Airport 1975

Giants in the sky ( Alternative title: Airport '75 - Giants in the sky, TV Title: Airport II - Giants in the sky ) is an American disaster film from 1974 directed by Jack Smight. The film, which comes up with a big star cast, is a sequel to the blockbuster Airport from 1970 Two more sequels followed in 1977 ( Airport '77 - Lost in the Bermuda Triangle ). , And 1979 ( Airport '80 - The Concorde ). Premiere, the film had on 18 October 1974 in Germany, he first appeared on March 27, 1975.

Action

Flight 409 ( Red -Eye Special), a Boeing 747 of the fictional Columbia Airlines, is located on the way from Washington to Los Angeles. Is run the machine of Captain Stacy. At the same time the businessman Scott Freeman from New Mexico does with his private plane on the way to a business meeting in Idaho. By bad weather on the west coast, the Los Angeles Boeing may not fly. Flight 409 is diverted to Salt Lake City. Thither also Freemans machine is ordered.

Both machines are landing at Salt Lake City, where the 747 is scheduled to land in front of private plane. Freeman fears by being late to the loss of his business and suffered a severe heart attack. His machine rises uncontrollably and falls into the flight path of the airliner. Freemans machine crashes with the 747 and it rips a big hole in the cockpit. The pressure drop of the First Officer Urias is sucked through the hole. The Flight Engineer Julio is mortally wounded. Captain Stacy suffers through debris serious injury to the eyes that make him blind. Fortunately, he can still turn on the autopilot so that the machine remains in a stable attitude.

Among the passengers, of course, panic erupted. The chief stewardess Nancy Pryor rushes into the cockpit and recognizes the scale of the disaster. By radio they shall inform the Tower of the accident and the condition of the crew. The display panel of the engineer was destroyed in the crash, a large hole has formed over the copilot's seat.

Columbia teaches its Vice-President Joe Patroni of the situation. The former mechanic is taking contact with the chief flight instructor of Columbia, Al Murdoch on. With a jet, the two rush to Salt Lake City. During the flight they get in contact with Nancy, who has remained in the cockpit of the 747. While the machine is by the autopilot in a stable attitude, but it can no direction, or altitude changes. But these changes are now absolutely essential, as the plane soon reached the mountain range of the Wasatch Mountains. Nancy Murdoch instructed by radio, as they can fly a curve. But now the radio turns out not Murdoch nor the Tower can communicate with the machine.

Nancy is not able to modify the course of the machine. In addition, the Boeing loses fuel and approaching the mountains. The attempt by the U.S. Army, will place a helicopter a pilot on board the 747 to fail. The machine threatens the impact on a mountainside. Without radio support Nancy must bring the machine over the mountains. Captain Stacy can give her despite his condition notes on the relationship between the rise and speed. Nancy manages to bring the aircraft over the mountains. The pilot of the helicopter makes a second attempt to board the 747 to go. With a rope he 's left of the flying helicopter ahead to the hole in the cockpit. When Nancy wants to help him into the cockpit, the triggering device hooked for the holding rope on which the pilot hangs with a bent edge of the hole. The tether is solved and the pilot also torn.

Is now attempts to Murdoch on board. In fact, it is possible to bring Murdoch by a rope from a helicopter into the machine. With some difficulty he can safely land the Boeing at the airport in Salt Lake City.

Reviews

The lexicon of the International film about the film: Behind the tension -prone exceptional situation and the dubious ideal of saving heroes fade the private fortunes of the passengers to clichés.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film as silly sequel. In particular, the smugness of the film and the failed attempt to be serious, Canby chalk to the filmmakers.

In contrast praises Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun- Times that screenwriting and directing focus on the action and subplots not stop the film.

The TimeOut Film Guide again feels the film as ridiculous sequel. Bad enough to be entertaining.

Awards

Helen Reddy was nominated for the 1975 Golden Globe Award for Best Young Actress.

Background

The male lead actor George Kennedy and Charlton Heston turned together the disaster film Earthquake, which appeared in Germany before. In the United States, however, came the first Airport sequel and then earthquakes in the cinemas. George Kennedy embodied in all four Airport films the figure of Joe Patroni.

For contingent of the film also included: Alan Fudge as Danton; Christopher Norris as a bed; John Furlong as Mr. Taylor; Robert Ito as a passenger; Christiane Schmidtmer as Angie Bell and Gloria Swanson, a star of the silent film era, playing herself, in her last role.

With an estimated budget of 3 million dollars production of Universal Pictures played about 47 million dollars alone in the United States.

The machine used in the film was a Boeing 747, which was rented for about U.S. $ 30,000 per day from the American Airlines. The aircraft with the registration N9675 was decommissioned after 35 years in 2006 in the service of American Airlines, UPS and other companies and 2011 scrapped. To prepare for his role, Charlton Heston could use in Fort Worth, Texas the flight simulator of the Company. The approach also used for the film Private aircraft which collided with the Boeing 747, is a Beechcraft Baron with the identifier N9750Y. Tragically, this aircraft was actually destroyed in a collision in the air, when it crashed on August 24, 1989 on California in a Cessna 180.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and Dana Andrews in 1960 turned the drama SOS Aviation T 17 ( Original title: The Crowded Sky). This was about a collision of a jet fighter with a passenger aircraft. Zimbalist and Andrews exchanged for the present film, so to speak the roles. Andrews played in the production of 1960 the pilots of passenger aircraft, Zimbalist the pilot of the jet plane.

In reality, it actually came before that a large airliner in U.S. airspace in the air collided with a small plane: In 1986, Aeroméxico Flight 498 over Los Angeles, and in 1978 the Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 to San Diego.

1974 in film Screenplay Film score John Cacavas Philip H. Lathrop J. Terry Williams Linda Harrison (actress) Christopher Norris (actress) Airport (1970 film) Oceanic Airlines Wasatch Range Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Earthquake (film) John Furlong (American actor) PSA Flight 182
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