Epic and Disaster : Airport 77

Airport 77

I just watched this movie again after buying the novel that tied in with the movie (which had movie pictures inside) at a garage sale. This Airport was always a favorite of mine and it had some wonderful actors in it, most of whom gave great and believable performances. I especially liked Lee Grant's unhappy alcoholic wife and James Stewart's dying millionaire. Those two and the other great actors in the movie were very memorable and there wasn't much overacting, which was nice. I tried to watch The Concorde: Airport 79 (yes, I have the Airport Terminal Pack on DVD), but the DVD paused and froze for some reason, so I couldn't watch it. I know that Airport pales in comparison to 77, but it's still mildly entertaining.

Re: Airport 77

I really loved Brenda Vaccaro in it. She was really tough and had that raspy sexy voice I adore to this day. The finale with the slow sinking of the plane and the escape was a great nail-biter. Probably my favorite in the franchise.

Re: Airport 77

I love Brenda Vaccaro's voice...she made raspy sexy before Demi Moore did.

Re: Airport 77

This Airport was the first one I saw if I remember correctly and it is probably the best or one of the better ones. I love the cast, as well. So many of them were current or future TV and movie stars: Pamela Bellwood, Monte Markham, Robert Foxworth, M. Emmet Walsh, to name a few. It's fun to spot them. What an exciting movie.

Re: Airport 77

These movies tend to be on Encore Avenue now and then. This one I watched, mainly because I kept hearing about the plane crashing in the Bermuda Triangle. Okay film though.


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Re: Airport 77

I have the Airport Terminal Pack, too! I love all of these movies. I must say Airport 77 grew on me after a couple of watchings.


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Re: Airport 77

Airport '75, '77 and '79: The Concorde are all great, the original I didn't care for very much.


What I find interesting is that '75 and '79 have a lot of similarities: both have a woman who has sneaked a dog onto the plane, both involve a dying child who must receive an organ immediately, and in both cases, one of the planes used in the movie was later destroyed in real life.

Re: Airport 77

This is the only one of the four AIRPORT movies I have never seen, I don't know why. I have always wanted to see it mainly because I am a HUGE Lee Grant fan and try to see everything she does.

Re: Airport 77


I've not seen the movie in...decades, it seems....I recall it being better by leaps and bounds than any of the other Airport sequels, and this cast is right up there with The Towering Inferno.


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Re: Airport 77

It's probably the best of the Airport film series. A taut, suspenseful drama with an impressive and realistic showing of their rescue. The first one is fun with a great cast but suffers from a little much soap operatic theatrics while Airplane! has made '75 very difficult to watch without laughing. '79-The Concorde is unwatchably awful which is too bad because its premise sounds intriguing.

Re: Airport 77

Loved it! Definitely the best of the AIRPORT movies and ranks right under POSEIDON/INFERNO among the best disaster flicks of the 70's! An underrated gem with a great cast and tons of suspense & shocks!

Re: Would You Mind Moving Your Ass Dear The Plane Is Sinking

I think I actually read an article about De Havilland where she did say something to the effect that disaster movies were the 'in' thing in the 70s and she had missed out on appearing in a few of them, so then she got her chance in 'Airport 77' and later in 'The Swarm'. Lee Grant also appeared in both and she was particularly good in 'Airport 77'.

And you're right, the idea of a plane underwater and people having to be rescued from that situation is something different, but highly entertaining.

There is a more recent disaster film called Submerged, which features Nicole Eggert, Coolio and Dennis Weaver, among others, and it borrows some of the footage from Airport 77, I believe, from the underwater rescue scenes.

Re: Airport 77

It's one of my favorite disaster movies from the 70's, and definitely the best of the AIRPORT movies! Yeah, the original garnered Oscar noms and wins, and was a pretty good soap opera...Airport 1975 was suspenseful but like the original, the body count was low! '77 had the guts to kill off Lee Grant (top billed female star)! I loved her bitchy character!
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