Airport 1975 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Airport 1975 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 5, 2016

Note: 'Airport 1975' is currently only available as part of a boxed set with other 'Airport' films.

1970's Airport clustered a bunch of characters into a plane and on the ground, taking its time -- an entire flight, it seemed -- to get the action rolling and put the passengers in harm's way. The follow-up hints at following the same structure, but it sacrifices the in-depth characterization of the first for a faster, more immediately presented peril. The movie isn't any worse for its lesser characterization. If anything, it's leaner, and while the first film found a magical combination of charm and interpersonal intensity matched with dramatic danger, the follow-up prefers a simpler, but no less exciting and engaging, pure Disaster styling. It's simplistic, yes, but it's highly enjoyable, basic cinema that doesn't hide its cards and makes the perilous journey an enjoyable ride through the skies.

The new pilot.

Columbia Airlines Flight 409 is departing from Washington, D.C. and headed to Los Angeles. Scott Freeman (Dana Andrews) is piloting a small private plane also bound for L.A. The commercial flight is carrying over 100 passengers, including a young girl (Linda Blair) in desperate need of an organ transplant. Freeman's flying the friendly skies solo. The larger flight and the smaller plane take off, unremarkably. Prior to arrival, both flights are diverted to Salt Lake City; dense fog is covering the entire West Coast, making landing anywhere near the flights' destination an impossibility. Over the skies of Utah, Freeman suffers a heart attack and, unfortunately, crashes his plane into the 747's cockpit. The co-pilot and navigator are killed. The pilot is incapacitated. With nobody available to fly the plane, it's up to head stewardess Nancy Pryor (Karen Black) to sit in the big seat and take charge of the flight. Fortunately, she's in radio contact with the tower, which is scrambling to help her in any way possible. With little hope of her capably landing the plane -- it's all she can do to gently correct course or gain a little altitude -- Nancy's boyfriend Alan Murdock (Charlton Heston) and one of the heroes of Airport, Joe Patroni (George Kennedy), hatch a daring plan to save the flight before it ends very badly for everyone on board.

The film's more pronounced focus on in-air disaster rather than the interconnected relationships of those together on the plane or separated by air and land gives this sequel a different feeling. Rather than a lengthy exploration of who's who well prior to boarding the plan, the 747 in Airport 1975 takes off less than twenty minutes into the movie, and disaster strikes not much longer after that. Even with the less detailed roster -- only a few passengers have any real connection to those on the ground, people who just so happen to, conveniently, be two of the main figures who will do their best to help the plane land safely -- there's enough tension in the cockpit to maintain interest. Support characters -- a sick girl, a nun, a celebrity, a loudmouth, and a few heavy drinkers -- don't add much to the movie other than multiple faces to cut away to during the tragedy to remind the audience of what's at stake. The original film was much smarter in its character details, weaving the passengers neatly into the story and making them critical pieces to the narrative. Here, only Nancy really, truly matters on the plane. Even the on-flight presence of Patroni's wife and son only make his character a little more emotionally involved. It's a generic roster, but fortunately the movie capably soars beyond the lack of interesting characterization.

The film more than makes up for its lack of care and concern for many on the flight with a tight and thrilling journey from chaos in the skies to, everyone hopes, safety on the ground. There's not much in the way of physical action. An explosion and a couple of stunts are pretty much it. Yet the film maintains white-knuckle tension with the smallest of things -- checking a setting on the plane, steering her just a little to the right or left -- becoming monumental hurdles. The key characters don't even need much shape. The relationship between Nancy and Murdock helps to heighten the urgency, but the down side is that there's never any question how the rescue operation will play out, all but erasing the surprise and dramatic impact from one of the movie's key scenes. Ultimately, Airport 1975 simply boils down to one thing: fun. It's not a classic Disaster movie with the large character roster and multi-positional goings-on. It's very focused and enjoyably so, relegating most everything beyond the core action to background support at best and noise at worst.

Airport 1975 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Airport 1975's 1080p transfer delivers the sort of catalogue image that should make most viewers, even harder-to-please videophiles, rather happy. Universal's presentation is a fair step up from the studio's effort on the original Airport Blu-ray. Grain retention is clear and even, if not thick. The image enjoys a consistently high-yield film-quality presentation with precious little in the way of print deterioration. Most flaws seem inherent to the source, mostly seen in broad exterior shots of the plane flying over Utah in the daytime (it appears a bug splattered on the camera lens at one point). Detail is excellent. Fabric on the seats in the plane is particularly impressive, and tangibly so. Instrument clusters, buttons, and gauges in the cockpit all impress, and after the damage there's more in the way of exposed innards and twisted, sharp metal that also reveals a satisfying level of lifelike detail. General attire is quite impressive, too, and facial features are adequately complex throughout the film. Colors are rich and pleasing and many. Purples, pinks, reds, and blues throughout the plane are always vibrant, but naturally balanced. Murdoch's yellow sweater is probably the most dominant clothing color in the movie. Fake blood looks more orange than red, and the Blu-ray allows viewers to get a good look at its unnaturally thick consistency. Flesh tones appear spot-on, though black levels are prone to fluctuation between nicely dark, if not pushing slightly to crush, and a bit washed out. On the whole, this is a very impressive effort from Universal.

Airport 1975 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Airport 1975's DTS-HD Master Audio Mono soundtrack barely gets off the ground. Music to start fails to impress. It's mushy and undefined with very little sense of space. Jet engine noise is pedestrian and lumpy. Falling rain is unkempt and lacking realistic distinction. A few larger effects -- the plane crash, helicopters taking off and landing -- are likewise more a cluster of clumpy sounds rather than elements with any sort of authentic clarity. Dialogue at least comes through very clearly and accurately, with good center placement and, for the most part, fair prioritization.

Airport 1975 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All that's included is the Airport 1975 theatrical trailer (480i, 2:52). No top menu is included. The special feature, as well as audio, subtitle, and chapter options, must be accessed in-film via the pop-up menu.

Airport 1975 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Airport 1975 isn't as good as the original, but it's fun as a vastly different sort of movie. Gone is the very detailed, and very involved, interweaving character roster, replaced by a more streamlined Disaster movie arc. Most of the characters -- the passengers on the plane -- add no value to the movie. This is strictly about landing the plane, but it's rather enjoyable, albeit predictable. Universal's Blu-ray is practically featureless. Video is quite strong and audio limps through. Recommended.