Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 31, 2024)
In 1970, Airport launched the string of disaster movies that populated screens in the 1970s. Big hits like The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and Earthquake all made their mark before we’d finally get another Airport movie.
That franchise picked up steam again in 1974 with Airport 1975. A 747 flight from Dulles Airport to LAX gets diverted to Salt Lake City due to weather issues.
Along the way, the pilot of a small aircraft suffers a heart attack and slams into the 747. This leaves the pilots dead or incapacitated so flight attendant Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) winds up at the controls.
Flicks like this always require audience members to suspend disbelief. However, most don’t go as far as 1975, which absolutely depends on the annihilation of disbelief for the viewer to enjoy it at all.
Where to start? I suppose the concept that there’s no one on the plane more qualified to fly it is a good place to begin.
Of all the passengers, there isn’t anyone with some experience at the helm of a plane – not even a Cessna? That seems tough to accept, but then again, in a world where Gloria Swanson a) plays herself, and b) meets with the Supreme Court, I guess we can swallow this.
Scads of coincidences abound, and the film takes some odd liberties. When Freeman’s plane impacts with the 747, none of the air traffic controllers seem very concerned, and the folks on the jet themselves remain pretty laidback about things.
On some occasions, they actually leave the cockpit unattended to deal with other matters! Nancy occasionally freaks out, but only as a plot device.
Oddly, the folks on the ground often exhibit much more passion than those at risk of death. Actually, the primary examples of this come from Charlton Heston and George Kennedy, the two men mainly in charge of rescue attempts.
They give master courses in overacting here, as they play their roles in three ways: angry, angrier, and angriest. I half expect Kennedy to yell at his ham sandwich for being too tough.
At least 1975 gets going a lot more quickly than the extremely slow-paced Airport. As I noted when I reviewed it, the original flick was more soap opera than disaster movie, so it concentrated on its bland character portraits and lacked much excitement.
For all its stupidity, at least 1975 delivers those particular goods since the filmmakers had the good sense to concentrate on the disaster elements. The crash takes place less than halfway through the movie, which means enough time to deliver reasonable exposition, but not enough for us to get bored.
Don’t get me wrong - I don’t think these movies should immediately launch into hysterics with little to no build-up at all. The subsequent Airport flicks take that path, and they become less and less satisfying.
I just don’t want to have to suffer through all the nonsense seen in the original Airport, at least not unless the rest of the effort presents real excitement.
Boy does 1975 require us to accept a lot of idiocy along the way, though. We find a very 1970s sense of sexual politics with some insanely heavy-handed flirting. It’s also amusingly convenient that gravely ill young Janice (Linda Blair) brings along a guitar so pop star Helen Reddy – as a nun! - can play her a tune.
The whole plot device of the sick girl in desperate need of medical attention seems especially shameless, though for some bizarre reason, the film largely ignores it. Clearly it sets up the urgency of this matter, but it never invests much in it during later portions. Other characters come and go without much notice as well.
But who cares? We watch movies like this for their disaster elements, and Airport 1975 gives us what we want – at least to a moderate degree.
It’s insanely cheesy, and not just because of the garish 1970s décor and fashions. I think a piece of fromage like this will likely appeal to fans of camp more than anyone else, but disaster aficionados may enjoy it as well.
