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directed
by George Seaton
USA 1970
In the grandfather of all 1970s-80s disaster pics, airport chief Mel
Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster) has a handful of troubles. There's a blizzard, a
plane is stuck in the snow blocking his best runway, his wife wants a divorce,
his girlfriend (Jean Seberg), who is also his assistant) might move to San
Francisco, protestors are blocking the sidewalk, a cute old lady (Helen Hayes,
in her Oscar-winning role) is a repeat-offender stowaway, and his boss wants him
to shut down the airport. He has it easy. Up in the air, pilot Vern Demerest
(Dean Martin) has to deal with a pregnant girlfriend (stewardess Jacqueline
Bisset) and a disturbed man (Van Heflin) with a bomb in his briefcase.
Even though it's dated, and I've seen a dozen ripoffs and spoofs (most notably
Airplane!), this film kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters were
believable and likeable, the director juggled multiple storylines effectively,
and the script was plausible. I can tell why it provoked so much imitation.
One thing, though, about its... I hate to call it morality, but I can't think of
a better word. The film presents a distinctly pro-life viewpoint, with Demerest
realizing that the right thing to do is to keep the baby. However, it also
presents the argument, using both Demerest and Bakersfield as examples, that men
would be much happier and better off if they left their wives for much younger
women.
Excerpt from Goatdog's movies located HERE
Posters
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Theatrical Release: 5 March 1970, USA
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DVD Comparison:
Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL
Big thanks to Ole Kofoed for all the Screen Caps!
(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - RIGHT)
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| Distribution |
Universal Region 1 - NTSC |
Universal Region 2,4 - PAL |
| 70's Disaster Flicks Invasion | ||
| Runtime | 2:16:31 | 2:10:58 (4% PAL speedup) |
| Video |
2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate:
Universal (Terminal Pack)
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Bitrate:
Universal
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| Audio | DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono , German DD 2.0 mono |
| Subtitles | English Captioned for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish, French or None. | English for the Hearing Impaired, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Norwegian, Swedish or None. |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 18 |
Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD
Release Date: February 16, 2004 Chapters 16 |
| Comments | Without bring overly picky the image quality looks identical in both versions. I see a slight yellow tinge in the Region 2/4 edition. The Region 1 comes in a "Terminal Pack" with the 77' and 79' version and the same trailer as the Region 2/4. My suggestion would be to get the cheapest version available to you if you are not concerned about audio as the Region 1 has it bumped to 5.1 and DTS (both not original by the way). |
DVD Menus
(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC
- LEFT vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - RIGHT)
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Screen Captures
(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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