This delightful disaster soap opera started off a trend of all-star popcorn movies where some sort of tragic occurrence changed the courses of people's lives. Whether it be a bomb exploding on a plane, a tidal wave tossing a cruise ship upside down, a skyscraper catching on fire or a massive earthquake, Hollywood filmmakers became obsessed with finding new ways to toss old and new actors together to bring fun onto the screen while giving its audience something to bite their nails over as famous people fought to survive something totally beyond their control.

Of the four "Airport" films, this is by far the best, although "Airport '75" is certainly more famous as a camp classic. Here, a group of strangers are tossed together in an enclosed space where they have no idea a disgruntled man has gotten onto the plane with a man made bomb he intends to explode so his wife can get money from the insurance policy he's just purchased. It doesn't matter that innocent people will be taken out with him or that there are laws that would keep her from getting anything, he's determined to put his evil plan into motion. Yet, there's a pitiful quality about this down on his luck elderly man (a magnificent Van Heflin) that prevents you from totally hating him, and his lovable wife (Maureen Stapleton in one of her finest performances) has obviously remained loyal in spite of his shortcomings.

To off-set the tragedy, there's a cute old lady (Helen Hayes) who stows away all the time in order to go see her grown children. Yet, this time, she may not get away with it, giving away her secrets to amused airport executive Burt Lancaster and the no-nonsense Jean Seberg whom Hayes politely tells to lighten up after Seberg grills her for breaking the law. Pilot Dean Martin is involved with pretty stewardess Jacqueline Bisset even though he's married to the older and very rich Barbara Hale. Bisset has a secret however which will be greatly affected by the results of what occurs with Heflin's bomb.

Then, there's irascible George Kennedy in the first of four "Airport" appearances as Patroni, a technical genius who spouts all sorts of technical jargon to give the audience the opportunity to understand how an airport works behind the scenes of the ticket counter and the baggage claim. Kennedy's dialog in these films seemed to get sillier and sillier, and by the time of 1979's "Concorde", his appearances here were deemed as some sort of bad joke.

Veteran actress Jessie Royce Landis is amusing in a cameo as a wealthy matron smuggling diamonds in her pooch's collar and Lloyd Nolan is memorable as an aging security guard. A ton of familiar character actors pop in and out in amusing cameos, with James Nolan very funny as a priest whose patience has run out as he deals with the obnoxious passenger next to him on the plane.

While Hayes won the Oscar here for her first film in 14 years, it is Stapleton who was certainly more worthy. She would have to wait more than a decade to get an Oscar, but her performance is certainly more memorable, although Hayes is an adorable old lady. All she's missing is the tweety bird and cage and black and white cat, because ultimately, she is more of a cartoon character than a real person. This created a huge box office sensation in the early 70's and remains greatly enjoyable. The split screen sequences are a lot of fun (having been used by producer Ross Hunter a decade before in "Pillow Talk") and an excellent music score by Alfred Newman also adds to the tension. Yes, there is a bit of a lack of reality, but ultimately, when you've got so much fun on screen, who really cares?

1980's "Airplane!" was a comedy based mostly on "Zero Hour!" (1957) but also was based, to a much lesser sense, on "Airport" (1970). What's interesting is that all three are excellent films and are well worth your time. The worst of these I gave an 8 to...and that's pretty impressive.

Unlike the later "Airport" films, the 1970 film has a bit more plot than the others. In other words, it's not just an air disaster film but has some decent stories and well written characters. It also manages to be much more tense and is a seat of your pants sort of movie.

Overall, with actors like Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Barry Nelson and Helen Hayes, the film is about the best air disaster film you can find. It is easy to understand how such a film was nominated for Oscars...something later films couldn't boast.

By the way, my favorite scene in the whole film is when the priest slaps the really annoying passenger...it's priceless!

In Airport, Burt Lancaster was having one of those days. His neglected wife Dana Wynter is complaining about him not making a banquet for the umpteenth time. But Burt's got his problems other than the normal ones that come with the job of running the Lincoln Airport and I assume they mean Lincoln, Nebraska. Unexpected snow has hit and being from Buffalo that's something I can appreciate. He's got a stuck plane on his best runway. He's getting harassed from the board of directors, he's getting complaints about the noise from the nearby residents. He's been brought a perennial stowaway in Helen Hayes by his girl Friday Jean Seberg. His brother-in-law, pilot Dean Martin, has filed a complaint against him to the Board of Directors. And he's got Van Heflin loose with a bomb. It's just one those days he should never have come to work.

Director George Seaton packed a whole lot of stars and a whole lot of plot into the 137 minute running time of Airport. It's good entertaining drama that made a whole lot of money back in the early Seventies and was so popular it spawned three sequels. Of course these were really giant commercials for the airline industry, but who cared, then or now.

Seaton kept the action going pretty good, almost so that you forget that you're movie star gazing and concentrate on the plot. George Kennedy played maintenance man Joe Petroni, a role he repeated in all four Airport films. Maureen Stapleton gives a tragic, gut wrenching performance as the suicidal Van Heflin's wife, undeservedly, unheralded at the time.

The comic relief in this belongs to the first lady of the American Theater Helen Hayes. She won her second Oscar as the perennial stowaway, Ada Quonset. Her scene with Jean Seberg and Burt Lancaster as she matter of factly tells of her methods of theft of service is a delight. And she figures prominently in the climax as well.

A year ago I saw Peter Riegert when he made an appearance in Buffalo with his film King of the Corner. I asked him about Burt Lancaster who he worked with and he said that Lancaster told him his philosophy of choosing roles was that he alternated his choices. As he quoted Burt Lancaster, Riegert said that Burt's philosophy was that he made one film for himself and one for the poke. One for artistry and one that would be a commercial success so he could afford to do the other.

Airport was one for the poke. But the fact is that Lancaster and the rest of the players made it good entertainment as well.