Airport '77 (1977)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1977
	Director: Jerry Jameson
	Actors: Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Joseph Cotten (Citizen Kane), James Stewart (Rear Window, Vertigo), Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man, The Lord of the Rings 1-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 24.10.2017, VOD, 32" TV screen
Synopsis: A rich businessman and Art collector organizes a plane trip for some friends and to carry at the same time many Art pieces to his museum. The trip takes place in a luxurious plane, that will be high-jacked by the co-pilot and a waiter. Their plan turns bad when they hit an oil platform while all passengers are drugged asleep.
Review: When I was younger I was a big fan of the classic American disaster movies from the 70's: The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, other Ants and Spiders invasion movies, and the series of Airport movies (released in 70, 75, 77 and finally one with the Concorde in 79). Those are also known for being heavily parodied in the Jim Abrahams, David & Jerry Zucker Airplane! series of which I knew the dialogs by heart at some point. And I am still a sucker for disaster movies produced during the resurgence of the genre in the latest years, alien invasion or not (2012, Knowing, San Andreas...). Anyway, I mostly remember the first Airport (with a terrorist on-board) and the second one in which a passenger has to drive the plane after an accident and the injury of the pilots. I remember that I was very young and felt a lot of tension when watching them, being very concerned by the fate of the planes and their passengers! And I loved the character of Joe Patroni (a kind of super-engineer that know the planes design inside-out) played by George Kennedy in the four movies of the franchise, although with a very limited role in that one. I remember more vaguely Airport '77, mostly thanks to the scene with the balloons used to pull the plane out of the water. Yes, the plane does hit an oil platform, crashes in the ocean, sinks and the passengers survive until rescue comes. And nowhere else than in the Bermuda Triangle! If you find that a bit over-the-top, you are not wrong. Like in most movies of that period I liked the slow beginning and the introduction of the characters played by classic (read aging) actors (what is Christopher Lee doing here??). But it all goes wrong at the moment of the accident: poor special effects, no logic in the shots between inside/outside the plane, unbelievable actors, objects flying in the cabin obviously thrown with precision by a film crew member... It is hard to keep watching seriously. From then on the movie is just an alternation of scenes of madness, wounds, tears, hope... inside the plane, with on the outside what looks like an expensive and very-well shot advertisement for the US Navy Rescue Forces (heavily acknowledges at the end). Not the best in the disaster movie sub-genre.
Rating: 3 /10