Yes, the film has its share of big stars, including Myrna Loy, Gloria Swanson, and Larry Storch. Yes, George Kennedy is back to play The George Kennedy Role. And, yes, there’s another plane in peril. But AIRPORT ’75 isn’t technically accurate, tightly plotted, or even all that much fun.
Let’s start with the technical inaccuracies. Where AIRPORT’s Air Traffic Control calls sounded realistic to my professional ear, AIRPORT ‘75’s sounded like they were written by a guy whose only exposure to them came from watching AIRPORT. The airplane itself did not respond in a manner consistent with the damage it was supposed to have taken at the end of the first act. And the relationships between the corporate, governmental, and military stakeholders in the aviation system had no relation to reality whatsoever. Part of the fun of AIRPORT was the sense it gave us that, in the event of a situation such as the one depicted in the film, this was how events could generally be expected to play out. AIRPORT ’75 can’t provide that because it doesn’t even try to stay grounded in reality.
As I wrote, ’75 isn’t tightly plotted. There are entire subplots about faulty engines and fuel leaks that go precisely nowhere. There’s a long bit about sick girl that’s resolved so sloppily that it’s clear the screenwriters forgot all about her until the last minute. And the film makes it difficult to invest in the plucky flight attendant who saves the day by painting her as mouth-breathing moron.
But at least AIRPORT ’75 can offer tedium. It gives us pointless celebrity cameos, characters that do nothing, and a secondary female lead whose only function is to stand around and appeal to the subsection of the male demographic that isn’t attracted to the first female lead. This is a bad movie and an unworthy successor to AIRPORT. How I dread AIRPORT ’77.
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