Airport '77

Movie Review: Airport '77

Year of Release: 1977
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Jerry Jameson
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Brenda Vaccaro

Plot outline: Art thieves hijack a 747, hit fog and crash into the ocean, trapping them and the passengers under 100 feet of water (IMDb).

The disaster genre was in full swing by 1977, and Jennings Lang, the executive producer, was apparently trying to be like Irwin Allen. He produced the last two installments of this series, going for more elaborate perils than what the previous two movies offered. Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) is back to offer assistance with another airplane disaster. This time, he is the liaison between the military and the company that built the plane. There's no explanation of how he went from airline mechanic (Airport) to VP of Operations (Airport 1975) to this position. Nevertheless, he offers helpful advice concerning the plane's stress points, which is a crucial bit of information considering how the Navy plans on freeing the submerged passengers. Airport '77 somehow manages to remain believable despite its outlandish plot, which is always taken seriously. The movie works because if this scenario were to happen, then what we see looks like a plausible way to go about a rescue operation. The best performance goes to Jack Lemmon, who remains calm and takes charge admirably as Captain Gallagher once the plane sinks underwater. The plot is bewildering, but a good disaster movie always features tremendous odds against the people in danger. So, as long as the screenplay makes the characters smart about their situation, then it usually works. While bad disaster movies get the special effects right, but always lack a strong human element for us to latch onto. Luckily, Airport '77 features some interesting characters and an engaging screenplay to go along with the plot. (SS)

My judgement: ** out of 4 stars