Airport '77 (1977)

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

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

Arthur Hailey (novel), Michael Scheff (screenplay)

Stars:

Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Joseph Cotten

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Lemmon	...	Don Gallagher
Lee Grant	...	Karen Wallace
Brenda Vaccaro	...	Eve Clayton
Joseph Cotten	...	Nicholas St. Downs III
Olivia de Havilland	...	Emily Livingston
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
Monica Lewis	...	Anne
Maidie Norman	...	Dorothy

Storyline

Mr. Phillip Stevens is flying in a load of V.I.P.s to the grand opening of his art collection when a trio of hijackers knock out the passengers with gas and try to steal the priceless cargo of art treasures. But everything goes wrong for the hijackers when the 747 crashes in the Bermuda triangle. While the passengers remain alive in the shallow water, a daring rescue operation is planned to bring the plane up without breaking it in two.

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Plot Keywords:

repeat sequel | plane | rescue | hijack | flooding | 

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Taglines:

All new, bigger, and more exciting than AIRPORT 1975!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hungarian

Release Date:

11 March 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Airport 1977

Filming Locations:

Stage 27, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 182 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Between late 1977 and the early 1980s, an "Airport '77" Screen Test Theater attraction was featured at the Universal Studios Amusement Park in Los Angeles, California.

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Goofs

After submerging in the Atlantic, the captain said the airplane is "Pressurized". Of course, an airliner only pressurizes when the engines are running or when external air is plugged in, which is not the case underwater. It would fill with water in minutes after submerging.

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Quotes

Philip Stevens: Benji, I'm your Grandpa.

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Crazy Credits

Before the end credits, this text appears. "The incident portrayed in the film is fictional; the rescue capabilities utilized by the Navy are real".

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Alternate Versions

Network TV version features one hour of additional footage not included in either the theatrical release or home video release. Footage only seen in the network version includes:

• Alternate opening credit sequence involving Banker and Wilson breaking into a laboratory.
• A flight attendant cabin mock-up where the crew practice an evacuation using an escape slide. Shortly after, Anne introduces the crew to Joe Patroni.
• Dialogue between Patroni and Anne.
• A scene where Joe Patroni introduces Anne to Don Gallagher, who's working on a flight simulator of the plane he will fly.
• Flashbacks of several characters. including Martin and Karen Wallace, Steve and Julie, Jane and Bonnie Stern, and Lisa with Ralph Crawford.
• Extended dialogue throughout the film.
• Gallagher and Eve discovering the plane's navigator is dead.
• Scene involving Joe Patroni and his son, Joe. Jr. Patroni has been informed of the disappearance of the 747 and has to cancel plans to attend Joe Jr's graduation ceremony.
• Brief additional footage of Martin Wallace's body floating outside the plane.
• Emily attempts to console Karen, after the drowning of Martin.
• As Gallagher and the scuba team make their underwater preparations to raise the plane, they discover Banker's body.
• Amount of time for the plane to rise to the surface is longer than the theatrical version.
• After the plan has risen, Gerald Lucas attempts to get out of the plane first, only to be stopped and pushed back by Buchek.
• Dialogue between Philip Stevens and Eddie aboard the USS Cayuga. Stevens hands Eddie a piece of paper, which reveals Eddie's wife has given birth to twins. Stevens hands Eddie a cigar to celebrate the occasion.
• Dialogue between Stevens and Buchek aboard the USS Cayuga.

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Connections

Referenced in Circus of the Stars #2 (1977)

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Soundtracks

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder
Composed and sung by Tom Sullivan

User Reviews

It's Holding, For Now!

There is a tendency to over-think films like these.

Personally, this is my favourite of the 'Airport' franchise of films. It has perhaps the best cast of names of any disaster film, including Jack Lemmon (curiously cast as a pilot), Lee Grant and Robert Foxworth (who would both appear a year later in 'Damien: Omen II' (1978)), Christopher Lee, Brenda Vaccaro, George Kennedy, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten AND James Stewart, to mention just some of the biggest names.

Also, as the poster suggests, most of the action takes place underwater. This is also where audiences do most of the over-thinking. Don't worry about it being a plane - just buy into the possibility that James Stewart's character was so stinking rich and so concerned about his passengers and his art treasures that he bothered to make it the equivalent of a flying submarine (but a fragile one)!

This is an outrageous film - there are no two ways about it - but it certainly beats the cartoon-ish sequel featuring the Concorde, which stinks to high heaven in comparison!

It also possibly provided some vital training work for director Jerry Jameson before he went on to helm the doomed 'Raise The Titanic' (1980). What can be said for this film is that it certainly didn't sink as quickly as that film did! Universal Studios actually set up a ride where paying customers could be held hostage aboard a luxury airliner, before being (fictionally) rendered unconscious and then dunked in the drink. For such an audacious and exciting-sounding ride to even be dreamt up, this film had to have been a considerable success!! And, perhaps, Brenda Vaccaro was comforted for suffering pneumonia after filming this flick by the thought that all those innocent theme park tourists were suffering a similar fate!

Anyway, aside from the Concorde sequel, this is the most outrageous of the 'Airport' films - if any of them could actually be considered realistic viewing, then that's one on me!

Watching Lee Grant acting her co-stars in circles is a great pleasure to be gained from this entry into the franchise and the special effects, although dated now, of course, are still a lot of fun to watch!

And this is a fun film, blending the heist films of the 1960s and 1970s with the purely 1970s disaster craze. For the cast and the excitement, thrills and spills alone, give this film a watch if you're looking for something that will take your mind off of things and give you a good laugh as well! I had an exam the day after I watched this and it worked wonders just to unwind by watching this kind of inconsequential drama!