Airport

UPC: 025192126437

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Adult Situations, Suitable for Children]

Summary: Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – null Best Supporting Actress – null Best Original Score – null Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Cinematography – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Score – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

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Theatrical trailer

Airport

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/28/2012

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDM2.0 Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Runtime: 137 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Airport
1. Emergency [7:48]
2. Disaster Insurance [7:06]
3. Fringe Benefits [7:53]
4. Stowaway [9:12]
5. For Better or For Worse [7:05]
6. Don't Worry [8:00]
7. Extra Passenger [5:28]
8. Full Throttle [7:07]
9. We're Leaving [8:25]
10. Check and Report [8:13]
11. Someone Else [6:44]
12. Extreme Caution [7:37]
13. It's Goodbye [7:35]
14. Mayday [7:17]
15. Structural Damage [7:34]
16. Mobile One [7:25]
17. Shut Down [7:39]
18. Welcome Home [8:20]

Michael Betzold

Airport was widely lambasted by critics for its tried-and-true technique of showcasing a raft of Grand Hotel-style big-name box-office stars in a melodramatic thriller; Judith Crist called it "the best film of 1944." But no one could argue with its success or its influence. Director/screenwriter George Seaton displayed a masterful old hand's touch for showcasing stock characters in a soap opera format, adapting Arthur Hailey's blockbuster novel with Dean Martin as the pilot and a cast top-heavy with stars. Airport won huge audiences and six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, with veteran Helen Hayes, one of the first Oscar winners in 1932, winning a supporting award. The crowd-pleasing behemoth spawned almost a decade's worth of big-budget disaster films, including three inferior sequels, and then another round of disaster spoofs, beginning with 1980's Airplane! ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michael Stearns  Actor 
Dallas Mitchell  Actor 
Jodean Russo  Actor 
Gary Collins  Actor 
Harry Harvey  Actor 
Celia Lovsky  Actor 
Benny Rubin  Actor 
Lisa Gerritsen  Actor 
Jodean Lawrence  Actor 
Ross Hunter  Producer 
Alfred Newman  Composer (Music Score) 
George Seaton  Director 
George Seaton  Screenwriter 
Burt Lancaster  Actor 
Dean Martin  Actor 
Jean Seberg  Actor 
Jacqueline Bisset  Actor 
George Kennedy  Actor 
Helen Hayes  Actor 
Van Heflin  Actor 
Maureen Stapleton  Actor 
Barry Nelson  Actor 
Dana Wynter  Actor 
Lloyd Nolan  Actor 
Barbara Hale  Actor 
John Findlater  Actor 
Jesse Royce Landis  Actor 
Larry Gates  Actor 
Peter Turgeon  Actor 
Whit Bissell  Actor 
Virginia Grey  Actor 
Eileen Wesson  Actor 
Paul Picerni  Actor 
Robert Patten  Actor 
Clark Howat  Actor 
Lew Brown  Actor 
Jim Nolan  Actor 
Patty Poulsen  Actor 
Ena Hartman  Actor 
Milila St. Duval  Actor 
Sharon Harvey  Actor 
Albert Reed  Actor 
Nancy Ann Nelson  Actor 
Dick Winslow  Actor 
Lou Wagner  Actor 
Janis Hansen  Actor 
Mary Jackson  Actor 
Shelly Novack  Actor 
Chuck Daniel  Actor 
Charles Brewer  Actor 

Country: USA