Airport '77 (1977)

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

H.A.L. Craig (story)
Charles Kuenstle (story)

Release Date:

11 March 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle... passengers still alive, trapped underwater...

Plot:

Art thieves hijack a 747, hit fog and crash into the ocean, trapping them and the passengers under 100 feet of water.

Plot Keywords:

Rescue | Underwater | Bermuda Triangle | Millionaire | Pilot

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	Capt. Don Gallagher
Lee Grant	...	Karen Wallace
Brenda Vaccaro	...	Eve Clayton
Joseph Cotten	...	Nicholas St. Downs III
Olivia de Havilland	...	Emily Livingston
James Stewart	...	Philip Stevens
George Kennedy	...	Joe Patroni
Darren McGavin	...	Stan Buchek
Christopher Lee	...	Martin Wallace
Robert Foxworth	...	Chambers
Robert Hooks	...	Eddie
Monte Markham	...	Banker
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Julie
Gil Gerard	...	Frank Powers
James Booth	...	Ralph Crawford

Also Known As:

Airport 1977 (International: English title) (informal title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1987) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | USA:PG (Certificate #24803) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1977) | Sweden:15 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Bob Hope Airport - 2627 Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Joan Crawford was approached to play the role of Emily Livingston but declined, later saying, "I wanted Joel McCrea to play opposite me, and anyway, they actually asked me to fly out there with only one week's notice! Why, that is hardly enough time for makeup tests or rehearsals... and when I asked about costume fittings, they said they wanted me to wear my own clothes!"

Goofs:

Continuity: At the start of the film when the plane comes into land, it is a Boeing 747 in white coloring and a black nose tip, however later shots show a Boeing 747 in red, white and blue coloring and a grey nose tip.

Quotes:

Martin Wallace: I want to harvest the sea for food and save millions of people from starvation.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Christopher Lee/Meat Loaf (#3.15)" (1978)

Classiest cast of the "Airport" sequels and most serious.

Landing after the TV sitcom-level cast/plot of "Airport 1975", but arriving before the ludicrous "The Concorde-Airport '79" is this slick disaster film entry. Featuring Oscar-winning and nominated stars like Lemmon, Grant, de Havilland, Quinlan, Kennedy and Stewart, it also offers one of the best caliber casts of the '70's disaster cycle. There is no deep thinking involved in watching the film, but it does offer some watery thrills and some fun thrashing around as the plane first skips along the surface of the water and then slips under. Suspense builds as the pressure continues to wreak havoc on the plane's outer skin and, unusually for an "Airport" film, pretty many lives are claimed! The death toll in this film is higher than the other three combined. It's great to see so many once and future stars flopping around in the underwater tomb, but the main attraction is Lee Grant. Clocking in with only about a dozen or so total minutes of screen time, she is utterly hilarious and unforgettable as a shrewish, boozy, sarcastic lush. No one is safe from her rude, brash comments and she is a joy to behold for bad-move connoisseurs. Her husband in the film is Christpher Lee. Fortunately, they didn't marry offscreen or she would have become Lee Lee, but that's another story.......