The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) User Reviews

The disaster film trend of the 1970's goes out with a whimper

[AlsExGal · 4/10 · 13 March 2016]

Fourth and final entry in the series that began in 1970. That first film helped kickstart the all-star big budget disaster trend in 70's cinema, and this final outing helps just as much at putting the final nails in the genre's coffin. Of course "Airplane" the following year would make fun of the entire previous decade's worth of disaster films.

Alain Delon gets top billing as the captain of the title craft. With Susan Blakely and John Davidson as reporters, Robert Wagner as a crooked arms dealer, Sylvia Kristel as the head stewardess, Eddie Albert as the airline owner, Sybil Danning as his trophy wife, Avery Schreiber as a Soviet Olympic coach with a deaf daughter, Andrea Marcovicci as the oldest Russian Olympic gymnast ever, Mercedes McCambridge as her busybody chaperone, Cicely Tyson as a mother to a child desperately in need of a heart transplant, Nicolas Coaster as the doctor to perform it, David Warner as the dieting flight engineer, Bibi Andersson as a prostitute, Jimmie Walker as a pot-smoking sax player, Charo as Margarita and Martha Raye as the woman who can't stay out of the bathroom (no, really).

George Kennedy costars as Patroni, the only character to appear in all four films. This time he has a larger part as co-pilot of the title passenger jet, on route from the US to Paris, as Wagner's evil arms dealer hatches numerous inept plans to bring down the craft and destroy incriminating evidence. The dialogue is trite and banal as usual, and the various relationships and mini-dramas amongst the bloated cast never rise above the mundane.

Keep your eyes open for an early appearance by Ed Begley Jr as Rescuer #1. Like many films of the era, the studio also cut together an extended version for TV broadcasts that added even more subplots and characters, played by the likes of Jose Ferrer, J.D. Cannon and Alan Fudge, but the version I watched was the original.

If Not For The Courage Of The Fearless Crew, The Concorde Would Be Lost

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 19 November 2007]

The real star of the last of the Airport films is that big supersonic carrier the French created called The Concorde. If you bear in mind that the whole film is dedicated to showing what that needle nosed plane could do in the sky, than the whole film kind of makes sense.

But if you're expecting some serious drama here, than by all means take some of the evasive action the Concorde shows here when some nasty folks try to shoot her down.

Susan Blakely plays a television news reporter who also happens to be the mistress of military industrial tycoon Robert Wagner. One of Wagner's aides just happens to bring her information on some of Wagner's dirty business dealings, selling arms to folks not friendly to the USA. When the source, Macon McCalman, is killed in front of her and she's nearly done in by a hit-man whom she escapes from of course she confronts Wagner with the information. And of course he denies it. But right before Blakely boards The Concorde, McCalman's widow Kathleen Maguire hands her the necessary documents.

But on the way to Moscow with a stop in Paris, Wagner and his minions try to put the big bird down. But the fearless crew of Alain Delon, David Warner, and George Kennedy is up to all their tricks. It's quite a bag full as you'll see if you want to watch the film.

If you're an aviation enthusiast, you absolutely won't care about the plot. It's like the film Le Mans with Steve McQueen which has a legion of auto racing fans who have made it a cult item. Maybe Le Mans is better at that because they just didn't bother with any kind of story.

Among the passengers is a pot smoking saxophonist played by Jimmie Walker, a distraught mother accompanying a new heart for her child, played by Cicely Tyson and Martha Raye a woman with a weak bladder who spends the entire trip from Washington to Paris in the loo. She's actually the best one here.

Robert Wagner must have been psychic though because I'm sure on the strength of this film he got the part of Doctor Evil's number two in the Austin Powers series.

I'm sure all concerned got a big pay day out of this film, but it seems to have killed the Airport saga of movies.

Faster than the speed of sound And sillier than anything you can ever imagine!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 20 June 2010]

All the entries in the 70's disaster movie franchise "Airport" – a total of four movies spread over one decade – have been chastised by critics as well as regular action movie fanatics for being too grotesque and ludicrous. Me, personally, I liked the three previous installments a lot, but I can't but admit that the swan song in the series is a completely laughable effort. The supposedly adrenalin-rushing script is absurd, the stereotypical characters are cartoonish, the acting performances are wooden and the action sequences are downright hilarious. The set-up and plot of "The Concorde" is faithful to the previous movies. We have a cast full of acclaimed names, often in inferior little roles, and a screenplay that brings together pretty much everything that can go wrong on an intercontinental flight. The prestigious Concorde aircraft is ready to fly from New York to Paris and then onwards towards Moscow in celebration of the 1980 Olympics. One of the passengers is the female journalist Maggie Whelan, who's in possession of some important evidence that will unmask her ex-fiancée Kevin Harrison as an illegal weapon dealer. It's most vital for him that Maggie never reaches Moscow and thus he tries to kill her, as well as the rest of the Concorde passengers and crew, subsequently through nuclear missiles and sabotage. Luckily for the passengers, the Concorde has two of the world's biggest macho men behind the steering wheel with the French Captain Paul Metrand and the American veteran pilot Joe Patroni. "The Concorde: Airport 79" is a dumb and fairly pathetic film, but fortunately enough it remains amusing and never bores for one second. The sight of an hi-tech advanced airplane making loops in order to evade missiles is definitely bad in an entertaining way and the hammy performances of A-list stars are fun to observe as well. Particularly Robert Wagner is tremendous as the villain. With his straight face and eloquent monologues, he represents the prototype of Bond-movie villains and I strongly suspect that Mike Myers hired him to play Number Two in the Austin Powers' movie solely based on his performance here. Alain Delon looks quite bored and soft-erotica star Sylvia "Emmanuelle" Kristel is rather unnoticeable when she keeps her clothes on. Fun bloke George Kennedy is the only actor who appeared in all four of the "Airport" movies, so it's truly a shame that he plays his biggest role in the worst of the series. The dialogs are lame and some of the clichéd sub plots are horrendous (does there really have to be an emergency donor organ transport in every disaster movie?), but I certainly didn't regret the two hours of my life that I wasted on watching this film.

So bad they advertised it as a comedy!

[jimu63 · 1 August 2003]

"The Concorde--Airport '79" is truly one of the worst films ever made. It is tacky, imbecilic, and inept, with some of the most inane plotting ever committed to celluloid. It comes complete with what is probably the worst script ever by an Academy Award Winner (Eric Roth of "Forrest Gump" fame). It is so dumb it is laughable. It is stupid. In fact, it is so bad they advertised it as a comedy!

The plot is inane: wealthy weapons manufacturer (Robert Wagner) is confronted by television anchorwoman/girlfriend (Susan Blakely), who tells him she has evidence that he is selling secrets to the Russians and is going to expose him. Does he kill her then? No. Since she has been assigned to cover the inaugural flight of the Concorde (Washington, D. C. to Paris to Moscow), he decides to shoot down the plane with the anchorwoman in it. So when the plane takes off with the usual "Hollywood Squares" cast of television has-beens as passengers, and the two most unlikely pilots in the business (Alain Delon as Capt. Marquand and George Kennedy as Capt. Joe Patroni--that's right, airline mechanic turned executive turned Concorde pilot), he tries to shoot it down with a wayward missile, which he could conveniently blame on equipment failure. After the pilots elude the missile by flipping the plane over a half-dozen times and firing a flare out the window while flying at mach 2 (!!), they survey the damage and decide to fly on to Paris, since noone is hurt and structural damage evidently not a concern. Then they get to Paris, where they are attacked by a couple of fighter jets, which they manage to elude. They then crash land (in one of the most cheesy uses of obvious miniatures I have ever seen in a supposedly big-budget film--even the trees are obviously plastic) and disembark. That's the end, right? Wrong. The movie is only half over, so after an overnight layover, in which the cast couples as if the Concorde is Noah's Ark, everyone reboards the plane to go on to Moscow, even though they know someone is trying to bring it down.

Anyway, let's just say the second leg of the trip ends even worse, with the plane crashing into a snowdrift without a single passenger or crew fatality. So what does our wealthy weapons manufacturer do? He shoots himself in the head. Fade to Black.

Where do I start? Obviously this is absolutely ridiculous from start to finish. And then there are the actors: soft-core porn star Sylvia Kristel as a stewardess, Jimmie "J. J." Walker a saxophonist, Mercedes McCambridge looking ridiculous as a Russian gym coach, Andre Marcovicci as a gymnast who appears to be six feet tall, John Davidson as a TV reporter, Bibi Andersson a prostitute, Eddie Albert the idiot Concorde owner and Sybil Danning his trophy wife, David Warner the flight engineer, etc. Etc. There's even a cameo by Charo (yes, Charo) as a passenger who tries to smuggle a chihuahua onto the plane by pretending to be blind and saying it's her "seeing eye Chihuahua." And, sadly, we're treated to the sight of the great African-American actress Cicely Tyson, reduced to picking up a paycheck as the mother of a heart-transplant recipient who's accompanying the heart to Paris where her son waits. (In the late '70's, the two most highly regarded TV performances of the decade were Sally Field in "Sybil" and Cicely Tyson in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman." Field was rewarded for her performance with a film career that was capped by two Oscars. Tyson disappeared after appearing in this travesty. How sad.)

Yep, the stupidity runs rampant: Kennedy and Andersson make love by a fire. Kennedy tells stewardess Kristel: "They don't call it the cockpit for nothing, honey," a line that would get you fired in a second nowadays. Albert says upon disembarking in Paris: "Nobody is keeping us from going on the Moscow!" Martha Raye adds unfunny comic relief as an old lady with weak bowels. When she's nervous, she runs to the bathroom. She spends the entire film in the bahtroom. (Ho! Ho!) And no one even mentions lawsuit once, even after the plane turns upside down. And the cast? Dreadful. All the way down the line. Paychecks, paychecks, paychecks. That's all anyone was after on this one.

Incidentally, the "director" of this mess was yet another television hack, David Lowell Rich, who may as well be named Ed Wood. But he's the least of the problems. No, the problem is a studio that insisted on dumping cheapjack product like this on an undemanding public instead of taking the time to hire truly talented visionaries who could come up with a decent premise, or better yet, not make the darned film in the first place. The only good thing about "The Concorde--Airport '79"? Released at the same time as "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" and the year before "When Time Ran Out...," it delivered strike two in the at bat that mercifully ended the disaster craze of the '70's. And not a moment too soon. No stars (out of *****)

So bad, it's good!

[highwaytourist · 1/10 · 22 August 2010]

Have you ever watched unintentional comedy? Well, this is it. There are so many absurdities, I couldn't keep track. The best scenes are when Robert Wagner decides to shoot down the plane with missiles and pass it off as a mechanical failure, Charo tries to smuggle a Chichiauah on the plane and, when it's discovered, claims it's her seeing eye dog, John Davidson's hair stays in place when the plane flies upside down, when a missile gets close to the plane, pilot George Kennedy rolls down the pilot's seat window (at the speed of sound) to shoot at it, Jimmy Walker smokes weed in the bathroom stall, and when stewardess Sylvia Crystal says seductively "You pilots are such men!", Kennedy replies, "They don't call it a cock-pit for nothing!" What floors me is that after the first disaster, the plane takes off for another flight and the passengers get back on! If I were a passenger, no way would I board that plane! All this is backed up by special effects that wouldn't pass for an episode of "Bewitched." If you can find this movie in the 99 cent section, I recommend it. I laughed more than I had laughed in weeks. It's great entertainment in the worst way possible.

2/10 */5 ~ "Please do not misconscrew me. Can't the drone be reprogrammed? What a pathetic joke!"

[Doctor_Mabuse · 2/10 · 12 April 2004]

The original Airport (1970) was a classic of its kind, and the first two B-movie follow-ups (Airport 1975; Airport '77) were watchable fun at best, amusing camp at worst; but this crass and inept final entry lacks any entertainment value and displays a shocking contempt for its audience. It's unendurable and not even good for laughs.

All of the three "Airport" sequels were theatrical releases made by Universal's television wing but this one is beneath even the modest standards of a TV movie of its day, with cheapjack production, grotesque casting, visual ugliness and tasteless, unfunny "comedy". The project was clearly doomed by the "creative" efforts of Universal executive Jennings Lang who personally produced and is given a "story" credit.

Everyone starts somewhere, and writer Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) might have provided an element of self-burlesque, as had the previous films (especially the notorious Airport 1975), but there is nothing worth spoofing in Roth's turgid, incoherent script and even the comedy Airplane! left this crud untouched.

What makes The Concorde: Airport '79 particularly offensive is its insulting misuse of professionals. The worst victim is the supremely gifted Cicily Tyson (Sounder; The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman), pitilessly reduced to a vomitous subplot involving her escorting a frozen heart transplant on the unfortunate flight.

A special kick to the groin is reserved for the wonderful George Kennedy, who is the true lead despite being buried in the cast list. The official mascot of the "Airport" series and the only actor to appear in all four movies, Kennedy had more than earned the starring role and his turn in the Captain's seat would have been the only possible reason for this entry other than the squeezing of one last buck. Kennedy provides the only warmth and real humor in this mechanical muckup, briefly putting aside the bravura machismo and revealing a genuinely sweet and tender side to himself, and his lovable and heroic character of "Joe Patroni". Unfortunately we are never allowed to forget how fat and old and over-the-hill Kennedy is, and overage pretty-boy Alain Delon relentlessly calls him "Porky Pig" as part of a buddy-bonding that falls completely flat. Even Kennedy's Parisian romance, the only humane part of this plane-wreck, turns out to be merely a set-up for a hateful joke at Patroni's, Kennedy's, and the viewer's expense.

What a disaster!

[ericjg623 · 1/10 · 13 January 2003]

There are bad movies, movies that are horrible, and then there's a tiny, rarified body of movies that are so horribly bad that, even after seeing them just once, the sheer awfulness makes it impossible to forget them even decades later. This is exactly such a movie, and it's hard to believe that the original film in this series was actually quite good. Let's see, George Kennedy, the cigar chomping "tough guy" mechanic of the original has somehow been promoted to airline captain, and, after the Concorde comes under missile attack (don't ask), he resorts to stunts like shooting a flare gun out the cockpit window despite (presumably) flying at Mach 2, all the while doing the sort of wild high-G evasive maneuvers that would have ripped the wings off any real airliner, never mind the effect of the passengers! But the absolute worst part of the film, at least to dedicated airplane buffs like myself, is that this atrocity "starred" one of the coolest, sexiest, and most technologically remarkable planes ever to fly. The Concorde (or, just plain "Concorde" as its pilots refer to it) deserved far better, this abomination is the equivalent of taking a high class beauty like Audrey Hepburn and putting her in a "Porky's" sequel. Thankfully, the release of the ever hilarious "Airplane!" the following year brought the whole "Airport" franchise to a well deserved halt, as anyone even contemplating a fifth installment would have been laughed to death by studios and movie fans alike.

1/10

Screams of Terror are Passe -- Screams of Laughter are In

[droche-3 · 2/10 · 15 March 2007]

This is what happens when a franchise gets lazy, and no one can think of a new twist to add. Remember what happened to the "Childs Play" series? The first three were played as horror films, with genuine scares (albeit predictable) that held true to the theme of the movie. Then they ran out of folks for the doll to stalk, and decided to play it for laughs, with the next two being black comedies.....

Well, that;s what happened here, but I think it was not meant to be like that. Kind of like saying, "I WANTED to make pancakes for dessert! I did this on purpose!" when your soufflé accidentally fizzles flat. But the milk was spilled, and it had some value in the theaters as a goof.

When the floor ripped out from under the passenger seats, I sort of expected the passengers to extend their legs through the hole, start running Flintstones-Style, to safely land the plane in the Alps. I did. It would have fit into the silly campy theme of the rest of the show.

Instead of pointing out the obvious physical impossibilities of the film, what about the social implausibilities? Like having George Kennedy's character react calmly to the news that his date was a whore? Even back in 1979, a man would not easily accept the notion that he has just poured his heart out to a paid companion. He supposedly felt he made a connection with a kindred spirit, who is subsequently shown to be a mercenary sex-worker with a come-on line. Who WOULDN'T feel cheated by the experience? And yet he giggles, and wraps his arms around his buddy's waist as they merrily stroll off. What a cheap wrap up of a sleazy scene. Ouch.

I had an appetite for soufflé, and got served insipid cliché pancakes. And no, you did NOT do it on purpose!

Worthwhile simply to have said you watched the whole thing.

[innocuous · 2/10 · 21 January 2009]

I gave "Airport '79" only two stars because it's a truly lousy film. Nobody who had anything to do with it deserves any praise (except for Charo's Chihuahua, who does a pretty good job in his role.) This is not to say that the film isn't worth watching. It helps if you have a buzz on, but this is not essential.

A'79 really does seem like an early version of "Airplane!" Every scene has a set-up and a payoff, and the scenes blunder after one another as if they were totally disconnected. One of my favorite recurring points is that the passengers, crew, and airplane get to keep going, no matter what. You're a news reporter and a strange guy gets murdered at your house in your presence? The hit-man then chases you onto your greenhouse roof? No problem. You can still catch that early-morning flight to Paris...no need to get the cops involved. Your plane dodges one unmanned "drone" missile, four heat-seeking missiles, and cannon fire from an unidentified Phantom fighter, doing barrel rolls, an unpowered dive, and a crash-net landing without thrust reversers in the process? No problem, we'll have the mechanics check the oil and get you on your way in just a few hours. It's truly funny.

And I'll admit that there's a bit of the anarchist in me that comes out when the passengers pay no attention to the cabin attendants. The highlight is when the attendant tells Jimmie Walker he'll have to put away his saxophone (God spare me from a flight seated in front of a saxophonist playing jazz!) prior to take-off. Jimmie basically says, "Nope." Later in the flight, the sax is damaged during a barrel-roll and Jimmie actually shows up on the next leg of the flight with yet another sax that he won't put away. This aspect of the film is just fun. (ONE passenger actually obeys the attendant. When Charo is told she can't take her dog on the flight, she leaves the plane. Naturally, this is because you can't get a good view of her ass and boobs while she's seated.)

In summary, a terrible movie, but terrible enough to be a bit amusing. Unfortunately, the filmmakers and cast deserve no credit whatsoever for this, as it was probably entirely unintentional.

I can't help but love this movie!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 9 May 2018]

A few minutes into this movie, Becca turned to me and said, "There isn't anyone good in this one like the others." I disagreed. This film is filled with some of my favorite people and while it's the worst film in the series, it's also my favorite. If they ever make a blu ray of it, I demand to do a commentary track for it!

Directed by David Lowell Rich (Satan's School for Girls, Eye of the Cat), this film is quite relevant today, as it's rife with corrupt corporations, drone planes and media scandals. You've got Robert Wagner playing a corrupt arms dealer who is in love with Susan Blakely, yet he keeps trying to kill her.

For the ladies, there's Alain Delon as the dashing captain. And for the men, there's Sylvia Kristel as the gorgeous airline hostess. And for the fans of The Omen, there's David Warner as a henpecked flight officer.

There may never be a movie as sexist as this one. Just look at the way the character of Patroni has changed. He's no longer a ground crew guy who will kick a pilot out of his own plane. Now, he's flying the plane while making sexist jokes at every opportunity To wit:

Isabelle: You pilots are such... men.

Capt. Joe Patroni: They don't call it the cockpit for nothing, honey.

Or when he asks Delon's character about Vietnam:

Capt. Joe Patroni: Gee, I remember this Eurasian gal. She had these great big blue eyes. They called her the tarantula. You ever run into her?

Capt. Paul Metrand: No, I don't think so.

Capt. Joe Patroni: You'd remember if you did. She was a real ball breaker!

That makes me wonder - how was Patroni in Vietnam? Wasn't he already working in the Chicago airport back in the original? Well, now his wife is dead, his son is in college and he's ready to party. In fact, when they get to Paris, he gets set up with a prostitute and has the night of his life. Is he mad when the ruse is revealed? Hell no! It makes him overjoyed as he slaps his pal's back!

Then there's Eddie Albert as a rich businessman and Sybil Danning as his wife, to which Patroni comments "She's his fourth wife. There's this story that back in the 20's when he was barnstorming he made a bet that he could put it to this good lookin' wing walker. He boffed her right out on the wing a thousand miles above El Paso. His ass got so sunburned he couldn't sit down a week!"

What is happening with this film? I literally yelled at loud several times during it, shocked at how raw it seems in the world of political correctness. But this isn't Blazing Saddles, a film that uses non-PC language for comic effect. This is a scummy cash-in, the final film of a once high prestige franchise. And I loved every minute of this strange bird!

Martha Raye gets locked in a bathroom as a plane faces turbulence! Jimmie "Dynomite" Walker smokes up and carries his saxophone everywhere! Cicely Tyson just wants to get her son a new heart! John Davidson performs his own marriage ceremony to a Russian gymnast! Mercedes McCambridge, the voice of Pazuzu, is in this! And Charo is in the credits and has around thirty seconds of screen time, thirty seconds which had me screaming in pure joy!

Have you realized yet how much I adore this movie? How can you not love a film where a heat sinking missile is defeated by rolling down the window of a supersonic airplane and shooting a flare gun out the window? And after the plane went through such chaos between New York and Paris, why would anyone allow it to fly again the next day? Why wouldn't security be increased? And why not crash land the Concorde in the alps? Why would they even get on the plane in the first place?

Even better, there's a news report earlier in the film that sounds like it came straight out of The Simpsons, a strange piece of comedy in a film that has been serious so far. That's because that voice belongs to Harry Shearer!

Obviously, we wouldn't have Airplane! without these films. But after watching the last two films, it's pretty hard to parody what has become a parody.

And you thought "Airport '75" was stupid!!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 17 November 2021]

In Harry Medved's book, "The 50 Worst Films of All Time", 'Airport '75" made the list. I think this is only because the book came out in 1977...before "The Concord...Airport '79" debuted! Yes, it's THAT bad...well, perhaps not bad but incredibly stupid.

The plot makes it obvious the studio had run out of ideas for air disasters...it's that ludicrous. A multinational arms manufacturing company has been illegally selling arms to various nasty countries. A whistleblower knows about this and is murdered as he's making contact with a reporter. Although he's killed, the woman escapes and the next day, as she's about to get on the Concorde, documents incriminating the head of the arms company are given to her. The CEO (Robert Wagner) is determined to not allow that plane to safely lands and sends a super-missile after the plane. When that doesn't work, a remote controlled fighter plane it sent after the Concorde!! In both cases, this very large airliner is able to deftly avoid the missiles by outmaneuvering and outrunning them...something which is incredibly absurd. After the plane successfully lands in Paris, the movie appears to be over...everyone has survived....or have they??

I can understand why folks back in the day thought this film was intended to be a comedy. Not only is the plot dumb but the dialog and characters are terrible. Jimmy Walker's character walks around the plane with his saxophone and even plays it while the plane is in flight....he also smokes reefer in the lavatory! Martha Raye's character LITERALLY spends the movie in the bathroom peeing due to a bladder condition (I am so shocked she agreed to play such a stupid and embarrassing role). But in particular, George Kennedy's character (who was in all four Airport movies) has somehow been promoted to Concorde pilot and he says some incredibly ludicrous things...especially this gem:

Isabelle: You pilots are such... men.

Capt. Joe Patroni: They don't call it the cockpit for nothing, honey.

For more ridiculous dialog, read through the dialog section for this film....including the banana comment!

Overall, a film that is laughable because of bad writing from start to finish.

Total camp classic

[jojofla · 9/10 · 4 December 1998]

The fourth and last of the calamitous Airport series, The Concorde is undeniably the most wretched of the bunch, but presented with such disregard for intelligence that it's also the funniest. Bubble--headed reporter Susan Blakely finds out that boyfriend Robert Wagner, a duplicitous arms dealer, has been secretly selling weapons to the Russians; when she boards the Concorde bound for Paris, he sends his latest heat-seeking missle after the plane. Pilots Alain Delon and George Kennedy (who started out as just a simple mechanic in the first Airport) turn the plane upside down to avoid it. After the missle is destroyed by some USAF sky jockeys, the plane continues on to Paris (!). Approaching France, a jet fighter starts shooting off missiles again at the Concorde, so Kennedy opens up the window (!!) to shoot off a flare. In Paris, Wagner tells Blakely it's all a mistake, so she gets on the Concorde again (!!!) to jet off to Moscow. A timer opens up the cargo hatch and the plane starts to break apart, but not before Delon lands the plane in the Alps (!!!!). A laugh riot, from start to finish!

The "Airport" Franchise Comes to a Campy End

[mrb1980 · 6/10 · 20 October 2013]

The original 1970 "Airport" was excellent, with a good cast working with a top script about a hectic winter night at an urban airport. The 1975 and 1977 sequels were watchable, if a little silly. However, this movie outdoes all the others combined with campy, ridiculous silliness.

Paul Metrand (Alain Delon) and Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) are Concorde pilots who run into a little bit of trouble, courtesy of sinister arms dealer Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner). Harrison is determined to bring down the plane because reporter Maggie Whelan (Susan Blakely) has the goods on him and is on the plane. Harrison scrambles jet fighters (apparently he has his own private air force) to fire missiles to shoot down the Concorde without success. Then, Harrison's henchmen rig the cargo door to open in flight, which will surely rip the plane apart and kill everyone. Metrand and Patroni manage to belly land the crippled airliner at a French ski resort in the Alps (wow!) and evacuate the passengers before the plane explodes. Harrison is so distraught that he commits suicide at the end of the film. Also along for the ride are Sylvia Kristel, Eddie Albert, Charo, John Davidson, Jimmie Walker, and many other familiar faces.

I really liked this movie not because it's good, but because it's so darn campy that it's irresistible. Any movie that has George Kennedy firing a flare gun out an open Concorde window during flight (at 30,000 feet, maybe?) has to be seen to be believed. The plane also turns upside down and later spectacularly lands on a ski slope, plowing up enormous amounts of snow. Campy dialogue, absurd situations, you name it…it's not good, but it's certainly entertaining.

Best line: Joe Patroni (Kennedy): "We've got explosive decompression!!!!"

Thrill as the Concorde performs ridiculous aerobatic stunts.....

[Rob_Taylor · 3/10 · 15 January 2006]

Some slack might be cut this movie due to the fact that it was made in 1979. That much said, it really is pretty dire.

Never mind the laughable back-projection or the awful, awful camera-tracking of supposed "in-flight" objects, it's the stunts that the Concorde pulls off that will have you blinking in disbelief at the absurdity. Barrel-rolls, loop-the-loops and violent "evasive" maneuvers left me wondering why the Air-Forces of the world didn't just fly Concordes as their main fighters.

So, here are the important lessons I learned from this celluloid cheese-fest:

1. The Concorde is at least as agile as a Phantom 4 jet-fighter.

2. You can fire a flare gun at Mach 2 simply by opening the cockpit window and sticking your arm out.

3. If the flare gun fails to discharge, do not drop it, as it may then go off.

4. The Concorde can dodge up to two Sidewinder missiles fired at it at once.

5. A flare will distract a heat-seeking missile every time.

6. Switching off your jet-engines is a sure-fire way of throwing heat-seeking missiles off track if 5 (above) fails.

7. When performing a crash-landing in the Concorde, it is apparently impossible to jettison your fuel beforehand.

8. Concorde pilots are all combat-trained veterans.

As you might imagine, this film is not very realistic. The effects are primitive by today's standards and that, coupled with the nonsense acrobatics the Concorde performs, makes this a movie deserving of little but scorn.

Not recommended. Not recommended at all!

Almost bad enough to be good.

[Poseidon-3 · 9 February 2005]

In the beginning, there was "Airport", an A-list, ultra-slick adaptation of a best-selling book, nominated for multiple Oscars (including Best Picture!) Then came "Airport 1975" with too much humor (intentional and unintentional) and Karen Black flying a damaged 747. "Airport '77" had a private plane sinking beneath the ocean while rich passengers dropped like flies. In an inane attempt to continue the exploitation of the original film (and cash in on the notoriety of the then-new Concorde, the fastest commercial plane ever), this film came along and ended the series for good. A year later, "Airplane!" would slam the coffin lid and seal it with it's hysterical sending up of the many clichés of the air-disaster genre. Here, Wagner is a high-powered industrialist who's been selling arms to enemies of the U.S. When his reporter mistress Blakely is informed of this, he tries kill her. After she boards the Concorde en route to Moscow, he (ludicrously) decides to pull out every stop in the book to demolish the aircraft, even though it is full of Olympians, TV journalists, music legends, human organs and little old ladies who can't stay out of the bathroom! The entire film is both stagnant and simultaneously uproarious at the same time. The director, writer, editor and the actors can't seem to get ANYTHING right! (See Blakely's ridiculously unconvincing newscast in which she never once looks into the camera and in which clips from events AS THEY ARE HAPPENING IN REAL TIME parade across the screen.) It also contains some of the most abominable blue-screen and model special effects ever to be seen in a major studio film. The cast of the film is huge and full of names, though most of them are given, literally, nothing to do but embarrass themselves. Wagner looks very tired and hardly bothers to vary his facial expressions. Blakely works hard but is defeated by the stupidity of the character and the script. Kennedy (the one actor who was in all four films) is promoted to Captain this time, but is reduced to cracking crude sexual jokes and (in the film's most celebratedly lunatic scene) cracking open the cockpit window and shooting off a flare! Haggard, former screen-god Delon as another pilot tries to beat preposterous dialogue like, "Your hair is my french fries" in his affair with sex kitten stewardess Kristel (whose calf-length uniform has a split up to her thigh!) Other oddities include McCambridge spouting a dreadful Russian accent and flouncing around in curtain-like tops as a gymnastics coach, Walker as a pot-smoking sax player, Lewis as a jazz legend (!) who feels she may be losing it, Schreiber as a Russian coach with a deaf daughter (at least she can't hear Lewis singing!) and Raye as a grandma with a bladder control problem (first dentures and now this?! What? Did June Allyson turn the part down?) Special mention must be given to the side-splitting appearance of Tyson as a mother escorting (!) a frozen heart to her dying son. (Since when do parents go off and collect organs while their kid is expiring somewhere else??) In an apparent attempt to disappear from this rancid film, she hides her face under every imaginable object. Already buried under Victoria Principal's fright wig from "Earthquake", she uses hankies, a clutch purse, blankets, ANYTHING to obscure her face from being seen, eventually turning away from the camera entirely! The endless cast list also contains Albert as the airline owner and Danning as his trophy wife, Davidson as a reporter, Charo as a pushy passenger attempting to stowaway a Chihuahua and Marcovicci who gets another special mention. Unbelievably, she plays a 24 year-old gymnast (!) going for her third gold medal, which is crazy enough except that she was 31 in real life! Just one more nutty aspect of this thoroughly retarded film. Perhaps the most bizarre of all is the fact that the plane goes through several traumas, spinning violently and nearly crashing, yet after a layover in Paris, virtually every single passenger GETS BACK ON! As if things weren't bad enough, the Olympics that were pushed so heavily in this movie wound up being boycotted that year by the U.S., so the whole film was outdated before it was even released anyway! Good for a few laughs, but worthless as drama.

Not a Comedy

[giantcomics101 · 2/10 · 2 May 2008]

This movie is scary at times, perhaps no more so than when a naked George Kennedy tells his hooker girlfriend he wants a little more sugar. Thankfully his nakedness is covered by a blanket, but the image is still more horrifying than anything you're likely to find in, for example, Schindler's List.

The dialog in this film was inspiring; it inspired me to watch another movie. In one scene, when a stewardess remarks about male pilots, Kennedy asks, "Why do you think it's called a 'cock' pit?" Charming.

And yes, contrary to what some have written, this film is very, very bad.

this turkey can fly at twice the speed of sound

[majorsky · 2/10 · 2 March 2008]

All the Airport movies are stinkers, but this one is the biggest turkey of them all. The formula was different for this one because it focused on TWO disastrous flights and a lot of plot occurring on the ground, while the other movies focused on just one disastrous flight and less plot on the ground. The stunts with the Concorde are worth watching for the laughs, although the special effects aren't as terrible as I'd expect for a movie of this quality made in 1979. George Kennedy's sexist remarks are disgusting and his rendezvous with a prostitute in Paris is totally unnecessary (and made me gag a little). Poor Martha Raye was relegated to a role where she did nothing but relieve her bowel over and over in the Concorde's bathroom. There are no big stars in this movie compared to the previous films, giving you one more reason not to watch this one.

Concorde Love Boat soon will be making another flight

[brinkus-2 · 2/10 · 13 June 2021]

As others have said, this movie is so bad it is unintentionally funny. Drones are sent to sink the Concorde on the first flight, yet most of the passengers cheerfully get back on the plane for the second leg of the flight. Of course, there is still plenty of time for hijinks and romance on both legs of the flight.

Since this is a disaster movie, there should also be some fatalities. As far as I could tell, nobody died on either leg and there are only two deaths in the film. Possibly the lowest death count in the history of modern disaster movies.

Please be aware that the scariest thing about the movie was a George Kennedy lovemaking scene. Jimmie Walker and Martha Raye supply the laughs.

Absolute Hokeyest Movie Of All Time!!! JUNK!!!

[thos_walter · 1/10 · 3 April 2013]

Ordered the complete AIRPORT movie set recently. Always been a fan of the Airport series. First three, Airport (70), '75, '77, I've seen numerous times and always liked all three. For some reason I've never seen Airport '79 though. Ladies and gentleman, this has to be the all time hokeyest movie I have ever seen in my 50 years of life! Bad acting. Bad writing. Bad plot. Stupid plot. Bad special affects, even for 1979. Just bad everything. Honestly, after the first 15-20 minutes I was ready to turn it off. I was like, when is this movie going to get going. I cannot believe all the well known actors in this movie actually consented to being apart of this joke of a movie. I don't think there is one movie I have ever not said you have to see at least once until I viewed this one. I would NEVER recommend this movie to anyone even as a joke and I will never watch it again.

Twice as fast. Twice as stupid.

[vip_ebriega · 3/10 · 30 September 2009]

My Take: The silliest of the AIRPORT movies, and probably one of the worst of the 70's disaster movies.

As if to milk the franchise with all its got, the producers of this third sequel to AIRPORT throws in more action, silly subplots, gratuitous star appearances and goofier elements. In its attempt to be the biggest AIRPORT yet, CONCORDE: AIRPORT '79 is the worst one yet, and probably one of the worst of the disaster movies of the 1970's. With its bad box-office results, it is no wonder that the genre has overstayed its welcome.

The film opens with a rather catchy score by Lalo Schifrin backed-up by some impressive shots of the titular aircraft in its former glory (the same plane used in this film would be involved in a crash in July 2000). But then the credits appear, and we get a glimpse of the "all-star" cast, which is composed nothing more of faded Hollywood stars, TV actors and none-too-popular B actors. The plot is sillier than ever: George Kennedy is back in the role of Joe Patroni, now the pilot of the Concorde (co piloted by co-pilot Alain Delon) en route to France after the Summer Olympics. On board is reporter Maggie Whelan (Susan Blakely), who has just discovered that his boyfriend, renowned weapons manufacturer Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner), is selling their weapons to terrorist. To prevent her from revealing the news to the world, Harrison sends his most advance missiles and best saboteurs to prevent the Concorde from landing.

The cast/subplots are dumber than ever, even sillier than an alcoholic Myrna Loy or a singing nun. We have Cicely Tyson transporting a live human heart in a cooler (!), Martha Raye as a woman with a bladder condition (and the character doesn't go deeper than that), J.J. Walker a a pot-smoking saxophonist (arguably the most annoying character in the film), Eddie Albert married to "old" wife Sybil Danning, Avery Schreiber as Russian coach with a deaf daughter and finally, a love story between reporter Jon Davidson and gymnast Andrea Marcovici (much to the sour watching-eye of coach Mercedes McCambidge). Plus the movie gets much closer to LOVE BOAT episode than ever with the silliest cameos of Charo (and her pet Chihuahua) and Bibi Anderson. Camp buffs will no doubt get a real kick-in-the-balls in this silly entry in a long strain of 70's disaster movies. This one is, in more than the sense of the word, a true disaster.

Rating: *1/2 out of 5.

Thoroughly entertaining

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 2 December 2018]

THE CONCORDE is the surprisingly enjoyable climax of the AIRPORT series that began a decade before with a legitimate Burt Lancester movie. This one has French import Alain Delon piloting a concorde which finds itself under siege from Robert Wagner's ruthless business tycoon who will seemingly stop at nothing to take the life of one of the passengers who has crucial evidence of his corruption. The good news is that George Kennedy, who has had various supporting roles in the previous three films, plays the co-lead here and shines, proving very funny throughout; that comes as no surprise for any fan of the NAKED GUN trilogy. THE CONCORDE is a much-slated movie, but nonetheless I rate it the second-best of the series, after the third; the reason for that it because it's so entertaining. The film is cheesy beyond belief and often funny with all of the surprising one-liners and the like. It feels more like a thriller than a disaster movie, with one twist after another, and the action and FX scenes aren't too shabby either. It's not a great film and doesn't claim to be, but it sets out to entertain and it certainly achieves that goal.

I could put on a better show with sock-puppets!

[Guise11 · 1/10 · 17 October 2002]

I have seen some BAD movies in my time, but this takes the taco. It's dreadful. Considering I saw this in 1998, it's so BAD that it's stayed in my head all this time. In fact, I have a bordering 'obsession' with it. This is so stupid and unbelievable that you'll wish you'd opted for a trip to Grandma's for tea instead of staying in to watch this preposterous film. The parts I recall are when the Concorde gets ripped up and loses pressure. Some guy's chair falls into a hole and other passengers manage to rescue him by remaining sitting in their chairs! Oh man, some day I'm gonna watch this again and it'll all come flooding back to me. To all those people on here who claim Airport 79 isnt a bad movie, I suggest you get yourselves back to the hospital. The day Airport 79 gets a vote higher than 3 out of 10, is the day I go out to buy some salt to sprinkle on all the places Hell just froze over.

Delightfully awful

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 12 June 2021]

This film along with THE SWARM the year before killed the disaster genre for at least 20 years. First of all, where have you ever seen such a variety among the cast? There is some real talent here, Cicely Tison, Bibi Anderssen, Mercedes McCambridge right along TV hacks Robert Wagner and Susan Blakely. We even get a bona fide international star, Alain Delon. Wasn't Sylvia Kristel in porn? I told you this film had everything, even Charo!

To punch up the action beyond its three predecessors, the plane is attacked more times than any aircraft can endure. The dialog is as stupid as the subplots. The acting awful, especially from Wagner and Blakely. They had no place out of bad 1970s TV. George Kennedy discusses sex incessantly and considering the source, its downright revolting. Martha Raye has a bladder condition. Susan Blakely has a Farrah hairdo. Both are key to the "plot."

They finally gave up and realized they had a turkey and re released it as a comedy.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?... No it's the most laughable film ever!

[braniki · 6/10 · 21 September 2005]

The only way I can imagine a producer undertaking such a film project is similar to the famous sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus in which Graham Chapman, dressed as megalomaniac Howard Hughes (Big hat & cigar) states loudly before a bunch of "yes-men" something like:

"I see a plane" (the Concorde).

Applause.

"I see the hottest french leading man of the moment as the pilot" (Alain Delon).

Roar of applause.

"I see the not so hot french girl from Emmanuelle as the stewardess" (Sylvia Kristel who is rather dutch for that matter).

Louder roar of applause.

"I see a missile that goes up to the plane... and doesn't even touch it."

Explosion of enthusiasm from the audience.

Or is it?...

Actually, this film cannot possibly taken seriously for one second and that's exactly why I like it. It's interesting to compare the laughs of mockery this stupid show provides with the deliberate parody of Airplane. I also had that strange feeling of watching a very very long and badly made commercial for the now "retired" Concorde. You never get very convinced by the solidity of the damn plane seeing it cracking from all parts like that.

This was one of the last attempts in the disaster movie category by the end of the 70s., including some memorable box office flops as When Time Run Out, Meteor, or one of my favorite, in the unintentionally funny type, The Swarm.

A lousy and badly-paced supersonic movie in the ¨Airport¨ sagas has the Concorde pursued by missiles

[ma-cortes · 4/10 · 26 November 2015]

This old-fashioned , disconcerting catastrophe picture contains thriller , suspense , drama , moderate tension and being entertaining but with lots of flaws and gaps . All clichéd , incredibly far-fetched non-sense , the result is a very superior hokum . The movie is another jetliner epic with heroes as Alain Delon and George Kennedy playing two valiant pilots . Plenty of stock roles with regurgitation of all usual stereotypical situations from disaster films , including a fairly moronic screenplay . This is the four of four movies in the "Airport" series adapted from the Arthur Hailey novel . It's embarrassing and amusing as well as full clichés and stereotypes , including the unavoidable accident , with below average acting by all-star-cast . As the Concorde takes off several threads of the plot are already in motion . American based Federation World Airlines has just acquired a Concorde jet , which will make its inaugural commercial flight from Washington D.C to Paris and subsequently Moscow , in the former Soviet Unión . It is captained by Alain Delon who muses : ¨It's still amazing to me , only three and half hours ago we were in Paris ¨ . And another captain , co-pilot Patroni yells ¨I'd love to see what my horoscope said for the morning¨ . The film is detailing hectic flighty piloted by Alain Delon/George Kennedy and the relationship among passengers . As the Concorde is chased by missiles when the nasty Robert Wagner , who runs an arms plant , has been caught selling weapons to the bad guys of the world , and his journalist-mistress -Susan Blakely- is the woman with the evidence . Then , villain Robert launches an attack missile against the Concorde . As the captain pilot Delon banks to avoid two of Wagner's fighter aircrafts . At the end takes places a crashing in the Alps . 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 .

It is an insincere , slick attempt to find box-office magic again , but this time didn't achieved hit smash . As the film was a critical and commercial failure at the box-office with the lowest financial take of the four "Airport" movies . Unflagging pace , plastic acting , hilarious dialogue and stock characters recounting a hectic flight in Concorde . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series is wasted by lousy acting embarrassing special effects and non-sense plot . The screenplay develops into ¨Coyote and The Road Runner¨ stuff and one can visualize Robert Wagner jumping up and down with rage as each new attempt fail .When American audiences greeted the film with derisive laughter, Universal decided to market it as a comedy, with the Tagline : "Fasten your seat belts, the thrills are terrific and so are the laughs!" . The movie was made and released around the time of another Concorde film, Concorde Affaire '79 (1979) , the two films both had French cast and French story elements , even their titles were similar . Look quickly to Eddie Albert , Bibi Andersson , Charo , Andrea Marcovicci , Cicely Tyson , David Warner, Mercedes McCambridge , Jimmie Walker , Sybil Danning , Jon Cedar , Ed Begley Jr , final feature film of actress Martha Raye, among others . In addition , George Kennedy and Monica Lewis are the only returning actors from the "Airport" movie series to appear in the movie ; Kennedy's continuing character of Joe Patroni appeared in all four "Airport" pictures . The motion picture was ridiculously directed by David Lowell Rich , habitual TV director and occasionally for movie theater . It's an inoffensive diversion but is sometimes tediously unspooled . The flick won't appeal to 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 , being directed by Jerry Jameson with Jack Lemmon , Christopher Lee , James Stewart , Lee Grant , Robert Hooks , Monte Markham , Kathleen Quinlan , Darren McGavin ,Gil Gerard , M. Emmet Walsh , Pamela Bellwood , Michael Pataki , James Booth , leading to the last of the tired ones , this ¨Airport 79¨ (1979) by David Lowell Rich with . This picture was nominated for Worst Picture at the Hastings Bad Cinema Society's 2nd Stinkers Bad Movie Awards in 1979 and listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in "The Official Razzie Movie Guide" . 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