Airport '77 (1977) User Reviews

Mid Air Ocean Caper Gone Awry

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 29 July 2006]

Gazillionaire James Stewart is shipping his collection of art to a museum and he's using his private jet to fly the collection and a few friends down to meet him in Florida.

Of course this attracts the attention of a few crooks who have a pretty well thought out plan and the copilot, Robert Foxworth, working with them. Of course all good plans go awry and they go down in the Bermuda Triangle into some relatively shallow area of the Atlantic.

Hey they could have gone down and been lost for decades like the Titanic was.

That's essentially the plot here and in true Seventies disaster film tradition you load the screen with big names, dress them fashionably and put them in harm's way. The rest of the film is devoted to their rescue.

Incidentally the footage devoted to the air sea rescue is the best thing about Airport 77. No member of the audience will not go away impressed with the U.S. Navy's capabilities in that regard.

Jack Lemmon is the pilot and in an action role which is normally against type for him, he does quite well. Almost twenty years before he supported James Stewart in Bell, Book,and Candle and now the billing is most definitely reversed.

My favorites in the film are Joseph Cotten and Olivia DeHavilland, a classy and elegant pair of passengers who so typify the glamor of old Hollywood.

Christopher Lee also performs against type, he's not the villain here in fact he turns out quite the hero among the passengers. Lee Grant is his trollop of a wife and I remember seeing this in theaters and the shouts for joy from the audience when Brenda Vaccaro punches her out.

I'm not sure which is a wilder rescue this one or that other James Stewart film The Flight of the Phoenix. There's no way any of them should survive.

But this is a Hollywood disaster epic, so all things are possible.

One of the better disaster films!

[boyinflares · 7/10 · 23 August 2006]

Following the not-so-spectacular "Airport 1975" comes "Airport '77" which is a welcome addition to the Disaster Movie genre. In typical "Airport" fashion, a routine plane ride, this time carrying various celebrities and other high-profile people, gets into some trouble when it crashes into the ocean in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle....

Though the decor of the flash plane filled with VIP's is dreary compared to the fabulous colours of the chairs in "Airport 1975", the characters are a major improvement, along with the actual danger that the passengers and crew are placed in.

In typical Disaster Movie style, the cast is large, and many of them are forgettable, however, stand-out performances in "Airport '77" include Jack Lemmon in a serious role as the likable Captain Gallagher, Lee Grant is Karen Wallace a VIP guest of the nasty variety, the underrated Pamela Bellwood as a young mother, the lovely Kathleen Quinlann is as usual outstanding, but unfortunately under-used here, but the stand-out star of the film is of course Brenda Vaccaro as Captain Gallagher's girlfriend Even Clayton. Vaccaro is certainly one of the better leading ladies in a Disaster Movie, but is also a surprising choice. Nevertheless, she is fantastic, it is a shame she is not more recognized for her work.

Overall, "Airport '77" is a terrific, and often overlooked addition to the genre, with a super cast, great direction, and a very interesting scene in which the plane is raised from the ocean, according to the credits, this is the actual method used by the Navy, which is a nice addition to the film.

Surprisingly appealing rescue movie...

[dwpollar · 6/10 · 12 August 2007]

1st watched 8/12/2007 - 6 out of 10(Dir-Jerry Jameson): Surprisingly appealing rescue movie despite some of the silly characterizations and typical goofiness that tends to accompany these type of movies. The thing that the movie does well is hold your attention to the very end. You genuinely care for some of the characters involved primarily because of the good acting by leads like Jack Lemmon, who plays the pilot in this one. The danger also seems very real all the way up to the end which adds to it's believability. The movie starts setting up the story as an airline president and master collector, played by Jimmie Stewart, is promoting the opening of a museum and a new plane that will be sent down to the island paradise with his very special guests. Included on the plane are his daughter and grandson, whom he has not seen for a very long time. A small group including one of the co-pilots decide to capture the plane while it's airborne, putting the passengers to sleep, in hopes to take it's valuables and run off to South America. Their plan goes awry when the pilot crashes in a shallow part of the ocean(wherever that might be) in the Bermuda triangle. The rest of the movie is an underwater rescue movie as the plane drifts to the shallow bottom. There are the usual stupid moments, like allowing the pilot to go nuts but the women passengers can't for some reason, and the attempt to save the plane in-tact with the people is a little far-fetched. These are the moments that get you talking to the screen. But despite this, the overall effect of the movie is satisfying which I honestly didn't expect because these movies usually don't appeal to me. I really think that the strong presence of the believable hero in Jack Lemmon as the pilot really helped the movie become a little more than the typical disaster movie for me.

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

[Poseidon-3 · 30 March 2000]

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.......

Another box office success in disaster genre with a great cast full of familiar faces

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 25 November 2015]

Plastic acting and stock characters detailing a hectic flight in 747 Boeing . It is an insincere , slick attempt to find box-office magic again , and , really , it achieved a hit smash . This is the third of four movies in the "Airport" series adapted from the Arthur Hailey novel . It's exciting and amusing but full clichés and stereotypes , including the unavoidable accident , with passable acting by all-star-cast . Twist to this in-flight catastrophe is that the bad time in the air happen underwater . The movie is another jetliner epic with hero Jack Lemmon as valiant pilot . Billionaire -James Stewart- fills his converted passenger commercial airline of the American Airlines 747 with priceless paintings and sets off to Palm Beach for a museum opening being piloted by Jack Lemmon , Robert Foxworth and joined by an invited band of hijackers , and being subsequently crashed into the sea . Describing the reactions of the crew and passengers as they cope with the impeding doom . At the end takes places a daring rescue attempt . The film is detailing hectic flighty piloted by Jack Lemmon and the relationship among passengers . If you've seen the original ¨Airport¨ by George Seaton based on the Arthur Hailey's novel 'the daddy of them all' , you have seen them all .

This old-fashioned catastrophe picture contains thriller , suspense , drama , moderate tension and being quite entertaining though with some flaws and gaps . All clichéd and stock roles with regurgitation of all usual stereotypical situations from disaster films , including a fairly moronic screenplay . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series profits of an enjoyable acting by Jack Lemmon , bringing life to character , in fact , to prepare for his role, Jack attended both diving school and flight training school , as he wanted to know what all the knobs and dials were for . Look quickly to Robert Hooks , Monte Markham , Kathleen Quinlan , Darren McGavin ,Gil Gerard , M. Emmet Walsh , Pamela Bellwood ,Michael Pataki , James Booth and Chris Lemmon , Jack's son as Radioman . And , of course , it appears the classic character Patroni played by usual George Kennedy continuing his role appeared in all four "Airport" pictures . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jerry Jameson , habitual TV director and occasionally for movie theater . Jerry went onto direct a similar sunken-vehicle high-concept picture around three years later with Raise the Titanic (1980) ; instead of raising a sunken 747 airplane from underwater it was the ship the Titanic . However , Airport '77 (1977) was box-office hit whereas Raise the Titanic (1980) was a box-office flop . It's an inoffensive diversion but is sometimes tediously unspooled . The film will appeal to Jack Lemmon fans and disaster genre enthusiasts .

This sagas belongs the following films : the first was ¨Airport¨ (1970) , unanimously deemed the best , it paved the way for many lesser flicks including its many sequels , being directed by George Seaton with Burt Lancaster , Jean Seberg , Dean Martin , Van Heflin ; ¨Airport 75¨ (1974) by Jack Smight with Charlton Heston , Karen Black and Gloria Swanson , ¨Airport 77¨ (1977) considered one of the best of the series , leading to the last of the tired ones , ¨Airport 79¨ , (1979) by David Lowell Rich with Alain Delon , Robert Wagner , Silvia Kristel . Furthermore , ¨ Skyjacked (1972) ¨ by John Guillermin with Charlton Heston , James Brolin and this film was parodied heavily in Airplane! (1980) by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker .

OK, so this isn't "Casablanca"

[forever_swirl · 6/10 · 25 February 2006]

OK, so this isn't the greatest film ever made, but not all films have to be Shakespeare to be entertaining. I mean, have you seen some of the garbage big stars make today? It's not all for the Oscars, believe me. This one of those great movies you can actually enjoy for a few hours. An early popcorn flick - like all the disaster films were.

In this sequel, Jack Lemmon plays the ever-present Heroic Captain who must save the day as his ship gets a) hijacked, b) crashed into the ocean and c) lost by the search planes. Sure, the plot's out there - no way would a plane not break apart under the ocean, etc, etc, but who cares? Sure, the ending's basically a commerical for the NAVY. It's all fun - and tasteful fun - not the tacky, cheap, makes-you-feel-like-you've-killed-brain-cells-by-watching feel of "The Swarm" or "Airport 75" or "79".

The best bits are the action scenes - when the hijackers take over, when the plane crashes into the ocean and the thrilling rescue mission at the end. I was LITERALLY on the edge of my chair!

My favorite parts were really the relationships on the plane. Sure, they were underwritten and great actors were ill-used (*ehm* Christopher Lee, Olivia De Havilad and Joseph Cotton), but there were hints of realism there. The touching love between the piano player and Kathleen Quinlan. The lovely reunion between rich folks De Havilad and Cotton (and she looked so dignified when tumbling around in the sinking craft!). The sweet 70's romance between Jack Lemmon and Brenda V. (and she was more James Stewart's secetary then Head Stewardess!). I think I liked that relationship the most because they did seem to have actual chemistry - something that was lacking in even the great "Airport".

OK, so this isn't Oscar material, but it's a great popcorn flick right up there with "Towering Inferno" and "Poseidon Adventure". The actors do seem to take themselves seriously (well, except for the bitchy wife of rich chap Christopher Lee, Lee Grant) and aren't totally phoning in their performances. Lemmon gives the best performance here and he seems to relish the role of hero. Good for him to break the mold! Too bad he couldn't do it more often.

BOTTOM LINE: A darn good action flick that ranks up there with "Towering Inferno" and "Poseidon Adventure". Watch this if you want to be thrilled and watch the time fly by.

Probably the best of the series.

[pkzeewiz · 4/10 · 23 May 2010]

This time around a wealthy man has a lot of his priceless cargo on a jet filled with other rich snobby people and there are people on board who want the riches. They gas the crew and the three of them plan to fly off radar and onto a deserted island and unload the precious cargo and get away. While flying low to avoid radar the pilot hits a tower and damages the plane and it crashes and goes down in the ocean. The crew awake and realize the plane is about to flood and someone must get up to the top and set off a signal to alert people of there location so they can be rescued.

I have seen this movie more than any of the others and always thought it was decent. It was the first Airport movie I bought and watched many years ago. There is much more excitement, many more thrills and a great cast involved here. I also liked John Cacavas' music.

The cast includes George Kennedy, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Christopher Lee, Olivia De Haviland, M. Emmet Walsh and Kathleen Quinlan. Directed by Jerry Jamison and he did an okay job here, maybe the best director of the series.

I hated the Benji kid cause he looked like a deformed monkey and I hated the cheesy piano player, other wise I didn't have too many complaints.

The movie was a bit more original than the other films and I give it 4/10 stars.

Oddly enjoyable despite a silly premise and the usual "Airport' formula.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 31 December 2020]

I can't imagine anything thinking that "Airport '77" is a great movie. After all, it takes the usual "Airport" formula and throws it into a premise that is not only bizarre but rather silly. Yet, oddly, despite this, the movie IS enjoyable and worth seeing.

A rich guy has arranged for a private luxury 747 airliner to bring friends and loved ones to a big party. What no one realizes, however, is that several members of the crew are planning on using knockout gas to take control of the plane and then land it on some abandoned airport in the Bahamas. Apparently, it's all because they plan on stealing some paintings aboard the plane....though this seemed like silly motivation. I would have also considered ransoming off the passengers...which they aren't planning on doing.

Speaking of not planning....the overly complicated plan goes awry when the plane is flying under radar and accidentally collides with some beacon. IMDB says fog was responsible....I never noticed fog in this scene at all. Regardless, the plan crash lands in the ocean and soon sinks in what IMDB says is about 100 feet of water*. The cabin has managed to stay air tight....at least for now. But with air running out, is there any chance at rescue?

Despite a totally ludicrous premise, the film manages to make it all seem possible...which it surely isn't as you continue watching the story. Regardless, the story IS engaging and interesting. I did find it unusual that Jack Lemmon of all people plays a bit of an action hero! But still, it does manage to entertain and it sure kept me glued to the screen.

*Although they said the plane was a hundred feet down, this really could NOT have been the case, as the pilot swimming to the surface clearly would have been highly unlikely (that is a LONG way to free dive for someone untrained) and if he had survived, he likely would have been a physical mess as a result of decompression. Here, it all looked too easy to be that deep and the water clarity made it seem like the plane was about 50 feet down...from which a dive to the surface is much, much more likely to result in survival. I've made such dives to the surface myself....which isn't easy but is so much safer and easier than from 100 feet.

Its all wet

[mls4182 · 3/10 · 2 May 2023]

So much for the unsinkable 747.

This is just awful. The unbelievable premise and the annoying characters.

Art thieves target a plane full of VIP passengers and priceless art. They depressurize the cabin to knock everyone out and accidently crash the plane and it sinks underwater - INTACT.

The bad dialogue, over acting and constant screaming are unbearable. Lee Grant, in the same wig she wore in Voyage of the Damned and The Swarm, is especially annoying, but then she always is.

The rest of the cast isn't much better but they should know better. Olivia Dr Havilland and Joseph Cotton SHAME ON you.

Tom Sullivan did anyone read the script to you before signing?

Serious flub

[jmills-65365 · 6/10 · 28 April 2023]

Yes, there is a serious flub in this movie. At the end when Jack Lemmon goes back in the plane to save his girlfriend eve (Brenda Vaccaro), when they go past the airplane door, you can clearly see a green screen! Despite this mistake, I enjoyed this film. I like all the airport movies mainly because of all the big guest stars who appear in them. Sort of like a love boat of the film industry. I loved seeing Olivia dehavilland, Joseph cotton, Arlene golonka, Pamela Bellwood, Lee Grant, Jack Lemmon, Darren "kolchak" magazine, and of course the dapper Christopher Lee most of all. He was most remembered for playing count Dracula in the hammer films of the 60's and 70's.

Get some whiskey, quick!

[rmax304823 · 3/10 · 27 January 2010]

This is the kind of movie that my enemies contend I watch all the time, but it's not bloody true. I only watch it once in a while to make sure that it's as bad as I first thought it was. You don't believe me, ask the Director of the Institute.

Some kind of mobsters hijack a Boeing 747. (That, at least, is an improvement over having Boeing hijack a good part of the Pentagon.) The airplane goes down in the Bermuda triangle and sinks pressurized to the bottoms, a kind of post-facto submarine.

It has one of those all-star casts, the stars either falling or barely above the horizon.

"We're on our own!", says pilot Jack Lemon. He is so right. Except for George Kennedy. He's in all these disaster movies.

Watch another movie instead. Oh, not "Airport" the original. That's no good either. Instead, watch a decent flick about stuck airplanes like "Flight of the Phoenix."

A real step up

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 18 November 2018]

AIRPORT '77 is my favourite yet of the series, a real step up from the slightly turgid antics of the first two instalments. This one ups the drama and the suspense considerably and tells a classic disaster story in which the action is always focused on the disaster itself, as it should be. A series of unfortunate events leads to a prototype passenger plane crashing and sinking to the ocean floor, where a bunch of survivors subsequently hold out for hopes of rescue as their air supply gradually runs out and the water gradually finds a way in. As usual, an ensemble cast of performers helps things immeasurably, with Jack Lemmon proving himself in a serious role for once and even Christopher Lee appearing as a good guy for a change. Lee Grant plays her most hissably evil character yet while others such as Joseph Cotten and Darren McGavin really shine too. The film sounds cheesy on paper but is surprisingly taut and realistic on screen, and there are few dodgy effects to spoil things either. Great fun!

Blub, blub. This is your blub Captain speaking. Blub

[Coventry · 7/10 · 5 April 2010]

This is probably my favorite "Airport" movie of the bunch, although admittedly I have yet to see "The Concorde: Airport 1979". Like it ought to be with sequels, the events and accidents are much more disastrous, the rescue operations are much more spectacular and the characters are much more stereotypical. In the first film there was just a tiny sub plot about a suicide bomber on a transcontinental flight, the second was more straightforward with a mid-air collision, but this third film unfolds an ambitious – albeit slightly grotesque – plot involving an attempted hijacking, a crash into the Bermuda Triangle and the trapped passengers either drowning or suffocating 100ft below the water surface. Multi-millionaire Philip Stevens gathered a whole posse of eminent people to come to the grand opening of his new museum and arranges for them to travel all together with his private and ultra-luxurious Boeing 747. There are also plenty of valuable paintings and art treasures aboard, which naturally interests a trio of crooks posing as cabin personnel. They sedate the passengers with gas and disappear from the radar, but their plan backfires when the massive aircraft hits an oil rig and crashes into the water. By the time Captain Gallagher comes to his senses, the plane completely sunk and there isn't a control tower that can locate them. Naturally there are several more additional intrigues between the characters aboard the plane, and this time they are actually interesting to behold thanks to the vivid and enthusiast performances. In fact, the top cast prevents the film from resembling too much like an episode of "The Love Boat". Speaking of which, every single one of the "Airport" movies boosts a deeply impressive cast of famous names, but "Aiport '77" definitely has my favorite ensemble cast. In a random order of importance, we have Christopher Lee, Joseph Cotton, M. Emmet Walsh, James Stewart, Darren McGavin, Kathleen Quinlan, Jack Lemmon, Robert Foxworth, Olivia De Havilland and Michael Pataki. The role of George Kennedy, the thread running through all four episodes, has been downsized to a cameo appearance, but it's always fun to see him. Some of the players appear in really unusual roles, like horror legends Christopher Lee and Joseph Cotton as honorable and unselfish millionaires. The special effects are also remarkably better than those in the previous installment (1975) and the images of the large inescapable plane slowly filling up with water through cracks and holes are effectively claustrophobic. The "Airport" cycle has a bad reputation among critics and wannabe intellectual film students, but at least they all guarantee sheer thrills and entertainment.

A floundering series...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 19 February 2008]

Although the production and Jerry Jameson's direction are definite improvements, "Airport '77" isn't much better than "Airport 1975": slick, commercial rubbish submerging (this time literally) a decent cast. Jack Lemmon is the pilot of a packed airliner which gets hijacked by art thieves and crashes into the sea (all the publicity claimed it was near the Bermuda Triangle, but there's no mention of it in the film itself). When the rescue ships come to raise the airplane out of the water, we see all their cranes dropping (rather blindly) into the ocean and it's hard not to laugh (imagining the cranes plugging the plane, the passengers and the waterlogged script). NBC used to air what appeared to be the "director's cut", with at least an hour of extra footage--mostly flashbacks--injected into the proceedings with all the subtlety of a "Gilligan's Island" episode. Most exciting moment is the plane crash, and some of the players have a little fun: Lee Grant is an obnoxious drunk, Brenda Vaccaro a no-nonsense stewardess, Joseph Cotten and Olivia de Havilland are flirting oldsters. Still, the personality conflicts and the excruciating military detail eventually tear at one's patience. ** from ****

Still A Fave

[richard.fuller1 · 28 February 2004]

Of all the disaster flicks, this seems to be the one I enjoy most, perhaps it was the first one I would see.

But looking back at the hot pants in Poseidon Adventure & Dunaway's dress and the tuxedoes in Towering Inferno, Airport '77 is quite an elegantly dressed cast, aren't they?

The movie would get famed Hollywood fashion expert Edith Head to dress the cast and it shows. Anyone else would have made Brenda Vaccarro look obese trying to put her in that pullover sweater.

Airplane! would make fun of Edith Head being credited for '77 like that, by crediting their own costumer, but 27 years later, the wardrobe makes the cast of '77 appear tremendously dashing, giving the tragedy that greater a feel as well.

Jack Lemmon was an incredible standout as the hero of the piece, in comparison to Paul Newman's sexism in Towering Inferno (he never speaks to Jennifer Jones as a human during their entire ordeal with the children) or Heston's stiffness or McQueen's inexpressiveness.

Two years after her Oscar nomination, Vaccarro was hardly the disaster flicks idea of a leading lady as well, so she is quite a one-of-a-kind casting also.

When I was little, I was most fascinated with Arlene Golonka, who I knew from the Andy Griffith show.

Later, identifying the rest of the cast just made it more and more fun. Dracula, Buck Rogers, Kolchak the Nightstalker (Darren McGavin & Jack Lemmon were a powerhouse duo).

Then the names and stars figured into it. DeHavilland, Cotten, Grant. No one looked more out of place than Olivia DeHavilland in an underwater airplane.

Robert Hooks as the crippled bartender and Tom Sullivan (who is actually blind) as the pianist added even more flavor.

There is M. Emmet Walsh, "The Name, But What Which One Is Him?" actor. He is the doctor, and I do enjoy his one scene when he explains who he really is.

Monica Lewis, disaster movie staple. She would appear in Earthquake and Concorde: Airport '79. Check out her expression as she and Olivia DeHavilland enter the lifeboat. It reads "Miss DeHavilland, I'm one of your biggest fans. I really enjoyed you in Gone With The Wind." Lucy Ricardo lives.

Should it have been a commercial airline, instead of a private plane? Not necessarily.

I enjoy watching it now and observing a few of the female extras at the beginning of the crash don't seem to be present anymore by the end. It seems that they weren't available for filming then.

I would argue, as a movie, that this one is more fun to watch than the first one. Lancaster and Seberg in the first Airport movie are comical to me trying to be so serious.

And the second Airport movie, Airport '75, is funnier than Airplane.

There is a very strong and different feel from Airport '77 than the other Airport flicks or the other disaster films in general.

Good for its time

[MuhammedBuyukkinaci · 7/10 · 7 February 2021]

It was riveting. You wonder what is going to happen during the movie.

Disaster as meek, simple entertainment

[fredrikgunerius · 6/10 · 20 August 2023]

This second sequel to Airport, after the box-office hit and critical flop Airport 1975, is less forceful - almost to the point of making excuses for itself - but at least it is a fairly credible and unpretentious flick, filled with a hall-of-fame of veteran Hollywood stars. Heading those is Jack Lemmon, who's able to be dependable in even the most unlikely of parts, such as this one, as a level-headed but remarkably heroic pilot. Around him, former Hollywood starlets are swooning and sobbing in the extremely luxurious and fashionable surroundings of a Boeing 747-100, whose fate is as doomed as the Airport series ultimately became. The film is more fascinating than fun, more tenable than tense, but at least it's never downright annoying or ludicrous. At this point in the disaster sub-genre, it seems everyone had accepted that disaster and death could (or even should) be meek, simple entertainment that didn't really leave a lasting impression. A sadly helpless James Stewart plays the owner of the airline, whose concern about his daughter and grandson on-board seems as trivial as his concern for a broken carburettor.

Nice premise, nice cast, boring movie

[vostf · 4/10 · 8 December 2011]

Unfortunately, as another reviewer pointed out, the premise is much better than the movie. Really, the premise of a 747 being trapped underwater is very good. And then they just stuck a pedestrian script over it, which seems the doom of those disaster movies only focused on giving screen time to each and every star on the bankroll, and then to the disaster itself.

The beginning is slow but OK. The exposition is sluggish and heavy-handed but you can be content with the cast. It starts getting boring when you'd expect action to pick up: the bad guys are really soft and the exposition here doesn't kick off any substantial suspense. Then you wait for events to unfold and it's pretty lame until the final rescue.

Aside from its premise, the only good reason to watch this movie would be the true-to-life rescue. Yet this last part looks more like what it actually is: a full-scale training for the Navy rescue teams. There would have been more emotion in a documentary about the rescue of an actual wreck. The cast is so wasted here that it's not worth watching, even for Jack Lemmon who is the lead and has some bits of (boring) action to deal with.

Airport '77

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 4 June 2023]

Despite - or perhaps because of - a stellar cast, this is a really poor disaster movie that marries the original "Airport" film (1970) with aspects of the "Poseidon Adventure" (1972). James Stewart features sparingly as the owner of an airliner packed full of passengers that finds the Bermuda Triangle the least of it's worries as it faces fog - and an hijack! Captained by Jack Lemmon ("Gallagher") who is ably aided by the super-steward "Karen" (Lee Grant), the incredibly spacious aircraft now finds itself under water and somewhat off course. Can they manage to get to surface and alert would be rescuers? What do you think? Sadly, this is all just a bit too preposterous for words. The last half hour sees the likes of Christopher Lee; Olivia de Havilland and Joseph Cotton caught up in a series of mini-melodramas as their lives and foibles are aired for us all to see - and none too interestingly, either. The special effects were clearly filmed in a fish tank (albeit one for big fish); the dialogue is fairly bland and the John Cacavas score tries hard to pick up much of the heavy lifting from a cast that neither gelled nor shone here. Happily, we were coming to the end of this often successful genre now - and certainly the idea had been well flogged to death by the time this appeared. Not awful, indeed watchable if it is raining outside, but sadly for such a glittering array of Hollywood royalty - eminently forgettable!

Trash with class....all wet even surrounded by stars.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 23 April 2016]

MGM boasted that they had more stars than there were in the heavens. But after the Golden Age of MGM ended, it took individual producers to put together big star filled epics to continue Louis B. Mayer's dream. Disaster films of the 1970's were filled with stars, and in the case of the third entry of the "Airport" series, it is loaded. Six of the stars were Oscar nominees or winners, and there are other Legends among they are surrounded by other familiar faces of both the past and present. Unfortunately, what became camp in the second entry thanks to Karen Black having to learn how to fly a plane with one lesson over the radio, now becomes over the top and often ridiculous. But I dare you to turn your eyes away once you hit play on your DVD player.

The plot of this lavish Thriller surrounds a plane filled with VIPs heading to James Stewart mansion on a island in the South Atlantic, and valuable cargo aboard, the plane is ripe for art thieves getting onto the plane and taking over, ultimately getting it into the course of the Bermuda Triangle. Passengers are drugged and knocked out, and when they awaken, they find themselves at the bottom of the ocean and no way to get out. But as long as Lee Grant has a collection of mini bottles, she will be fine. The rest of them, not so much.

Among the others on the plane are Jack Lemmon, this time the one flying it, Christopher Lee as grants wealthy long-suffering husband, Olivia de Havilland as a patron of the Arts who has a penchant for poker, Joseph Cotten as her old flame, and Brenda Vaccaro as Lemmon's fiancé. Maidie Norman, the housekeeper for Jane and Blanche Hudson, is de Havilland's companion, giving an ironic connection to "Baby Jane's" follow-up, "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte".

Pamela Bellwood looks on lovingly at blind pianist Tom Sullivan who doesn't sing very well, making that scene rather tedious. When next seen, they are sharing an emotional farewell, but having only been on momentarily, the audience doesn't really have a chance to get to know them enough to care. Just as it seems that it couldn't get any more silly, George Kennedy shows up, once again repeating his role from the first two movies. Robert Foxworth and Monte Markham are the bad guys,and they truly deserve what they get.

Some great action sequences really make this gripping in spots, but while you do indeed care about the plight of these passengers, the way it is presented is so ridiculous and melodramatic that you're both clenching your fists and laughing uncomfortably at some of the absurd details deep within the story itself.

Certainly in the 1970's, disaster films were at their height, and with a cast like this, it was bound to succeed at the box office. It was definitely a crowd-pleaser, but in retrospect, it is often absurd. Obviously, the producers were running out of ideas and with one film left in the series, the movie became right for parody, and that became the Excellence classic farce "Airplane!" which makes these films all the more unintentionally funny.

Good trashy entertainment

[joncheskin · 6/10 · 29 November 2015]

Airport 77 is a movie that should be doomed to failure--coming after the hideous sequel Airport 75, and part of a series that got satirically obliterated by Airplane!, the prospects do not bode well. The premise is certainly goofy--thieves hijack a luxury airliner with art treasures in the cargo hold. Their theft is going according to plan until the plane hits an oil rig and goes down, submerged intact about 100 feet down in the Atlantic. The Navy rushes to save the passengers before the hull caves in and/or everyone runs out of air.

Incredibly, the movie is actually not bad. Airport 77 has some advantages that some of the other sequels do not have. First, it has a really good cast, with Jack Lemmon as an appealing hero/pilot, Brenda Vaccaro as a sympathetic and vulnerable flight attendant, Christopher Lee as a virtuous passenger, and James Stewart lending a bit of class as the worried jet owner. Olivia de Haviland and Joseph Cotten also give this movie a bit of old-fashioned umph, and, lo and behold, there is some real acting acting here.

Add to this the really cool Navy rescue sequences and some really good cliffhangers, and you will actually find yourself absorbed in what is going on. What develops is an interesting cross between Airport and the Poseidon Adventure, as the Navy desperately tries to raise the 747 from the depths. Honestly this is not a bad option if you are looking to escape from your life for a couple of hours. A good disaster movie from the 70s is never looking to achieve cinematic greatness ala Citizen Kane; it only seeks give its watchers a bit of fun.

2 for 1: a Zeus-Poseidon Adventure

[shakercoola · 5/10 · 28 May 2018]

An American disaster adventure; A story about a mid-air hijack of a private airliner carrying a collection of priceless works of art. This, the third in a series of Airport films, has a stellar cast against the clock. It has varied settings and interesting action sequences involving the American Navy rescue team. Suspense is held quite high once the criminals act and the inevitable disaster ensues even if the plot is quite banal. The film has superior art direction and costume design which were recognised by the Academy Awards.

Loved this movie

[schanin1 · 8/10 · 30 December 2006]

I loved this film growing up.

I have even become a flight attendant because of this film and the movie Survive ( the Rene Cardeno Jr version).

I could pick this movie to bits. However I will not as it is there for pure entertainment and entertain it does.

I have always wondered if there was a longer version though. As a child i remember it being shown over two nights the same with earthquake. If anyone can help with this and verify if there is a longer version let us know. If you want some disaster fun this is it. A plane crashes into the sea and survivor's must fight for their lives. Some may make it and some may not. Oliva DE Havilland does look out of place in this movie I think this is because she was a great star and a disaster movie just did not seem to be a role she would do. the same with Gloria Swanson who also ended up in a disaster movie. But we all must eat.

Lee Grant steals the show this could be debatable but I believe she does as a booze drinking socialite.

Airport '77 continues the exciting airline disaster series

[tavm · 7/10 · 3 June 2023]

In this third Airport entry, Jack Lemmon is the plane captain, therefore the hero, and Brenda Vaccaro is his romantic partner but unlike previously, she's not a stewardess but an assistant to rich art collector Jimmy Stewart who's sending his paintings on board to his museum for the grand opening. Christopher Lee isn't a villain here but a diver who wants to help Lemmon when the plane ends up in the Bermuda Triangle. Besides Stewart, other long-time movie stars appearing include Olivia de Havilland and Joseph Cotton. Oh, and George Kennedy once again appears as Joe Patroni, once again barking orders. This was another exciting entry in this airline disaster series so that's a recommendation for Airport '77.

Amazing that this was a hit!

[Sergiodave · 5/10 · 18 May 2022]

Without this movie we would never have had the Airplane spoof movies, for that it got an extra star. This movie has a lot of famous names getting paid obscene amounts to star in a poor disaster movie, but as a plus it did star the future Buck Rogers. As a scuba diver I must also point out that the chances of a plane sinking to only 40 metres in the ocean is extremely unlikely.