Airport Burt Lancaster

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

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)

DVD Box Covers

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
Average Bitrate: 7.13 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.83 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Universal (Terminal Pack)

Bitrate:

Universal

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:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Trailer.
• Terminal Pack includes Airport 1975, Airport 77 and Airport 79

DVD Release Date: February 10, 2004
2 Double Sided DVD's in Digipak with Slipcase

Chapters 18

Release Information:
Studio: Universal

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1

Edition Details:
• Trailer.

DVD Release Date: February 16, 2004
Keep Case

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).

- Gary Tooze

DVD Menus

(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(Universal (Terminal Pack) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Universal - Region 2,4 - PAL - BOTTOM)

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