I'd never seen an AIRPORT movie before starting these series a few days
ago. I knew the first few films were wildly successful and kick-started
the whole disaster boom of the 70's, so I was kinda curious as to why they only
made four films and just didn't continue the series indefinitely since it looks
to be an endless goldmine. I still think the AIRPORT series could
have gone on, but after seeing Part 4 I can understand why they ended it when
they did. First off, the star power is completely gone, but even more
importantly (and maybe why there wasn't any star power to begin with) is the
story is complete rubbish.
You got a Concorde flying from Washington D. C. to Moscow. On board is the
reporter girlfriend of a aerospace big shot. She has evidence that's he's
been illegally selling arms to enemies of the US. So naturally the only
thing he can do is launch a high tech missile at the airplane, but oh, that's
just the beginning because he also has a fighter jet attack the plane and then
has a maintenance guy sabotage one of the doors to open in mid flight!!! I
can't get much further into the story without giving it all away, but, trust me,
it's just fucking insane the shit that goes on in this movie. Even worse
is it's all very badly written, yet somehow screenwriter Eric Roth went on to
write the adapted script for FORREST GUMP! So let that be a lesson to you:
my Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move
on.
The only reason I can think of to watch this long-winded disaster is to laugh at
it. The story is junk, the special effects are horrible and the acting is
garbage. Skip it. And that's all I have to say about that.
Part 1 - Airport - (1970)
Part 2 - Airport 1975 (1974)
Part 3 - Airport '77 (1977)