AIRPORT (1970)
A demolition
expert takes out life insurance and decides to blow up an airliner
piloted by Captain Harris (Barry Nelson) over the Atlantic, the idea
being his wife collects the payout. Captain Vernon Demerest – Dean
Martin – tries to talk him out of it, but the bomb explodes at the
back of the plane, wiping out the bomber and the lavatory.
Inconvenient. The Chief Stewardess is injured in the blast - Jackie
Bisset is also carrying Dean's baby. All the airports are snowed in,
so it's up to plucky airport manager Burt Lancaster to get things
moving, assisted by gritty chief mechanic Joe Patroni (George
Kennedy) so the plane can land safely...
Although there
have been disaster movies before, the golden age (Was there a
Silver?) for the genre is
unarguably the 1970s. The social concerns and tensions of the time
proved to be a treasure trove for the ailing big studios. Much as the
decade threw out some remarkable Conspiracy thrillers, the disaster
flicks with their stellar casts and big budget effects and scale were
supreme. Airport really started something... not least three sequels
titled, with imagination foremost Airport 1975, Airport '77
and finally, The
Concorde, Airport '79.
THE POSEIDON
ADVENTURE (1972)
The
SS Poseidon is
an elderly liner on her last passenger voyage. On New Years Eve a
Tsunami slams into the ship, turning her turtle. Trapped in the
upturned hull the survivors must find a way to escape the capsized
ship. Based on a real life rogue wave (Waves that rise, unpredicted
and unforseen from the oceans) that nearly sank the Queen
Mary, the
movie revolves around the different passengers and their efforts to
survive. Gene Hackman plays Rev. Frank Scott, who leads the
passengers, Ernest Borgnine is a New York cop, Red Buttons is a
Haberdasher, Roddy McDowall is a waiter, Shelley Winters is Belle –
handily, a former champion swimmer and Leslie Nielsen is the Captain
of the doomed liner.
ABOVE: Storyboard to Action
By now, one thing should be clear; the formula for the '70s Disaster
movie involves a BIG cast – the stars of the day combined with
ageing stars from the pantheon of Hollywood. Whatever a pantheon
is...
EARTHQUAKE
(1974)
With
Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene, Geneviรจve
Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Victoria Principal, Walter Matthau, Barry
Sullivan and George Kennedy, this one follows the formula to a 't'.
With
a complex series of sub-plots revolving around the characters and
their lives, L.A. Is in danger. After an initial tremor at a dam,
another kills two seismologists and it's clear something big is on
the horizon. When the Big One hits, much of the city is destroyed and
groups are trapped in high-rise buildings, forced to climb down by
fire hose as the stairwells have partially collapsed.
There's some
real depth to this one, mainly due to the great FX and a script from
Mario Puzo (The Godfather). Due to the massive scale of the
production, a record 141 stunt performers were called in, with Matte
painting King Albert Whitlock painting over FORTY mattes to augment
the visual FX. Some of his paintings are so good I challenge you to
list more than half of them. One gimmick that had a sadly limited
lifespan was Sensurround
– massive subwoofers were installed in participating cinemas to
blast the audiences' senses. Nosebleeds were not uncommon and in the
test screening the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater suffered cracks
to the plaster!.
Despite the amazing
cast, two actors were unavailable for the film; Steve McQueen and
Paul Newman. Why? - because they were already signed up for the
biggest of them all...
THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)
The film so big no single studio dared
attempt it, The Towering Inferno was the first joint studio
production. Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox came
together to produce 1974's biggest grossing film and a triple Oscar
winner. In addition to messrs McQueen and Newman came William Holden,
Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Roberts Vaughn and Wagner,
plus Fred Astaire and a certain O.J. Simpson.
ABOVE: A smoking-hot campaign included bumper stickers and badges.
The Glass Tower in San Francisco is, at
138 stories, the tallest building in the World. Architect Doug
Roberts (Newman) clashes with McQueen's Fire Chief O'Hallorhan over
safety concerns after a small fire on opening night. Roger Simmons
(Chamberlain) is the crooked engineer responsible for cutting corners
on the project whilst owner James Duncan – William Holden refuses
to order an evacuation. Trapped on the Promenade Room, small parties
leave by express elevator, until the fire spreads and, ignoring
warnings a last group try to go down... and are burned alive. A
rooftop evacuation goes horribly wrong with a chopper crash and the
baddie gets what's coming; Simmons forces his way onto a breeches
buoy – one of those cages used to transfer sailors between ships –
and is killed.
There's a great scene with a scenic elevator, after
which a desperate plan is hatched – to blow up the million-gallon
water tanks on the top of the building...
If you only bother with one Seventies
Disaster flick, this is the one; it's got it all. Heroics,
love-interest, cowardly bad-guy, visual effects and some genuinely
gripping action. Look out for Fred Astaire's conman, as great an
actor as he was a dancer. One of the films Oscars went to the song
'We May Never Love Like This Again' sung by the same Maureen McGovern
that featured in The Poseidon Adventure.
ROLLERCOASTER (1977)
Another
Sensurround outing, this one
revolves around a maniac (Timothy Bottoms) with no name, who places
bombs on Theme Park Rollercoasters around America. George Segal is
Harry Calder, a Ride Inspector who goes after the bomber. A young
Helen Hunt plays his daughter. Richard Widmark is FBI Agent Hoyt,
leading the manhunt, with Henry Fonda as Calder's Boss. Things go
wrong with the attempt to pay off the bomber when it is revealed
marked bills were used by the Feds and things come to a dramatic
climax on the new Revolution coaster at Magic Coaster. Released at
the same time as Star Wars,
this one was doomed to relative obscurity, but its fun with some good
effects and genuine suspense. Keep a lookout for Steve Guttenberg in
his first role as the park messenger.
AIRPLANE! (1980)
The
hallmark of success is a good parody and we can't ignore the best of
them all; Airplane! is
a visual riot of gags, slapstick and
goofy oddball humour that fondly spoofs the Airport movies.
With several genre stalwarts including Leslie Nielsen, George Kennedy
and Maureen McGovern (A singing nun!) the whole thing is far
too silly for review. If you are
that one person that hasn't seen it – do your best to not be that
one person. Be another person, one that has seen...
anyway...
The
film that gave us the funny Leslie Nielsen – go straight to the
store of your choice and get the Police Squad! Series.
Why are you still reading this?, dammit... an order, is an order.
ABOVE: The auto-pilot had fun filming (Left) and the famous 'Surely, you can't be serious?' - 'I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.'
You want more, eh?;
check out these links for some Disaster Movie Gold; Hollywood's idea
of 'miniature';
The incredible artwork of Albert
Whitlock;
How's this for
cool?; the studio attraction I'd most like to see resurrected;
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