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UNIVERSAL

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Jerry Jameson
Cast:
Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Brenda Vaccaro
Writing Credits:
Michael Scheff, David Spector

Synopsis:
A luxury 747 carrying valuable art work is hijacked and lands in the ocean, submerged in shallow water.

MPAA:
Rated PG.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA Monaural
French DTS Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 113 min.
Price: $34.98
Release Date: 6/14/2016
Available Only As Part of “Airport: The Complete Collection”

Bonus:
• Trailer


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

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RELATED REVIEWS


Airport '77 [Blu-Ray] (1977)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 12, 2024)

While I didn’t care for it, at least 1970’s Airport deserves some recognition via its pedigree. It largely launched the 1970s disaster genre, and it received a surprising number of accolades, as it garnered 10 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.

1974’s Airport 1975 didn’t muster the same level of praise or innovation, but it did fine for itself. The movie performed well at the box office and it also stands as probably the most entertaining of the series.

So what about 1977’s Airport ‘77? It offers probably the most notable cast of the bunch but falls short in virtually every other way. It’s not the worst Airport movie, but only the insane ineptitude of The Concorde… Airport ‘79 prevents that ignominy.

Aviation mogul Philip Stevens (James Stewart) decides to open his Palm Beach mansion as a museum and he uses his own personalized 747 to transport the guests. Captain Don Gallagher (Jack Lemmon) acts as pilot of this craft, and his longtime girlfriend Eve Clayton (Brenda Vaccaro) comes along as well.

Intrigue starts immediately when we see a shifty-looking dude switch briefcases with a pilot. He disguises himself as a worker to get aboard the Stevens plane where he and a compatriot plant gas tanks on the aircraft. He then settles in as a waiter to later execute his nefarious plan.

In the meantime, the guests arrive on the plane. They include wealthy art patron Emily Livingston (Olivia de Havilland), her old friend Nicholas St. Downs III (Joseph Cotten), Martin Wallace (Christopher Lee), adulterous wife Karen (Lee Grant), her consort – and Martin’s partner – Frank Powers (Gil Gerard), and Stevens’ estranged daughter Lisa (Pamela Bellwood). All socialize while we wait for the baddies to do their thing.

Abetted by other conspirators on board the plane, they eventually do so. They knock out the aircraft’s security guard as well as Don, and they render everyone else unconscious when they flood the jet with gas.

They plan to fly the plane off-course and disappear into the Bermuda Triangle where they’ll land on an island, unload all the jet’s valuable art headed to the museum, and take off with their fortune. However, this doesn’t work out as planned.

While they fly under the radar, they clip an offshore drilling rig and crash into the ocean, an event that leaves the crew and passengers trapped on the sea floor. They attempt to cope with their situation and survive while they await rescue.

What the heck ever happened to the Bermuda Triangle? Back in the 1970s, we heard mysterious, spooky tales about it all the time, but now it seems to have fallen into oblivion. Did the space monkeys who reside there return to their home world or something?

Not that the Triangle gets much more than lip service in this fairly standard mix of caper flick and disaster adventure. I remember how much attention the Triangle received during this era, so I expect the producers of ’77 incorporated it to garner a little attention for the project. I’m surprised they didn’t put Bigfoot on the plane as a co-pilot as well.

’77 needs all the gimmicks it can get, for it sure doesn’t produce any excitement. Each Airport movie spends less and less time with exposition before it gets to the intrigue.

This leads one to believe that Concorde will come with an explosion during – or perhaps before - the opening credits. ’77 zips through its character introductions and scenario set-ups to get to the plane crash.

I suppose this fares better than the tediously long-winded exposition seen in Airport and The High and the Mighty. However, it means that we really don’t give two hoots about most of the characters.

That occurs despite the stellar talents on display. How is it possible that a movie with James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Olivia de Havilland, and Joseph Cotten among others can stink so badly? It seems almost impossible, but ’77 manages to accomplish that trick.

Actually, the best performance of the lot – and the only one that stands out from the crowd – comes from Lee Grant. She invests her predictable drunken harpy with a liveliness absent from the rest of the somnambulant cast.

I sense the others turned in pedestrian work and showed up here just for their paychecks. Grant veers toward the campy side of the street, but at least she brings some oomph to the film.

Unfortunately, Grant can’t enliven the whole flick on her own. ’77 goes down as the most boring of the series, no mean feat given the tedium onscreen during the original Airport.

It simply lacks much intrigue, and it also fails to deliver the cheesy goofiness of 1975. The movie doesn’t quite play things straight, but it doesn’t go for the prior film’s campy gusto.

Part of the problem comes from the movie’s focus on the rescue. Granted, I suppose that’s inevitable, as most disaster flicks concentrate mainly on how the characters try to get out of their predicament. After all, you can’t run two hours of constant catastrophe.

Unfortunately, ’77 fails to balance the two sides, and it feels like engineers wrote it. The movie focuses on the logistics of the situation and ignores the drama and excitement. This makes the rescue scenes slow and tedious.

The series’ continued involvement of George Kennedy’s Patroni character gets more and more ridiculous with each new flick. This’ll reach its peak of absurdity in Concorde, but ’77 stretches badly to include him.

Boy, that Patroni sure gets around! Apparently he can’t hold a job, as he works for a different airline in each movie.

It also seems unclear why Patroni ends up as part of this search, and Kennedy gets less to do here than in any of the other three efforts. He appears as a token link to the rest of the series and offers little more than a cameo.

Airport ‘77 goes down as a really dull film. It doesn’t seem satisfying for disaster lovers, though at least it doesn’t just remake the first two. I appreciate its attempts to differentiate itself from the other flicks, but it simply lacks excitement or anything compelling.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B-/ Bonus D-

Airport ‘77 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Despite some minor concerns, this became a pretty solid presentation.

Sharpness usually seemed satisfying. A few wider shots appeared a little off, but those didn’t create many distractions. Instead, the film was generally concise and accurate.

Jaggies created no issues, and outside of light shimmering from the exterior of a mansion early in the film, the image lacked shimmering. Grain seemed largely appropriate and print flaws remained absent, but some light edge haloes cropped up at times.

Colors displayed good vivacity and life, while blacks were dense and tight. Underwater or night photography mostly demonstrated nice definition.

Some of these shots were a little murky, but not many. A few small issues aside, this turned into a satisfying presentation.

In addition, the DTS-HD MA monaural audio of Airport ‘77 seemed perfectly adequate. Speech offered more than acceptable delineation and clarity, with no edginess or issues connected to intelligibility.

Effects could be slightly rough at times, primarily in regard to the high end of the register, but they usually provided reasonably accuracy and definition.

Music fared better, as the score was fairly rich and full given the limits of the source material. This wasn’t a great track, but it satisfied.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the DVD from 2004? The lossless audio showed a little more warmth than its lossy predecessor, but the nature of the 47-year-old source limited growth.

Visuals became a different story, as the Blu-ray looked tighter, cleaner and richer than the DVD. Even with some concerns, this turned into a solid upgrade in terms of picture.

As with the other Airport sequels, this one comes with almost no extras. We simply find the film’s trailer and nothing else.

With an excellent cast and a theoretically interesting scenario, Airport ‘77 could have delivered the best of the series. Unfortunately, it bores us to death with its endless focus on logistics. The Blu-ray offers fairly positive picture and sound but lacks supplements. Leave this dull clunker on the shelf.

Note that Universal makes Airport ‘77 available only as part of the four-film Airport Complete Collection. This also includes the original Airport plus sequels Airport 1975 and The Concorde… Airport ‘79.

Airport is sold on its own. As of February 2024, that’s not true for its three sequels, as those remain exclusive to this “Complete Collection”.

To rate this film, visit the original review of AIRPORT '77

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