Search - Airport

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, All Movie Guide

Burt Lancaster - Mel Bakersfeld
Dean Martin - Vernon Demerest
Jean Seberg - Tanya Livingston
Jacqueline Bisset - Gwen Meighen
George Kennedy - Patroni

1970	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominee)	Golden Globe	George Kennedy
1970	Best Supporting Actress (winner)	Golden Globe	Maureen Stapleton
1970	Best Original Score (nominee)	Golden Globe	Alfred Newman
1970	Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	George Seaton
1970	Best Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Jack D. Moore
1970	Best Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Mickey Michaels
1970	Best Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Preston Ames
1970	Best Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Alexander Golitzen
1970	Best Cinematography (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Ernest Laszlo
1970	Best Costume Design (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Edith Head
1970	Best Editing (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Stuart Gilmore
1970	Best Picture (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Ross Hunter
1970	Best Original Score (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Alfred Newman
1970	Best Sound (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	David Moriarty
1970	Best Sound (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Ronald Pierce
1970	Best Supporting Actress (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Helen Hayes
1970	Best Supporting Actress (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Maureen Stapleton

These movies have the touch and feel of Airport...
2	La Collectionneuse (NR)
6	Drive-In Movie Classics: 50 Movie Pack (NR)
1	Three Sisters (PG)
2	50-Movie All Stars Collection (NR)
S	Oceans of Fire (PG)
These movies have the subject or theme of Airport...
2	Juggernaut (PG)
10	Airport '77
4	The Hindenburg (PG)
4	Troma's War
12	The Phantom of the Opera
28	The Towering Inferno (PG)
43	The Poseidon Adventure (PG)
3	By Dawn's Early Light (NR)
1	Great Down Under Movies
71	Backdraft (R)
4	Black Sunday (R)
2	Panic in Year Zero/The Last Man on Earth (NR)
These movies followed Airport...
7	Airport 1975 (PG)
These movies share cast/crew with Airport...
1	Bataan (NR)
1	The Counterfeit Traitor (NR)
7	Earthquake
10	The Sons of Katie Elder (PG)
2	Seven Days in May (NR)
S	The Big Lift (NR)
2	The Crimson Pirate (NR)
12	Invasion of the Body Snatchers (NR)
13	Bullitt (R)
1	The Country Girl (NR)
1	The Street With No Name (NR)
S	Somewhere in the Night (PG)
1	Portrait in Black/Madame X (NR)
S	He Walked By Night (NR)
10	Airport '77
These movies cover the same subjects as Airport...
S	Zero Hour (NR)
These movies are similar to Airport...
102	Die Hard (R)
7	Earthquake
43	Passenger 57 (R)
43	The Poseidon Adventure (PG)
28	The Towering Inferno (PG)
61	Die Hard 2: Die Harder (R)
2	The High and the Mighty (NR)
23	Turbulence (R)
112	Air Force One [Widescreen/Fullscreen] (R)
1	Mercy Mission/Nowhere to Land (NR)
S	A Wing and a Prayer (PG-13)