Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
An airport manager tries to keep his terminals open during a snowstorm, while a suicide bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight.
Airport (1970) is the granddaddy of the disaster film genre, launching a whole cycle of all-star ensemble disaster movies throughout the 1970s. Its novelty score is high precisely because it essentially invented and defined the template for the modern disaster film. The plot is solid if somewhat melodramatic, juggling multiple subplots competently in the Arthur Hailey tradition. The acting is a mixed bag — Helen Hayes won an Oscar for her delightful stowaway performance, while Burt Lancaster anchors the drama, but some supporting work is uneven. Cinematography is workmanlike and functional rather than visually distinguished, typical of big-budget studio productions of the era. The ending resolves tensions adequately but without real surprise or sophistication.