Airport '77

Airport '77
Airport '77
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jerry Jameson
Screenplay by	Michael Scheff; David Spector;
Story by	H. A. L. Craig; Charles Kuenstle;
Based on	Airport, based on the novel by Arthur Hailey
Produced by	William Frye;
Starring	Jack Lemmon; Lee Grant; Brenda Vaccaro; Joseph Cotten; Olivia de Havilland; Darren McGavin; Christopher Lee; George Kennedy; James Stewart;
Cinematography	Philip H. Lathrop; Rexford Metz;
Edited by	Robert Watts; J. Terry Williams;
Music by	John Cacavas
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	March 11, 1977;
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6 million
Box office	$91.1 million

Airport '77 is a 1977 American air disaster film, and the third installment of the Airport film series. The film stars an ensemble cast of veteran actors including Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland, and Brenda Vaccaro as well as the return of George Kennedy from the two previous Airport films. It is directed by Jerry Jameson, produced by William Frye, executive produced by Jennings Lang with a screenplay by Michael Scheff and David Spector.^[1]

The plot concerns a private Boeing 747 packed with VIPs and priceless art that is hijacked before crashing into the ocean in the Bermuda Triangle, prompting the survivors to undertake a desperate struggle for survival.^[2]^[3]

Despite mixed critical reviews, Airport '77 was a box-office hit grossing $91.1 million worldwide. It was nominated for two Academy Awards.

Plot

Wealthy philanthropist Philip Stevens is having invited guests flown in his luxurious privately-owned Boeing 747-100, Stevens's Flight 23, to his Palm Beach, Florida estate. Aboard are his estranged adult daughter and her young son, whom he hopes to reconnect with, as he is secretly dying. Priceless artwork from Stevens's private collection destined for his new museum is also on the jetliner. The collection has motivated a group of thieves led by co-pilot Bob Chambers to hijack the aircraft.

Mid-flight, Captain Don Gallagher is lured from the cockpit and rendered unconscious. A sleeping gas secretly installed pre-flight is released into the cabin, knocking out unprotected crew and passengers. Chambers, flying to a small deserted island to offload the art treasures, drops the plane below radar range causing Stevens' Flight 23 to "disappear" in the Bermuda Triangle. Descending to virtual wave-top altitude, Flight 23 heads into a fog bank, reducing visibility. Minutes later, a large offshore drilling platform emerges from the haze, and Flight 23 is headed straight for it.

Chambers attempts to avert a collision, but the wing clips the structure's tower, igniting an engine. Chambers extinguishes the fire but a sudden loss of airspeed threatens to stall the airplane. As he struggles to maintain control, the passengers begin waking up to the unfolding disaster. Chambers is unable to maintain his airspeed; the plane stalls and crashes into the water, floating momentarily before quietly slipping below the surface.

The plane settles in relatively shallow water that is above the plane's crush depth, though water pressure gradually compromises the fuselage. Many passengers are injured, some seriously. Chambers, the only surviving hijacker, reveals the plane is two hundred miles off course, meaning search and rescue efforts will be focused in the wrong area. As a search for the missing plane is launched, veteran aeronautics expert Joe Patroni joins the rescue operation as a technical adviser, joined by Philip Stevens. Meanwhile, the trapped crew can only contact rescuers by getting a signal buoy to the surface. Captain Gallagher and a professional diver and passenger, Martin Wallace, enter the main cargo preparing to swim to the surface using air masks. The hatch door malfunctions, forcing Wallace to open it manually. The sudden onrush of water kills him, but Gallagher is able to make it to the surface and activate the emergency beacon. The signal is detected and a rescue operation is launched. Meanwhile, the plane's fuselage is steadily leaking.

The Navy dispatches a sub-recovery ship, the USS Cayuga and a flotilla of other vessels to the crash site, rescuing Gallagher. Stevens, meanwhile, has joined the Cayuga via helicopter while Patroni stays on the mainland to study the aircraft's risks of imploding underwater, which he warns Gallagher about over the phone. Guided by Gallagher, Navy divers rig the plane with balloons and inflate them, slowly raising the aircraft, which could split apart. Just before the plane reaches the surface, a balloon breaks loose and pressure is reduced to stabilize the aircraft. A cargo hold door inside the plane bursts open and seawater swamps the cabin; Chambers, pinned under a sofa, drowns. Emily’s injured friend Dorothy dies from her injuries; Wallace's widow Karen and a stewardess drown. With time running out, air pressure is increased, raising the plane to the surface. All survivors are quickly evacuated. Captain Gallagher and Stevens's assistant, Eve, get trapped inside and escape through the upper deck where they are fished out of the ocean by a navy helicopter. All buoyancy is lost and the 747 slips under the waves for the last time. The survivors are unloaded on a nearby rescue ship. Stevens reunites with his daughter and tearfully hugs his grandson. The helicopter carrying Gallagher and Eve lands aboard the Agerholm, where they are both met by the grateful survivors.

Cast

Jack Lemmon as Capt. Don Gallagher
Lee Grant as Karen Wallace
Brenda Vaccaro as Eve Clayton
Joseph Cotten as Nicholas St. Downs III
Olivia de Havilland as Emily Livingston
James Stewart as Philip Stevens
George Kennedy as Joseph "Joe" Patroni
Darren McGavin as Stan Buchek
Christopher Lee as Martin Wallace
Robert Foxworth as Bob Chambers
Robert Hooks as Eddie
Monte Markham as Banker
Kathleen Quinlan as Julie
Gil Gerard as Frank Powers
James Booth as Ralph Crawford
Monica Lewis as Anne
Maidie Norman as Dorothy
Pamela Bellwood as Lisa Stevens
Arlene Golonka as Mrs. Jane Stern
Tom Sullivan as Steve
M. Emmet Walsh as Dr. Harvard Williams
Michael Pataki as Wilson
George Furth as Gerald Lucas
Richard Venture as Commander Guay
Elizabeth Cheshire as Bonnie Stern
Anthony Battaglia as Benjy Stevens

Production note

Although the disaster portrayed in the film is fictional, rescue operations depicted in the movie are actual rescue operations utilized by the Navy in the event of similar emergencies or disasters, as indicated at the end of the film prior to the closing credits.

The disaster itself - a hard water landing as shown in the film, and an intact sinking - would not be likely, given the hard tail strike (which would have demolished the aircraft).

For its initial broadcast on NBC-TV in September 1978, an additional 70 minutes of outtakes and new footage shot especially for network TV was added.^[5]

Reception

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 40% of 10 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.4/10.^[6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[7] Variety wrote, "The story's formula banality is credible most of the time and there's some good actual US Navy search and rescue procedure interjected in the plot."^[8] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated it 2/4 stars and wrote, "The movie's a big, slick entertainment, relentlessly ridiculous and therefore never boring for long."^[9] The New York Times wrote, "Airport '77 looks less like the work of a director and writers than like a corporate decision."^[10]

Box office

The film grossed $30 million in the United States and Canada and $61 million internationally for a worldwide total of $91.1 million.^[11]^[12]

Awards nominations

Award	Category	Recipient	Result
Academy Awards^[13]	Best Art Direction	George C. Webb and Mickey S. Michaels	Nominated
Academy Awards^[13]	Best Costume Design	Edith Head and Burton Miller	Nominated

Theme Park attraction

From late 1977 until the early 1980s, the Universal Studios Tour in California featured the "Airport '77" Screen Test Theater as part of the tour.^[14] Several sets were recreated, and members of the audience were chosen to play various parts. The audience would watch as these scenes were filmed. Key scenes such as the hijacking, crash and rescue were recreated, and the footage was then incorporated into a brief digest version of the film and screened for the audience on monitors. Each show's mini-film was made available to audience members to purchase on 8mm and videotape.