Airport '77 (1977)

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

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

Release Date:

11 March 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Action | 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:

Terminal | Airplane | Airport Personnel | Aviation | Disaster

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

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1987) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1977) | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | 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. However, she refused.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the plane hits the oil rig tower, there is no damage to the wing in the very next shot.

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)

My personal favorite of the Airport series

Ok, so the plot has some holes in it but the cast does very well with what they have to work with. Jack Lemmon and Darren McGavin turn in above average performances which are quite believeable. Same goes for Christopher Lee, Joseph Cotton, Olivia De Havilland, and Brenda Vaccaro. To me it seems that most of the cast came to this project with a professionalism which was lacking in Airport 1975 and The Concorde: Airport '79. Christopher Lee stated in his autobiography that this movie was what it was-a disaster movie. I can't argue with that. But he didn't let this stand in the way of giving a performance that he should be proud of. It was these performances which lent to this film the air of believeablity which lifted Airport '77 to one of the better disaster movies of the 1970's. The Universal Terminal Pack which contains all four Airport films is of excellent picture and sound quality and contains theatrical trailers from all four films.