A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.A bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.
- Directors
- George Seaton
- Henry Hathaway(winter outdoor scenes)
- Writers
- Arthur Hailey(from the novel by)
- George Seaton(written for the screen by)
- Stars
Top credits
- Directors
- George Seaton
- Henry Hathaway(winter outdoor scenes)
- Writers
- Arthur Hailey(from the novel by)
- George Seaton(written for the screen by)
- Stars
- Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 19 nominations total
- Directors
- George Seaton
- Henry Hathaway(winter outdoor scenes) (uncredited)
- Writers
- Arthur Hailey(from the novel by)
- George Seaton(written for the screen by)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBurt Lancaster, who headlined the movie above the title with Dean Martin, made a great deal of money from the film, which was a huge hit. His contract gave him a 10% profit participation once the movie hit $50 million; it grossed $45.3 million in North America alone. Despite the financial windfall, Lancaster said that the movie was "the worst piece of junk ever made." He said he only made this film in return for the studio agreeing to finance several non-commercial films, in which he was interested.
- GoofsBefore the landing Capt. Demerest requests a PAR approach. The Air Traffic Control officer replies "Roger this will be a Precision Radar Approach..." which would have an acronym of PRA. However, PAR refers to Precision Approach Radar, the type of radar equipment used in the approach. The approach itself is commonly referred to as a "Precision Radar Approach" by pilots and controllers. Confusing, but the movie lines are accurate.
- Quotes
Ada Quonsett: My late husband played the violin. Not professionally, but he was very good. He once played the Minute Waltz in 58 seconds.
- Crazy creditsUnusually, the Universal Pictures logo animation is not shown at the beginning of this movie...it's instead shown at the end. The in-credit notice "UNIVERSAL presents" replaced the usual opening logo.
- Alternate versionsTV prints and early videotape pan and scan versions have alterations beyond simple pan and scan. On some of the multi image scenes, instead of panning to the image best serving the scene, they substitute a full screen version of that segment that was originally part of the multi image shot. Like the scene where Burt Lancaster is talking to his wife and 2 daughters all at once. The theatrical version(and present wide screen DVD) maintained images of his wife, him and both daughters separately(recent pan and scan editions temporarily letterbox or otherwise modify the theatrical composition). On the early TV and video versions, only the person talking is seen in a full screen shot used for that multi image shot(showing more image information then when it was composed as part of the theatrical multi image shot). Also, on the split screen shot of Dean Martin in a cab and Jackie Bisset getting out of the shower, the split screen is recomposed for 4:3, cropping each image to better fit.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Sneak Previews: Take 2: Movies That Changed the Movies (1979)
Review
Featured review
Good Disaster Drama.
George Seaton directed this massive box-office hit about an busy airport(of course!) threatened not only by a blizzard, but a bomber on one of its planes. All-star cast includes Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bissit, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, and George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, a role he would reprise in the three sequels.
Though long, contrived, and potentially silly, this film still managed to be entertaining in spite of the melodrama, thanks to the good cast of actors who still give it their all(and a wonderful, Academy Award winning performance by Helen Hayes as a chronic "stowaway".)
Though star Burt Lancaster was embarrassed by its success, and despite later spoofing, this holds up as fine escapist fare.
Though long, contrived, and potentially silly, this film still managed to be entertaining in spite of the melodrama, thanks to the good cast of actors who still give it their all(and a wonderful, Academy Award winning performance by Helen Hayes as a chronic "stowaway".)
Though star Burt Lancaster was embarrassed by its success, and despite later spoofing, this holds up as fine escapist fare.
helpful•50
- AaronCapenBanner
- Sep 10, 2013
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $100,489,151
- Gross worldwide
- $100,489,151
- Runtime2 hours 17 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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