Airport: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray]
C**N
Great Airport set, Fun disaster films
Finally all 4 of the 1970s era Airport disaster films are available on Blu-ray for the first time ever! The original film, Airport, had been previously available on Blu-ray as a single release, but the three sequels make their Blu-ray debut in this set.Airport released in 1970 kick started the 1970s disaster movie craze bringing together many of the elements that made the genre so popular (all star casts, tense set pieces, great special effects and lots of drama). This film is done very seriously and depicts a series of mishaps at a busy airport including inclement weather, a plane that slides off a runaway and becomes stuck in the snow, protestors from a nearby community who want a runway shut down as the air traffic goes right over their homes, a stowaway, marital drama and a bomber on board one of the planes. Lots of great performances from the likes of Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bissett, George Kennedy, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton and Helen Hayes is marvelous as the elderly stowaway. This film was nominated for a number of Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1970 and was a promising start to the disaster genre, which eventually became high camp by the close of the 1970s.Airport 1975, released in 1974, came out in the heyday of the disaster film (The Poseidon Adventure had already come out and also in 1974 the likes of The Towering Inferno and Earthquake proved the staying power of the genre). Airport 1975 again features an all star cast, but the plot this time is a little more straightforward, rather than dealing with the running of an airline at the airport terminal, this film tells the story of a midair collision and the crew and passengers must work to keep the plane in the air after the pilots are injured or killed. Charlton Heston leads the rescue operations on the ground along with George Kennedy while Karen Black attempts to fly the plane. A number of notable stars are passengers aboard the flight (Helen Reddy as a singing nun, Gloria Swanson as herself, Myrna Loy and Sid Caesar share seats together and Linda Blair is a terminally ill child on her way to receive an organ transplant). Despite the film heading into some campy territory with the singing nun character, the film was surprisingly entertaining and kept me watching the screen the whole time.Airport '77, released in 1977, tells the story of a high end 747 loaded with important guests who have been invited by Jimmy Stewart to attend the opening of his new museum of art. However the plane is hijacked mid air by a group of thieves hiding in plain sight as crew members who attempt to gas the passengers and steal priceless works of art on board the plane and make their getaway all while the passengers sleep it off. However this goes awry when the plane clips an oil rig and crashes into the ocean where it proceeds to sink to the bottom. After the plane disappears Jimmy Stewart uses his pull to get help in finding the plane which includes George Kennedy back again this time in a very small role. Jack Lemmon is the pilot, Brenda Vaccaro the head stewardess and the passengers include Lee Grant, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, M. Emmett Walsh and Christopher Lee.The Concorde: Airport '79 is definitely the worst of the bunch. Coming out in 1979 at the end of the disaster craze it was full of high camp and like many other disaster flicks of the time (The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out) it bombed spectacularly at the box office, successfully ending the franchise. This one features Susan Blakely as a reporter who receives intel that her lover (Robert Wagner), the head of a major corporation, is selling arms to terrorists and she plans to report on this upon arriving in Paris after a flight aboard The Concorde airplane. Robert Wagner uses various means to try and ensure she doesn't survive the trip including shooting experimental missiles at the plane and hiring rogue French jets to try and shoot them down. The film features French star Alain Delon and the returning George Kennedy as the pilots of the Concorde and a host of B-actors are on board as the passengers including (Jimmie Walker as saxophone player, Charo who attempts to smuggle on her pet dog, Eddie Albert as the owner of the Concorde, Avery Schreiber as the coach of a Russian Olympic team and Martha Raye who is hysterically out of place as a woman who suffers from incontinence. Martha Raye features in a scene so unbelievable it has to bee seen, she is seen tumbling around the airplane lavatory as the Concorde veers, darts, dives and spins to avoid the aforementioned missiles. This one is probably more for completists like myself who like to watch all movies in a series or for fans of bad movies.As for the picture quality of the films Airport and Airport '77 look and sound amazing on my Home Theater set up. Airport 1975 is very good as well. The Concorde: Airport '79 is the worst in terms of picture quality as it is quite grainy in a lot of scenes, however all 4 films look better than their DVD counterparts.All in all, this is a great set to add to your collection if you are a fan of the films, the 1970s or disaster films in general. OR maybe you grew up with these and want a great nostalgia ride back to the 1970s. Also a great price for 4 films, all around 2 hours each or longer in Airport's case.
K**.
It's slightly dated but it's still watchable and it's a classic
I watched these at theaters Y'all remember theaters don't you and I'm not talking walk-ins drive-ins I miss my drive-ins He's a perfect drive-in movies
S**C
Take cover, there's danger in the skies! These 4 big budget all-star airborne disaster flicks are still lots of fun.
All four of the classic air disaster films from the 70's collected here in one inclusive Blu-ray set, and it's a GOOD one!AIRPORT: A hellacious snowstorm interferes with a plane that's running out of fuel and must land after being damaged by a terrorist explosion. It's up to airport manager Burt Lancaster & chief mechanic George Kennedy to save the day. Suave, swaggering ladies man Dean Martin is our intrepid co-pilot. Helen Hayes is delightfully devious as an elderly stowaway, and Maureen Stapleton gives a terrific performance as the bewildered wife of the suicidal man who boards the plane with a homemade bomb.AIRPORT '75: A mid-air collision with a small airplane mortally cripples a jumbo jet. With the flight crew dead, hotshot pilot Charlton Heston must perform a suicidal in-flight plane-to-plane zipline transfer(!) if he hopes to land the airliner and save its terrified passengers, including a young girl en route to a desperately-needed heart transplant. George Kennedy once again lends a hand, but in a much smaller capacity here in this sophomore installment of the airborne disaster soap opera. (And keep an out for the number of plot threads plucked from this entry and used to hilarious effect in the uproarious spoof of the genre, AIRPLANE!)AIRPORT 77: Saboteurs planning to make off with a fortune end up dumping a jetliner into the Atlantic Ocean, miles from where the airport & the Navy think they went down. Will they be rescued before the pressure of the ocean crushes the aluminum hull of the downed jet, dooming all aboard? George Kennedy is back once again, but this time as one of the execs of the company that owns the hijacked plane! (A pretty good promotion for a former chief mechanic.) Jack Lemmon & Christopher Lee up the star power considerably in this water-logged entry.AIRPORT '79 - THE CONCORDE: Debut transatlantic flight of the supersonic airliner is jeopardized by industrial espionage & intrigue. Robert Wagner leads the all-star cast. This time old George has been reduced to the Captain of the futuristic passenger jet. Lots of plot twists and multiple attacks (and near misses) up the tension in this, the swan song of the venerable series.THOUGHTS: The films are pretty good though fairly routine and more or less assembly line retreads, with few exceptions. Like Roddy McDowall was for The Planet of the Apes movies, George Kennedy is the lynch pin here that loosely inter-connects these all-star panic in the sky flicks, as gruff-but-lovable airline mechanic cum airport supervisor cum Airline owner cum Concorde captain, Joe Patroni. Tons of guest stars in each film add to the fun, and the special effects are decent for the most part, (though they definitely show their age in some scenes).THE BLU-RAY: This 4-disc set from Universal set is a pretty good one. All of the films have been remastered in hi-def and look fairly impressive for the most part. They're not frame-by-frame restorations, unfortunately, but they look quite good considering their age. The audio portion on all four films is strong, level & clean. Sadly, there's not much in the way of extras, but it's the films themselves that I bought this set for, (and I got it for a good price, too), so while I'm sorta bummed, I still think it was a solid deal. It was a nostalgic blast to revisit these old school airborne catastrophe films again. (These seemingly played all the time on the ABC Sunday Night Movie, way back in the day.) Clean, excellent picture & sound in a compact, 4-disc snapcase collector's set. All-in-all, this set is a good bargain which I highly recommend! 5 STARS
K**Y
Seen it in theaters?
If you seen these movies in theaters and owned them on VHS tapes now it's time to order this product on blu-ray and if you don't own a Blu ray player you can also buy on Amazon as well as a flat screen tv.
D**S
Excellent choice. Really enjoying it.
I liked the “airport” movies. I would highly recommend them
B**D
NO CRASHES AT THESE 4 AIRPORTS!!
Well, I wouldn't catch a plane with any of these people!!!But I'd catch a movie!Story lines are well known so no spoilers here!The first AIRPORT is a lot of fun with a strong story line and great fun performances. Though Helen Hayes won the supporting Actress Academy Award, I thought Maureen Stapleton was absolutely impeccable in her tortured, emotional role and should have got the Award. Van Heflin too, was tremendously moving as the misguided, emotionally scarred husband of Stapleton. Gut wrenching performances.AIRPORT '75 is fun enough along with AIRPORT '77 and it's rather interesting story of being rescued from the ocean floor without stretching credibility too much.AIRPORT '79 THE CONCORDE... good cast but that story was a bit hard to take especially when the pilot's window was wound down to fire off a flare gun to distract a heat seeking missile (!!).... must belong in the 10 IDIOTIC IDEAS IN MOVIES OR DON'T DO THIS WHEN YOU'RE ON A PLANE!!I must point out though the real flying sequences in these movies, particularly more in the last 3 films, were excellent and very spectacular viewed on my 8ft wide movie screen with a Benq Video Projector with a 50,000 to 1 contrast ratio.All in all, good to have these films in pristine restored Blue Ray versions.
C**Y
Go for takeoff!
An excellent upgrade of a classic series of 1970s disaster movies that triggered a whole genre. The first film starring Burt Lancaster is by far the best of the bunch, possibly because the basis of the story was already there from Arthur Haileys book Airport. Helen Hayes got an Oscar for this film so it must of been good! The series is all rather downhill and increasingly far fetched from there on though.The second film with Charlton Heston was much parodied in the spoof ‘Airplane’ movies and lacks the strong story and believability of the first. The third one with Jack Lemon underwater is rather stupid and technically impossible for a plane to do with survivors. The last one attempts to use Concorde, which was news at the time, to milk the franchise for another few bucks, but it’s one of the worst films ever made and beyond ridiculous, so save 90 mins of your life and throw that disc out as soon as you buy the set. George Kennedy is the only person who appears in all the films as the reoccurring character of Petroni. He got rather typecast in these type of disaster films in the 1970s but apart from the last one puts in a strong performance in all.
P**L
Reaching New Heights
The High Flying Series Of Disaster Airport Movies Finally Get's The High Definition Treatment. The classic original That launched it all Airport sees life's ups and downs Through a busy Airport finally Having To Deal with a bomb Threat on one of Their airlines. Based on The best selling Novel With an all star cast including Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Jacqueline Bisset and making His first appearance in The series of Movies Hollywood Tough guy George Kennedy. Airport 75 Aptly filmed in 1975 sees a Boeing 747 struck in a mid air collision by a small charter plane leaving a large Hole in The flight Deck crew badly injured and up To The stewardess To land The plane. Plucky Karen Black plays The unwilling stewardess Though Help is on hand from Hollywood legend Charlton Heston. Heston's Not on board The plane but They manage To get Him into The crippled cockpit via a mid air rescue well we are at The movies. Once again an all star cast Takes flight including Gloria Swanson, Linda Blair, and look out for TVs Invaders Roy Thinnis. while offering plenty of Action in The air Airport 75 olso went for laughs Delivering Dead pan one liners while still playing it straight you can see why This movie was spoofed in The latter Airplane comedy films. Up Next Airport 77 and for my money The best in The series once again The unlucky 747 is High jacked in mid flight for its cargo of valuable paintings The plane it's an off shore oil rig and plunges into The murky Depths of The sea with The rest of The movie Detailing The rescue of The survivors and raising The plane. Jack Lemmon, James Stewart. Christopher Lee. and The ever reliable George Kennedy are all on Hand for This one. The producers Dropped The Dead pan liners That perhaps faulted The previous movie and Delivered a solid Action Thriller. The Super Sonic Concorde was all The current Trend back in 1979 and Universal pictures used The Concorde as centre stage for Their final Airport Disaster movie This one sees George Kennedy finally at The controls Dodging air missiles in mid flight and for The Time This was made The sight of The Concorde Dodging missiles The special effects were very well Done. All of The movies in The collection Deliver a very Good High Definition Transfer better Than any past DVD releases. in The way of extras all feature The Trailers for The movies it's a five star collection. However My own experience with The seller I Had To pay an extra £13.00 customs charge for This collection To add further insult To injury The casing Housing four Discs was badly cracked lucky I add spare cases That Take Three Discs I was able To Transfer Them all into one of Them and They Don't look Too bad but really. If you plan To buy This collection I would advise Trying To get it Through a Different seller.
F**
4 in 1 disaster films.
This set of Aeroplane disasters is just perfect for those of us into disaster movies even if some of the acting is a touch ropy.
G**H
Crash and boom.
Love a good " cheesy " disaster film. Cant wait.
A**R
Blu ray
Very good copy to blu ray a
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
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