?

Maybe because I first saw it on tv when I was kid, but I love it. A few summers ago I watched it and all of the sequels (the last one is was a tough go) and still enjoyed them.

I didn’t think we crawled into bed with George Kennedy until Airport ‘79: The Concorde, which is really the nadir of the series.

Airport ‘77, where they crash into the Bermuda Triangle, is my favorite. DL legend Olivia de Havilland gets soaked!

[quote]Plane stuck in snow, desperate husband committing insurance fraud, airport directors marriage breaking down, airport directors budding romance with secretary, elderly woman stowaway, married pilot having affair with stewardess, stewardess winds up pregnant, pilot let’s wife know by totally ignoring her while escorting stewardess on gurney.

Everything but the hound dogs snappin' at its rear end.

[Quote] I didn’t think we crawled into bed with George Kennedy until Airport ‘79: The Concorde, which is really the nadir of the series.

but what a cast! Alain Delon, Martha Raye, Cicely Tyson, Charo, Jimmy 'JJ' Walker, Robert Wagner, Bib Anderson, John Davidson, Sylvia 'Emmanuelle' Kristel, Mercedes McCambridge, Sybil Danning . . .

Airport '79 became too self-aware, so the campiness became intentional rather than not.

SYLVIA KRISTEL: (hungrily) "You pilots are such... MEN!"

ARTHUR KENNEDY: "Hey, they don't call it a 'cockpit' for nothing!"

That's so much less funny to me than the unintentional camp of an earlier entry like "Airport 1975" ("The people are so INTERESTING!").

My mommy took me to see it when I was ten and even then I knew Maureen Stapleton was the best thing in it.

R22 agreed. Stapleton (Karen Black in FEP also) deserved to win the Oscar. Hayes ended up winning for arguably the worst performance ever to win one. Anyone in that category besides Hayes.

There’s no bed scene with George in Airport.

Jacqueline Bisset was just gorgeous in this. Love the whole look of this pic--costumes, color saturation, everything. But it makes me sad to think of what happened with Jean Seberg.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Van Heflin's terrific performance yet. Viewers felt a mixture of pity over his character's selflessness to end his life so his financially struggling wife could collect the life insurance payout and revulsion that he was a psychopath willing to kill a bunch of innocent strangers as part of this plan.

Yes, we would have to wait nearly a decade for George Kennedy’s sex scene.

Just a reminder...

R23: "Stapleton... deserved to win the Oscar"

Yes, but she later won for REDS (thank God), and I doubt she would have rather won for AIRPORT.

I'm just relieved she didn't win for her vulgar performance in "Interiors."

My parents saw this movie in 1970 the night before they flew to Hong Kong on a Pan Am 747- which had just begun service. After watching that disaster flick it did make them nervous to be on a plane flight the next day. Most people think that flying in those days in economy was far more comfortable but not in their case. This brand new 747 had over 400 passenger capacity and the seating was very cramped in economy my parents told me.

R23 I liked Hayes in Airport but always felt it was a lifetime achievement award. The competition was formidable and Lee Grant as Beau Bridges' mom in The Landlord and Sally Kellerman in MASH were also worthy.

I always found Maureen Stapleton wandering around among the passengers at the film's end saying I'm sorry! I'm sorry! funny esp since no one has any idea who the fuck she is

I usually love all-star, multi-plot movies, but this one is beyond bland and tedious.

[quote]I always found Maureen Stapleton wandering around among the passengers at the film's end saying I'm sorry! I'm sorry! funny

Yeah...Mo was really going for laughs there.

There is some good dialogue in this. Dean Martin's plea saying you'll bring shame to your family is very prescient. That whole bomb scene is very well done and acted.

It’s actually quite a decent pic, but suffers from star-studded-itis.

You can’t really enjoy Airplane, a very funny picture, without seeing the movie it lampoons.

See r28, r37. The book was huge. Stars were expected to be cast.

I agree, r38, but serves as a boat anchor on the pic all the same.

R32 true. Plus the film was up for 10 Oscars. It lost every one it was up for except for Hayes. Voters probably thought it was easier to throw it a bone here and vote for her. Hayes really doesn’t act this role, she just plays it as this cute old lady. No one can really hate Helen Hayes, which helped her vote tally.

[quote]No one can really hate Helen Hayes

People who worked with her could.

*

I always hate how the guy hands the case back to Van Heflin. It's so false.

[Quote] Yeah...Mo was really going for laughs there.

well, she got them from me

if people are laughing then I guess it's a comedy-Tennessee Williams

[Quote] You can’t really enjoy Airplane, a very funny picture, without seeing the movie it lampoons.

R37 You mean Zero Hour of course

Blame the book, r43. If I recall correctly, it was rather forced there as well.

Why were so many old timey actors named “Van?”

Airport 1975 is campy and badly acted at times BUT man does it rope you in

R48 I saw Airport 75 in a theater and it was received with raucous laughter

I watched it on TV in 73 when I was 10. My grandma had the book at her house so I read it shortly after - suffice to say it’s an easy read. I did like the way the book described the bombers death - both clinical and snarky.

[quote]Why were so many old timey actors named “Van?”

Were there that many? I can think of only two: Van Johnson and Van Heflin. Oh, okay, three. Van Williams, who played the Green Hornet on TV.

There was Bobby Van, but it was his last name.

Trish VAN Devere, the only Colombo murderer who refused to roll over for Colombo when caught.

[quote]Trish VAN Devere

And you ignore Dick Van Dyke, Jean-Claude Van Damme, James Van Der Beek. Dick Van Patten and Lee Van Cleef

Did DL Icon Barbara Hale know Raymond Burr was funny 😆 different?

Nancy *Pryor*, r48.

Joan Van Ark!

Lucy Van Pelt

I liked Airport at the time. It was considered overdone and criticized back then for all the split screen nonsense and such but it was “Grand Hotel Takes To The Air”. It certainly supplied a template for scores of disaster movies.

I don’t think it was that original. Though I guess it started an all star disaster film cycle. Maybe it’s already been mentioned but The High And The Mighty from the mid-1950s was a similar all-star airliner disaster film and hugely popular.

I went to this film when I was 12, with my dad. Had no trouble keeping all the plots separate in my head and even recognized a few of the stars (Dean, Barbara Hale from Perry Mason, Burt Lancaster). On the way home Dad said he didn’t see what all the fuss was about, he thought it was predictable and corny. He was shocked when he found out Guerrero was played by Van Heflin, he didn’t recognized him. (Van had gained weight and was older-looking. He died not long afterwards).

I don’t think the Oscar was a “lifetime achievement” award for Helen Hayes. First of all, she hadn’t been in a film since 1952 (My Son John) and before that, she hadn’t made a film since the mid-1930s. Why would Hollywood want to give a lifetime achievement award to a stage actress? Quite honestly all the kids I knew at the time loved her in the movie and she was quite popular at that moment because of the film.

[quote]Maybe it’s already been mentioned

r59, See r42

[quote]Dad said he didn’t see what all the fuss was about

see r28... the book was a huge bestseller.

Helen's win wasn't a lifetime acheivment win, but a sentimental one. She'd already won a best actress Oscar.

Bib Anderson = the new Lens Dunham, r20?

[Quote] I liked Airport at the time. It was considered overdone and criticized back then for all the split screen nonsense and such but it was “Grand Hotel Takes To The Air”. It certainly supplied a template for scores of disaster movies.

and it's more watchable than James Cameron's Titanic

R60 When I said my dad didn’t see what all the fuss was about, I mean it was his personal opinion that the fuss was unwarranted. I didn’t mean he didn’t understand the source of all the fuss or that the book had been a best seller. I thought that was obvious but I guess not.

[quote] I don’t think the Oscar was a “lifetime achievement” award for Helen Hayes. First of all, she hadn’t been in a film since 1952 (My Son John) and before that, she hadn’t made a film since the mid-1930s. Why would Hollywood want to give a lifetime achievement award to a stage actress?

The Hollywood Establishment always felt bad she didn't have more of a movie career, because they recognized she genuinely had talent. her performance in THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET (for which she won her first Oscar) is genuinely good even by today's standards. But Hayes wanted to stay closer to new York and her family, and so left Hollywood to live in Nyack and stay on Broadway. Whenher children were older (and her daughter had by that time died at a young age of cancer), she was willing to try Hollywood again, and there was a great outpouring of love for her. By that time she had not done the sweet old lovable pixie turn to death, so it was new to audiences. And she was the rare kind of stage star who was at the time a household name, like Mary Martin, so seeing her do a fim for the first time in decades was a thrill for many people.

Hayes developed an allergy or reaction to dust and other things in the air in theaters. Her doctor recommended not spending so much time in the dusty environment, but she still wanted to act, so she decided to try films and TV again (though she occasionally returned to the theatre).

Her original film career was not particularly successful. Irving Thalberg tried to get a lot of stage stars working at MGM as he believed it was prestigious and appropriate for talking films. Despite winning the Oscar in the early 30s, Helen wasn’t as popular in movies as she’d been on the stage. Her last few films were not big box office she she went back to Broadway not long after the death of Thalberg.

I think the split screens in Airport worked very well. It was the following poor attempts mainly on television that killed the technique.

If we are specifying disaster movies as those including a group of potential victims each with their own little subplots there is also 'The Crowded Sky" in 1960. I suppose you might stretch a point and include On the Beach.

There were many disaster movies in the 1930s, that ended with a calamity. In Old Chicago (Chicago Fire), San Francisco, and The Sisters (SF Earthquake), History Is Made At Night (sinking ocean liner), The Rains Came (earthquake and flood in India), The Hurricane (Hurricane on a South Seas Island). The Last Days Of Pompeii, etc. There was another cycle in the late 40s/early 50s.

I wish there would be more modestally scaled disaster films today.

The last cycle was so over the top--they all basically had to show the entire planet being destroyed. But it's exciting enough when it's just a small area afflicted by disaster.

[quote] There were many disaster movies i

Yes but those stories were about the movie's main stars. Not an assortment of characters caught up in the same incident as in Airport or The High and the Mighty.

R69 I’m aware of that. Although The Hurricane was something of an assortment of characters.

As was Five Came Back (1939).

[quote]Were there that many? I can think of only two: Van Johnson and Van Heflin. Oh, okay, three. Van Williams, who played the Green Hornet on TV.

Van Cliburn, Van Morrison, Van McCoy

Back to Airport. I watched this the other week, and I was just bored. Too many subplots and plenty of talking. It lacked the excitement of its sequels. No Chuck Heston trying to skydrop onto the plane. No drunk Lee Grant washing away to her doom.

R72 The question was, “Why were so many old-timey actors named Van?” So...that does NOT include Van Cliburn or Van Morrison. The original answer was correct. There were basically two, Van Heflin and Van Johnson.

[Quote] I don’t think the Oscar was a “lifetime achievement” award for Helen Hayes. First of all, she hadn’t been in a film since 1952 (My Son John) and before that, she hadn’t made a film since the mid-1930s. Why would Hollywood want to give a lifetime achievement award to a stage actress?

A tribute to an actress with a long, honorable career. She was the First Lady of the Theater, and the single largest voting branch of the Academy is made up of actors. And most of the Academy members are or at least were seniors like Miss Hayes.

[quote]Too many subplots and plenty of talking

Again, that's because it was a movie based on a bestselling book. Most of the audience had read it and that's what they were expecting. The disaster movie that's from scratch can tailor the plot to put more focus on the disaster. Not that they do. You still have to put a certain amount of exposition before hell breaks loose so that you care about the characters. Inferno worked the best, pacing-wise, because the fire starts small but *early* so suspense kicks in right away.

[Quote] Too many subplots and plenty of talking

It follows the pattern of Arthur Hailey's 1965 novel HOTEL which was turned into a popular film and TV series which followed the pattern of Grand Hotel. 1963s The VIPs was a precursor to Airport.

[quote]Did DL Icon Barbara Hale know Raymond Burr was funny 😆 different?

My DOG knew.

[quote]Did DL Icon Barbara Hale know Raymond Burr was funny

[quote]Did DL Icon Barbara Hale know Raymond Burr was funny

They were longtime friends. Of course she knew.

Burr reminds me of Jackie Gleason in the clip @ E78

[quote][R72] The question was, “Why were so many old-timey actors named Van?” So...that does NOT include Van Cliburn or Van Morrison. The original answer was correct. There were basically two, Van Heflin and Van Johnson.

Why does Van Williams not count?

"Van" is sometimes used as a nickname for men named "Ivan" (like Van Morrison) or "Evan" (like Van Heflin), or who have a middle name or first name that's a Dutch surname with "van" as a prefix (like Van Johnson, whose middle name was "Van Dell").

I remember Van Sterling from "Love of Life." But she was a woman.

What about Vivian Van?

Don't forget Loretta Lynn's late-career album, "Van Lear Rose."

R83, you’re the best!

Thank you, R86!

Was Airport the first movie that did split screens?

Gloria Swanson was so glamorous! She was quite beautiful in this movie.

R89 here; the said film was “Airport ‘75.”

Airport 75 is a camp hoot with Gloria Swanson and Karen Black.

"There's no one left to fly the plane" is one of my all-time favorite lines.

[Quote] Was Airport the first movie that did split screens?

earlier films that used the device are Pillow Talk (1959) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

"Suspense" (1913) split the screen in three.

[Quote] I don’t think the Oscar was a “lifetime achievement” award for Helen Hayes. First of all, she hadn’t been in a film since 1952 (My Son John) and before that, she hadn’t made a film since the mid-1930s. Why would Hollywood want to give a lifetime achievement award to a stage actress? Quite honestly all the kids I knew at the time loved her in the movie and she was quite popular at that moment because of the film.

R59 so you think her Oscar was merited!? I suspect many Academy members realized it was now or never and they might not have another chance to honor her.

Hayes had been honored with an Oscar in 1932.

Well, what's wrong with honoring her again 40 years later with an undeserved Best Supporting Actress Award

Sentiment was high giving Oscars (some more deserving than others) in the late 60s throughout the 1970s, to old crones in the industry. Kate Hepburn (twice), John Wayne (another undeserved one, considering his competition), John Mills, John Houseman, Ingrid Bergman, George Burns and Melvyn Douglas. A Hayes win, while it was a lousy choice, wasn’t totally inexplicable.

Helen Hayes was in Anastasia (1956). She was great.

She was one of our greatest actors.

If Sarah Siddons Award winner Helen Hayes is good enough for Adison DeWitt she is good enough for me

TAKE THE BUS DELLA!

She was the "First Lady of the American Theater", r98.

I like JULIE from 1956 when Doris Day as the stewardess brought in a propeller airliner......and then in 1975 when stewardess Karen Black brought in a 747.....but my favorite was in 1997 in Turbulence when stewardess Lauren Holly brought in a jumbo jet while she was wearing a half slip and her bra......

Helen Hayes was awful in Airport.

[quote] but "Airport" really set the pattern

Fuck you!

[quote]She was the "First Lady of the American Theater"

Pish!

R104, Double pish!!

Cram it, Kit.

In the early-to-mid 2000s, there was a rash of disaster mini-series and movies made for TV.

2007's 'Category 7: The End Of The World' starring DL Fave, Shannen Doherty.

[quote]In the early-to-mid 2000s

2500?

R103, Liz and Margaret, your plane never even got off the ground. You were both in the Airport Lounge slinging back cocktails.

"Set the pattern" for multi-plot ensemble-cast movies, of course, as R3 indicates—not just those set *on* a plane.

[quote] Sentiment was high giving Oscars (some more deserving than others) in the late 60s throughout the 1970s, to old crones in the industry. Kate Hepburn (twice), John Wayne (another undeserved one, considering his competition), John Mills, John Houseman, Ingrid Bergman, George Burns and Melvyn Douglas. A Hayes win, while it was a lousy choice, wasn’t totally inexplicable.

There was real awareness at the time (starting in the late 60s) that the old Golden Age of Hollywood had finally come to its end, even though the Academy had multiple members who were part of the old glory days and pined for them. Those awards were part of that anxiety about the past being forgotten.

[quote]"Set the pattern" for multi-plot ensemble-cast movies

Intolerance, anybody?

[Quote] I usually love all-star, multi-plot movies, but this one is beyond bland and tedious.

Have you seen The Towering Inferno? It's incredibly lifeless and 2hrs and 45mins long!

You're entitled to your (minority) opinion, r114.

[Quote] Loved A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK.

talk about a minority opinion R115

Who did the casting on this film! I assume the names were from the book.

Maureen Stapleton . . .Inez Guerrero

Van Heflin . . .D.O. Guerrero

George Kennedy . . .Joe Patroni

[quote]I assume the names were from the book.

They were.

I thought it was bland when I first saw it (I was a kid) but now it's become a regular appointment for me every year or so. I love the Newman score and the 70mm cinematography, and it's silly/glamorous in a very entertaining way like just about every other Ross Hunter production.

R188 “It’s not a fancy salon, it’s nothing but a Quonset Hut.”

All-Star movies with star-crossed travelers were nothing new. We did it in 1932.

[quote] Have you seen The Towering Inferno? It's incredibly lifeless and 2hrs and 45mins long!

A movie that has OJ as a fireman saving a kittycat, Susan Flannery jumping out of a skyscraper window in flames, Jennifer Jones falling out of a scenic elevator to bump against a cornice before falling another several hundred feet, and Faye Dunaway looking "goddessy-beautiful through it all, wandering through the chaos in puce see-through chiffon" (Pauline Kael) can be accused of many things; but "incredibly lifeless" is not one of them.

[quote]She was the "First Lady of the American Theater"

Beeg deel.

A gift from Aunt Helen...

"[The Towering Inferno] bores us and insults our intelligence for close to three hours..." - Pauline Kael

Speak for yourself, Pauline.

It always amazes me Van Heflin was a star at all. Even at his best looking when he was younger, he was still a very ugly man.

[quote]he was still a very ugly man.

His wife was a fashion model.

You mean like Mrs. Richard Carlson?

Pauline Kael could be a real cunt.

The Towering Inferno is my personal favorite of the 70s disaster movies. It's a lot of fun.

I love the scene with Faye Dunaway on the roof with the "helicopter" (wind machines) blowing her hair and chiffon dress in the most attractive and flattering way possible. She made escaping from a burning skyscraper look so glamorous.

[Quote] Pauline Kael could be a real cunt.

But she could often be spot on. And certainly was with The Towering Inferno

"The plot and characters are retreads from the producer Erwin Allen's earlier Poseidon Aventure. What was that left out this time was the hokey fun. "

" When a picture has any kind of entertainment in it viewers don't care much about credibility but when it isn't entertaining we do and when a turkey bores us and insults our intelligence for close to three hours it shouldn't preen itself on its own morality"

"It has the gall to try to get us excited by repeated shots of fire engines arriving at the foot of the skyscraper their sirens piercing our eardrums"

It was a fun and entertaining movie r131. Kael was just a cunt about it.

It was a bore and the first 45minutes are gratuitous. Newman and Dunaway have no chemistry and all of the characters are cardboard. The extras are mere wallpaper and the one setting becomes tedious as does the repeated low angle shots of bodies falling from the skyscraper and the scenes of people being loaded into the elevator. It's deadly dull and serious and contains not a shred of humor intentionally or otherwise. There no tension or suspense and I couldn't have cared less about who lives or dies

It's fun and campy r133.

What's campy about it? R134

FFS r135 turn in your gay card

R136 that is not an explanation. I repeat what's campy about it?

The acting, the dialogue, bitches falling out of windows, Faye in the billowing chiffon dress and perfectly coiffed amidst all the disaster. Richard Chamberlain etc. Are you even gay? A gay man would instinctively pick up on the camp of it all.

a woman in a chiffon is campy!

R138 if you want to know what camp is try 1971s Doctors' Wives It's serious and seriously funny

[quote]a woman in a chiffon is campy!

It's the billowing chiffon and perfectly coiffed hair amidst the inferno that is camp. You need to go back to Gay School.

You're a bore🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ and an idiot if you find that hilarious or camp R141 You need to widen your purview and your sphincter

[Quote] It always amazes me Van Heflin was a star at all. Even at his best looking when he was younger, he was still a very ugly man.

I always assumed that he was a character actor not a romantic leading man.

r142 camp is camp and you're just a troll

What's campy about it? Glad you asked!:

*Faye Dunaway's fabulous dress;

*Jennifer Jones's hilariously gruesome death (the little doll they used as her stand-in was not supposed to bounce off the cornice of the skyscraper as it fell, but that's what happened when they filmed it and they didn't want to re-do the shot because it was expensive, so it looked like the film was especially out to "get" her character even though audiences pretty much agreed her character was the most likable);

*the entire idea (as Kael pointed out) that the world's tallest building (125 stories!) would have been somehow built in downtown San Francisco of all places;

*OJ gratuitously saving a stranded pussycat (to make him appear more heroic);

*many of the elderly stars tied to the pillars as they're inundated with enormous amounts of water, because of the insane exigencies of the plot;

*and the entire idea that Steve McQueen and Paul Newman's egos were so huge they demanded exactly the same number of lines in the screenplay and finished film, so neither could claim to be the film's bigger star.

And that's just for starters.

[Quote] A movie that has OJ as a fireman saving a kittycat, Susan Flannery jumping out of a skyscraper window in flames, Jennifer Jones falling out of a scenic elevator to bump against a cornice before falling another several hundred feet, and Faye Dunaway looking "goddessy-beautiful through it all, wandering through the chaos in puce see-through chiffon"

About as entertaining as The Brady Bunch

The whole movie was basically a dick measuring contest between McQueen and Newman.

[Quote] *the entire idea (as Kael pointed out) that the world's tallest building (125 stories!) would have been somehow built in downtown San Francisco of all places;

Unlikely, farfetched, unbelievable and contrived, yes. Hilarious, no!

Thanks r140, I’m watching it now.

R4

[quote] Firstly, there’s a George Kennedy sex scene that NO ONE asked for.

and

[quote] Again, in bed with George Kennedy!

No, and no.

Unless showing Kennedy's character Joe Patroni necking with his wife on their sofa qualifies (with you) as a "sex scene" in "Airport" (1970) and no bed in sight.

The movie is based on Arthur Hailey's best seller and the Patroni character is one of the most interesting characters in the book.

The migration of Patroni, who was Airport Maintenance Chief for TWA in the book, from that character in the first Airport movie (1970) to various other supposed airline jobs in other Airport movies until the truly ridiculous role of "pilot".

Your description, R4, does not match the movie Airport (1970). Sounds like you must have got your Airport movies mixed up and watched the last and most ridiculous one.

some posters on this thread can't distinguish between corn, camp and contrivance. There's more camp (and laughs) in the trailer for Madame X than in the interminable 2h45m of The Towering Inferno

Has no one mentioned the poor man's Airport with DL fave Dusan Dey? It feels like a made4tv film thrown together to cash in on the success of Airport.

Van Heflin's sister Fra played Erica Kane's mother, Mona for years on All My Children. Recently Susan Lucci has created quite the stir on social media when talking about a proposed revival of AMC wherein, it will be revealed that Mona did not in fact pass away but is still living and will return to Pine Valley and be portrayed by Susan's good pal Dierdre Hall, while Susan will continue in the role of Erica.

r151 The Towering Inferno is still campy.

Susan not Dusan

Oh my sore cunt! Lick it!

Poor sore cunt

(Quote)The Towering Inferno is still campy.

It never was and you're sill clutching at straws. No one I know ever thought of it as campy nor was that mentioned in any reviews. Now Airport '75 there's camp People were laughing hysterically during theater showings

r158 just give it up. The Towering Inferno definitely had campy moments, as did all the 70s disaster films. Some of which have been outlined here.

Funny story about Hayes in Anastasia. Apparently the producer said, “Get Helen Haye,” a British grand dame who had a memorable role in Vivian Leigh’s “Anna Katerina.” The assistant mid heard it as “Helen Hayes,” and the nasty gnome was signed on.

I tried to watch The Towering Inferno, but I have to agree it is incredibly dull and I so didn't want it to be.

I don't recall The Towering Inferno ever being reference in comedy or parody

R159 you knowledge of film and film history is astounding!

[Quote] Was Airport the first movie that did split screens?

Um, no dear

Lick my cunt!

Just give it up you bitter old thing r163

R164 you sound just like your mother.

[Quote] I love the scene with Faye Dunaway on the roof with the "helicopter" (wind machines) blowing her hair and chiffon dress in the most attractive and flattering way possible. She made escaping from a burning skyscraper look so glamorous.

glamourous and camp R165?

Yep r167.

YEP ?

Is that you Jethro?

[quote]"The plot and characters are retreads from the producer Erwin Allen's earlier Poseidon Aventure.

Sorry, Pauline @ r131, the plot and characters are from two different books, neither written by Irwin (with an i) Allen.

you're being too literal minded R170 they are stock characters typical of the genre

[quote]they are stock characters typical of the genre

Then they're stock characters created by someone other than Irwin Allen.

Also, r171, I don't see many similarities between the characters in the two films.

Really Jethro the pattern of bringing together a diverse group and various subplots into one locale is found in so many films going all the way back to Grand Hotel and many of the disaster film such as The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, Airport . . .used this formula. The plots are predictable, and we all know that none of the big stars will perish.

[quote]and we all know that none of the big stars will perish.

Yeah, right.

(^.^) the exception that proves the rule thank you R175

Chuck was lucky overall he survived Airport '75 and Skyjacked😂🤣😅

Yeah, right again.

Ava, Shelley and JJ were hardly top billed and certainly not BO stars in the 70s and therefore expendable Jethro

[quote]and we all know that none of the big stars will perish.

Hunh?

You're clutching at straws again Jethro as we all know that the vast majority of top billed stars do not perish in these disaster films. There are of course exceptions that merely prove the rule.

PS Jethro you've only provided 2 names Heston and Hackman who would be considered top tier.

Who is Jethro?

Google is your friend R183

I think Hackman fell off the top tier.

I like when that cunt Richard Chamberlain pulls a woman out of the safety chair so he can ride over to the other building.......and the chair falls with him screaming like a little girl all the way down......still wearing the ugliest tuxedo shirt in movie history.

[Quote]I think Hackman fell off the top tier.

well considering the ship capsized Jethro I'm not sure how accurate that is

(Quote) Poor sore cunt

are you complaining or bragging R157

[Quote] I tried to watch The Towering Inferno, but I have to agree it is incredibly dull and I so didn't want it to be.

I tried to watch it several times on HBO and found it so dull. It could easily be 45 minutes shorter.

Airport 77 is the dullest of the bunch

I remember seeing the original Airport on a Florida vacation with my family. At that time, I also remember seeing the original Out of Towners ( with Jack Lemmon & Sandy Dennis).

Faye Dunaway added a little camp to The Voyage of the Damned making an appearance in jackboots and a monocle which certainly trumps puce see through chiffon.

If you can't see the camp factor in Faye Dunaway billowing in chiffon with perfect hair trying to get on a helicopter while escaping a burning skyscraper then you're just not in tune with camp.

I was taken as a boy by my father to see this at Radio City. It was the Easter show and it was shown in 70MM so that the big glossy old Hollywood Ross Hunter production looked so glamorous and classy on that large screen. Who would have known that it would have started a whole slew of disaster movies and become a franchise. Believe it or not I haven't seen the movie since then but I certainly loved it and thought the ending was unbearably tense. I bought it on Blu-ray but have never opened it. And how did Maureen Stapleton not win a supporting Oscar? Oh that's right Helen Hayes won it. If you want to know what the real Helen Hayes was like read Joyce Bullifant's autobio. She's absolutely nothing like the image you have of her from her movies and TV appearances. But I guess that's what it takes to be a legendary star for your entire life.

[Quote] If you can't see the camp factor in Faye Dunaway billowing in chiffon with perfect hair trying to get on a helicopter while escaping a burning skyscraper then you're just not in tune with camp.

I'm not in tune with the sensibilities of an idiot whose description is neither vivid nor persuasive and thinks repeating something makes it fact

OP by original I assume you mean the first of the series as one thing Airport wasn't was original

r195 unclench. If you can't see the camp in that scene you're hopeless.

r194 what was Helen Hayes really like?

(Quote) If you can't see the camp in that scene you're hopeless.

then I'll happily remain hopeless and happily so

Go ahead r199. I don't know why this is such an issue with you. The Towering Inferno has camp moments. All the 70s disaster movies do. BFD.

"The Concorde Airport 79" is the absolute worst.

Stunningly bad.

Airport 79 is unwatchable.

but it's not dull like Airport '77

SOS

(Quote)*Faye Dunaway's fabulous dress;

(Quote) and Faye Dunaway looking "goddessy-beautiful through it all, wandering through the chaos in puce see-through chiffon"

(Quote) Faye in the billowing chiffon dress and perfectly coiffed amidst all the disaster. Richard Chamberlain etc. Are you even gay? A gay man would instinctively pick up on the camp of it all.

(Quote)If you can't see the camp factor in Faye Dunaway billowing in chiffon with perfect hair trying to get on a helicopter while escaping a burning skyscraper then you're just not in tune with camp.

She could be a real witch.

And I had such a crush on her adopted son James MacArthur(supposedly Charles MacArthur's real son he had with a mistress) seeing him in movies like Third Man on the Mountain and Swiss Family Robinson. He comes across as even worse. A drunken abusive husband. I did meet him once at the showing of a Lillian Gish movie at Lincoln Center. Gish was his godmother. He was very pleasant and told me he got to spend a night in Walt Disney's apartment in Disneyland which I believe was above the fire station.

[quote]Has no one mentioned the poor man's Airport with DL fave Dusan Dey?

I'm certainly not going to make any comment about it.

r204 is a bit unhinged

Oh, I forgot R204

(Quote)I love the scene with Faye Dunaway on the roof with the "helicopter" (wind machines) blowing her hair and chiffon dress in the most attractive and flattering way possible. She made escaping from a burning skyscraper look so glamorous

Talking about unhinged Pete Repete you certainly seem obsessed with that dress!

[quote] but "incredibly lifeless" is not one of them.

No, no, he's right. It's lifeless.

[quote]I remember seeing the original Airport on a Florida vacation with my family. At that time, I also remember seeing the original Out of Towners ( with Jack Lemmon & Sandy Dennis).

"Airport" is a lot more entertaining than the original "Out of Towners," which feels more like torrture than a comedy and features Jack Lemmon playing a thoroughly unlikable character from start to finish.

r208 several posters here have pointed out the camp aspect of the film. It's camp, that's all there is to it.

Despite the fact that 2 major studios produced TTI it's so cheesy looking.

^^ torture ^^

Not as camp as’If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.’

[Quote]And I had such a crush on her adopted son James MacArthur(supposedly Charles MacArthur's real son he had with a mistress) seeing him in movies like Third Man on the Mountain and Swiss Family Robinson. He comes across as even worse. A drunken abusive husband. I did meet him once at the showing of a Lillian Gish movie at Lincoln Center. Gish was his godmother. He was very pleasant and told me he got to spend a night in Walt Disney's apartment in Disneyland which I believe was above the fire station.

What is your source? And who comes across as a drunken abusive husband? It's not clear who you are referring to.

There's no real horror in the scenes of people dying because all the audience gets are long shots of white bundles fall from the skyscraper

falling ^^^

[quote]a woman in a chiffon is campy!

Not as campy as a MAN in chiffon.

Now if only that had Richard Chamberlin in the see through chiffon. . .that would have been campy

It's pretty dull, and as mentioned before convoluted. Plus Airport is far from being the first all-star disaster suspense film. Off the top of my head I can think of "The High and the Mighty" and "The Last Voyage". Hell, spectacle disaster flicks go back to silent film era.

and don't forget me R220

.People with OCPD have rigid beliefs and need to have control of themselves, others and situations.

I think a poster with OCPD has worn out the letters C-A-M-P on their keyboard

Time to put down the bottle and go to bed r222

(^.^) Typical of those with OCPD. They need to have control of themselves, others and situations.

Goodnight r224

Someone save this thread before it crashes and burns!

Helen Haye's adopted son handsome actor James MacArthur was married to Joyce Bulifant. He was an alcoholic and womanizer. She writes in her autobio of one night when he comes home drunk and rapes her. She found it terrifying. This is all in her autobio. She pulls no punches. Well everyone is dead.

Saw her for the first time as well at Radio City in The Happiest Millionaire.

well, it wasn't rape rape was it R227

Susan Flannery in Robert Wagner's dress shirt looks better than Faye in her chiffon. And ultimately much hotter.

Flannery had a male stunt double on the film R229

r230

it did R231 and you know what they say about needing to explain a joke

And speaking of unfunny jokes there's Irwin Allen's Beyond the Poseidon Adventure which he also directed. This one makes The Towering Inferno seem like a masterpiece. At least Towering Inferno seemed made by professionals. Beyond has several Oscar winners Michael Caine-Sally Field-Shirley Jones-Karl Malden who obviously took the job without reading the script. Beyond involves a group of adventurers who return to the capsized ship to seek a fortune. Beyond has a 22 Metascore and the insufferable Veronica Hamel is also in this fiasco along with Slim Pickens, Angela Cartwright and Mark Harmon

"Mr. Allen, who directed Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and produced it too, is so obviously ill-equipped to stage action scenes in cramped quarters that his audience winds up wishing as fervently as his characters for a chance to see the light of day." -Janet Maslin NY Times

Sally was better on The Flying Nun

[quote]Helen Haye's adopted son handsome actor James MacArthur was married to Joyce Bulifant.

1. Oh, dear.

2. Married to Joyce Bulifant? Who WASN'T?

Being raped by Danno would be absolutely camp!

Was Walt there when James spent the night?

Did Joyce owe up in said 'tell-all' to her crapping in the handbags of every matron in Beverly Hills in the 1970s?

Liselotte's death is truly spectacular. I guess if you're going to kill an aging movie star in one of your movies, make it big, give it class, leave 'em with a message.

what was the message? Jones was a lot more memorable in her last starring role the ineffable Angel, Angel Down We Go aka Cult of the Damned

2019 Review of Airport

To say Arthur Hailey’s Airport is a little soap-operatic would be a vast understatement — the bomb going off seems more like a brief interruption than a key plot element — and if it wasn’t for the calibre of actors on display, this film would most likely have fallen into obscurity by now. Helen Hayes won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the little old stowaway, and Van Heflin as the despondent bomber — yeah, he’s not really a mad bomber, more of a depressed bomber — seems too completely aware of what kind of film he’s in, and dives into the role with relish and a side of poutine.

Oh for chrissakes, It was an eagerly awaited film version of a major bestseller. That's it. The book is a soap opera, It isn't a film version of a piece of classic literature and it doesn't pretend to be. Sorry Mike Brooks, but you type young and unaware.

(^.^) someone has yet to get over their disappontment..

[quote](^.^) someone has yet to get over their disappontment..

I'm not *disapponted*, r242, I'm bemused.

the tone and word choice sound more angry than bemused. R243

And were you not bemused by some of the captions Mike Brooks placed under the screenshots or did you not even bother to look at the article?

Sorry you type old, irritable and easily triggered.

I'm neither irritable nor easily triggered, r244.

[Quote]Oh for chrissakes, It was an eagerly awaited film version of a major bestseller. That's it. The book is a soap opera, It isn't a film version of a piece of classic literature and it doesn't pretend to be. Sorry Mike Brooks, but you type young and unaware.

Well, you had me fooled R245

Read it aloud in Thelma Ritter's voice, r246.

The NY Times labeled Airport '75 a silly sequel

Should Thelma's voice be used for this previous post of yours as well R247?

[Quote]Again, that's because it was a movie based on a bestselling book. Most of the audience had read it and that's what they were expecting. The disaster movie that's from scratch can tailor the plot to put more focus on the disaster. Not that they do. You still have to put a certain amount of exposition before hell breaks loose so that you care about the characters. Inferno worked the best, pacing-wise, because the fire starts small but *early* so suspense kicks in right away.

[quote]Should Thelma's voice be used for this previous post of yours as well [R247]?

Why, r249? I guess if you want to.

When Lancaster found out its 10 Oscar nominations, he said it’s still a piece of crap.

It's more entertaining than Elmer Gantry

[quote] Sentiment was high giving Oscars (some more deserving than others) in the late 60s throughout the 1970s, to old crones in the industry. Kate Hepburn (twice), John Wayne (another undeserved one, considering his competition), John Mills, John Houseman, Ingrid Bergman, George Burns and Melvyn Douglas. A Hayes win, while it was a lousy choice, wasn’t totally inexplicable.

Some of these people like Hepburn, Wayne, and Bergman were only around 60 when they won. Like the age of Tom Cruise now, but with less face work.

Helen Hayes basically stole Airport. She’s the only character anyone really remembers, what she said, wore, did. The only other ones who were not just going through the motions were Van Heflin and Maureen Stapleton, though Stapleton the more you saw her as years went by you realized she only had one schtick, good as it was. I would have loved to have seen her get an Oscar for Plaza Suite, she was great in that. Helen Hayes hammed it up in Airport but that’s exactly what she was hired to do. They could have cast Mildred Natwick or Mildred Dunnock or somebody like that who would have given a subtle performance, and they would have been forgotten.

I thought Houseman, Bergman, and Burns were pretty entertaining in their winning roles. Mills was a good actor, but, like Hayes, really hammed it up to get that Oscar, while Douglas, another good actor, had an easy role (dying, crusty, old tycoon) that he did well enough, but I thought all the other nominees had much more interesting parts.

ROBERT DUVALL Apocalypse Now

FREDERIC FORREST The Rose

JUSTIN HENRY Kramer vs. Kramer

MICKEY ROONEY The Black Stallion

R255 Melvyn Douglas also won and Oscar for Hud, playing an old country Texas rancher. He usually played a sophisticated urban character (in movies, at least), so it was a surprising departure and he played older. Anyhow in that one I think he deserved it.

By the way, despite the Helen Haye story which is apparently true (the “Get Helen Haye” telegram was reproduced in a book I read) (Helen Haye played The Dowager Empress in the London stage production of Anastasia)...I have also heard that Helen Hayes, being one of America’s foremost Catholics, was hired to give the seal of approval to this Hollywood comeback of Bergman (filmed in Europe).

R253 true, but they all LOOKED like they were 70-80. 60 nowadays is completely different and definitely skews younger. Plus I think they were rewarded for their large bodies of work also, being industry veterans. Interesting, since we are talking about Towering Inferno in this thread, that Fred Astaire failed to win at the Oscars for it. An ancient industry heavyweight if there ever was one. He won the globe, but lost to DeNiro (a superior performance). RD avoided the ceremony, thinking Astaire would win. So Astaires industry standing and age didn’t help in this era compared to others.

R258 They didn’t look 70-80 they looked their ages. It’s stars today who don’t look their ages unless they don’t have a lot of work done, then we say they look like shit.

Anyway I guess they didn’t look 70-80 to me, because that’s why I looked up their ages, to prove they weren’t all that old.

Remember Wayne had already had lung cancer and was living on one lung, so yeah he looked older, plus in the film he was playing a grizzled old character. At the time,True Grit was a huge hit, and everyone went to see it. Midnight Cowboy was actually an even bigger hit. I read that Jon Voight said he had go go around the curtain backstage and saw Fred Astaire coming the other way He thought Fred would be against his being in a X rated film, but Fred was very warm to him and said he loved his performance, something like that. Apparently not everyone was a square. Also Hepburn did tie with Streisand.

what exactly did Astaire do that was even worthy of a nomination aside from being Fred Astaire? It was his only nomination..

You answered your own question, r260.

R260 He didn’t do anything great, it was a dumb nomination. Films like that, they can’t nominate them for much of anything serious, but they can nominate touching supporting performances by stars. I loved Fred Astaire in general but was surprised he was nominated.

By the way, wasn’t there a recent Towering Inferno thread? Are we done with Airport?

Maureen Stapleton should have won a second Oscar for the astonishing made-for-tv film, Keeping Secrets, which also starred Stephanie Powers and America's sweetheart, Melissa 'half-pint' Gilbert. They portrayed three generations of women who come together for a weekend, where the titular Family Secrets are revealed. Stapleton is iconic as the witholding mother to Powers and doting grandmother to Gilbert. The film also stars James Spader as the small town sleaze who hits on both Gilbert and Powers. I realize that it couldn't have been nominated, but I was stunned to discover that it was not even nominate for any Emmys, which I find to be wrong, shockingly wrong!

Astaire won an Emmy for the drama "A Family Upside Down." It's a standard made-for-TV movie about aging, but he has a much better role than in "Towering Inferno" and gives an excellent performance. His co-star is Hayes, who is terrible. DL fave Patty Duke is their daughter. Sadly, Stefanie Powers' part was given to Pat Crowley.

[quote] It never was and you're sill clutching at straws. No one I know ever thought of it as campy nor was that mentioned in any reviews

Of course it was thought of as campy. Reviews like Pauline Kael's make fun of it for being laughably over-the-top, even if she does not use the word "campy." I remember when it was released people mocked it.

As for the opinion of everyone you ever knew: I'm afraid that sounds like a tiny and bizarrely sheltered circle.

The dreary scenes involving Stapleton and Heflin as Inez and D.O. Guerrero are the film's dullest.

The trailer for Airport is hysterical!

Kael thought the film would be a bomb. Then it when on to be a blockbuster. It probably made Hunter very rich(though he had a lot of hits already) for the rest of his life so that Lost Horizon couldn't even affect it. But that was such a real bomb he never made another movie. Don't know if he did any TV. Saw him on stage at an aids benefit in LA. He died not long after.

'Then it went on'

Lancaster hated it but I bet he got a nice percentage of the gross. Martin probably too. The book was a huge bestseller. You saw it everywhere.

I read Universal is getting rid of dvds so I guess we'll never get a dvd of the 70MM version which would have been great in 4k.

[quote] what exactly did Astaire do that was even worthy of a nomination aside from being Fred Astaire?

If for anything, Fred Astaire should have received a Supporting Actor nomination for On the Beach. That role was such an unexpected change of pace for him.

I liked Astaire in ON THE BEACH but I never believed for a moment that he was a racing car driver.....he looked like he could barely park a car.....but his demise was very sad and well played.

[quote] never believed for a moment that he was a racing car driver..

I think you missed the point. He 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 a race driver. He was an elderly professor with nothing to lose taking the final opportunity to live out his fantasy. He won the race only because all the other drivers had crashed.

"Van" is just a once-common name/nickname that fell out of favor decades ago.

Still a timely movie.

[quote]"Van" is just a once-common name/nickname that fell out of favor decades ago.

Excuse me?

[quote]"Van" is just a once-common name/nickname that fell out of favor decades ago.

How about VANNA?

How about Vanous?

Astaire deserved an Oscar for pretending to be attracted to Ann Miller in Easter Parade!

She was tall enough to be his mother, r280.

r281, she's very weird!

R273

[quote] I never believed for a moment that he was a racing car driver.....he looked like he could barely park a car..

I seem to remember that someone remarked ((Ava, perhaps) that the Astaire character had bought the race car from the widow of the car's original owner. Astaire was not the "racing car driver".

R274 & R283 thank you......I guess I got distracted by the blow job I was getting while I was watching the movie.......

ever hear of porn R284?

I was 13 years old at the drive in.

[quote]Some of these people like Hepburn, Wayne, and Bergman were only around 60 when they won. Like the age of Tom Cruise now, but with less face work.

Back in those days 60 was a helluva lot older than it is now.

[quote]Back in those days 60 was a helluva lot older than it is now.

You're deluded. Sixty looks younger now only for those who get plastic surgery. Celebrities look "older" in photos from 60 or so years ago because plastic surgery wasn't as widespread, but also because the outmoded styles, makeup and hairdos of the day make them look older. In my father's high school yearbook from the 1950s, EVERYONE looks middle-aged, but especially the girls. Do you think that basic human looks have changed that much in the past 50 or 60 years? And please don't say it was because "everybody smoked back then." That's simplistic BS.

R268 Then slap its face!

[Quote] I was 13 years old at the drive in.

how old were you when you weren't at the drive-in?

R287 You’re missing the point and so is everyone who has replied. The original poster called them “old crones in the industry”. 60 year olds then were in the industry the same amount of time 60 year olds are in the industry today. Doesn’t matter what they look like or their physical age.

By the way, Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner was playing the mother of a young woman in her mid-20s. She wasn’t some old lady and the audience accepted her as the mom of a 20-something young woman when she was 59-60 years old.

The same but without the blow job.

R292, a 60 year old with a 25 year old child would have given birth at 35. Audiences accepted that because it was believable and accurate.

I do think most people would believe that an older actress could be the mother of an actress of a younger generation. Like apparently Susan Lucci has confirmed that there was a period of time before All My Children was cancelled that the character of Mona Kane, Erica's mother, was going to be brought back from the dead and recast with Deirdre Hall playing Lucci's onscreen mother.

r288 will brook no disagreement and no backtalk!

She has spoken!!

Did Barbara Hale play Dean Martins wife? I’m glad she got a paycheck.

Helen Hayes accepted the Oscar for Jose Ferrer and they go way back. He was Ruth Gordon’s driver when she played summer stock and told Hayes about him who said, “You’re right, he’s real” as in real actor and she recommended him to a Broadway producer.

Jose Ferrer 's ticket to success was that he started as a pass-around bottom for Helen Hayes and Ruth Gordon, both of whom were huge pegging enthusiasts.

^ fail

R294 Thanks for doing the math and for proving my point that Hepburn wasn’t an “old crone” at 60 as the other poster suggested.

Answering a question asked upthread, Ross Hunter did go into TV production after his film career tanked. In fact among other things (The Lives Of Jenny Dolan) he produced A Family Upside Down, with Fred Astaire and Helen Hayes, that was previously mentioned.

R301 I’m the original poster, and I think it has more to do with the fact their lives manifested on their faces more back then, which made them look like 70-80. 60 is definitely younger nowadays than it was then. Of course there are better cosmetic procedures and healthier living options than there was 50 years ago. Not to mention their bodies of film work helped sway Academy voters into voting for them. Even Hepburns LIW director Anthony Harvey told the audience Hepburn had said when she found out she broke the Oscar nomination’s record in 1969 “when you’ve lived as long as I have, anything is possible”, when he collected her third Oscar.

Don't forget that there was no sunscreen back in the day.

Also, remember back then people dressed and groomed themselves decidedly different at different stages of life. No one wore jeans after age 35 unless you worked on a farm. No one wore baseball caps to hide baldness, and no one had hair transplants. Most women over 30 had their hair done at the salon once a week in what was then considered an age-appropriate style.

Also, skincare was really rudimentary back then, just soap and water. Victoria Principal really broke new ground with her skincare line, Principal Secret. It was a game changer as was Victoria, who proved that women over 40 could still be sexually desirable.

No sunscreen, sunning, smoking, drinking and, most of all, a self-perception as being an elderly person who didn't have to dress young or work on their looks.

Crazy how much older people looked back then. Older people looked so OLD.

They were more accepting of age. When young they knew it was important to be attractive to catch a mate. As you got older that wasn't so important and your body changed. It was an acceptance of how life and your body changes. Except in Hollywood. That's why nearing 30 and being unmarried was so worrisome to women. The fresh dewy men want to fuck you look was disappearing fast. Now people don't give a shit and the social bonds are not as important. Of course now as well there are all kinds of products and techniques to keep you a bit younger looking if you so choose but it is pure vanity. Still it helps you at work.

You know when a lot of these people were younger life was actually healthier. Many of them ate purer foods, not mass-manufactured supermarket meat and other food. There was no major air pollution in Los Angeles and other cities until the 1950s and 1960s. I don't recall anyone having a peanut allergy when I was a kid, or eczema, or asthma. You can look at old Academy Awards shows and see healthy-looking Fred Astaire dancing, Myna Loy looking lovely, I don't really see a lot of bent-over, unhealthy-looking, twisted, haggard looking old people. You just didn't have 70 year olds in clothes and haircuts designed for 20 year olds.

Also, pay a visit to real life, a small town or an average community. People look their ages, for the most part. They may not have the old fashioned dress and suits and permanents or what have you, but look beyond the clothing.

I need a big man, grab me around the waist.

Earliest Hollywood epic disaster film? I've seen a few silent era films with "disaster" stories in them also which would predate this one.

Tell me about it.

R314 - The remake was SO much better

Krakatoa...East of Java

R312, Thanks for the link to one of my favorites - "The High and the Mighty". I've seen it many times.

Dimitri Tiomkin won the Oscar for his music.

[quote]Dimitri Tiomkin won the Oscar for his music.

Jan Sterling was nominated for the ultimate courageous act of removing her make-up on screen.

One of my very favorites is the pre code Cecile B Demille Madame Satan. It's got everything. It's a musical with the delightful Lillian Roth, romantic betrayal, Die Fledermaus on a zeppelin attached to the top of the Empire State Building where people can board singing and dancing, a production number about electricity, a storm destroying the zeppelin with everyone on it and it's a comedy. It has its slow moments but when it gets going it's a lot of fun and the zeppelin disaster is hilarious. It's one of those pre code I can't believe they're doing this films. Like nothing makes sense but who cares as long as people have a good time watching it.

Another good one is Zoo in Budapest a beautiful romance with the gorgeous Loretta Young and the handsome Gene Raymond who's an animal rights activist! The ending comes out of nowhere(what were they on?) where it turns into something Steven Spielberg might come up with.

[quote] Cecile B Demille Madame Satan. It's got everything.

I've too previously recommended that film to this board. The most enthusiastic pre-Code paean to adultery I can think of. The smutty lyrics as they auction off of the series of floozies is by itself worth seeing the film.

Except it was anchored to a pylon - the Empire State Building hadn't been built when MADAME SATAN was filmed.

Madame Satan is better to read about, and to look at stills from, than it is to sit through. DeMille's career was almost through at that point, then he made The Sign Of The Cross, which was a blockbuster. But what does this have to do with Airport? lol

[quote] a storm destroying the zeppelin with everyone on it

You're misremembering it.

The storm does destroy the zeppelin itself, but everyone in the zeppelin survives. Everyone except the hero has a parachute and jumps out with it, and the hero survives by jumping out at the last second into the Central Park Reservoir.

Wasn't there a Madame Satan remake starring Karen Black?

No that was the title of her autobiography.

They should have cast 23 year old Meryl Streep as Ada Quonsett, with age makeup. She can do anything!

Campy!

Maybe unborn Timothee Chalamet could have played stowaway Aidan Quonsett.

Watched it recently and noticed Burt Lancaster is not good in it - the only person worse is Dana Wynter as his bitchy wife. He looks the part, though.

What kind of name is Mrs. Quonsett?

R330, Algonquin

[quote]What kind of name is Mrs. Quonsett?

Hutt.

R319 And it had Kay Johnson wearing that fabulous dress.

NY Times writer Eliot Fremont-Smith wrote, about the #1 Best Seller the film was based on: "As for the formula, the possibilities seem all but inexhaustible. With 'Hotel' and 'Airport' successfully absorbed, can 'Shopping Center,' 'Parking Lot' and 'City Dump' be far behind?"

[Quote] the only person worse is Dana Wynter as his bitchy wife.

She's one of the best parts of the film. Her lines are hysterical.

It's always bugged me that Martin was sitting in the right-hand seat in the cockpit. The captain of a flight sits in the left-hand seat.

R336, but Martin's character was not the captain of the flight, he was the "checkride captain" assigned to evaluate the pilot, played by Barry Nelson.

R335 I meant if you’re talking about actual good vs bad acting. I guess she was a camp classic for sure.

(I thought Dana Wynter was very good in other movies. She seemed miscast as the selfish, social climber wife.)

I always remember Dana Wynter from "An Unlocked Window," one of the scariest episodes of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." I saw it when I was a child and it traumatized me..

R338 her role like so many others in the film was a one-note caricature