Absolutely the worst movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

When you sit down to watch an "Airport" movie, you do so in the full understanding that you're going to have to get through at least half of the runtime dealing with the inevitable melodrama - the soapish background to the story, telling more than we ever needed or wanted to know about the vast multitude of unnecessary characters that are populating the screen in front of us. "Airport 1975" - the first sequel to 1970's "Airport" - does not disappoint in that regard. Did I really care all that much that Alan and Nancy (Charlton Heston and Karen Black) were in a troubled relationship, and that she wanted to "talk." (Every man knows that when a woman wants to "talk" there 's trouble a-brewin'.) No, I didn't. Nor did I care all that much about any of the other soapy plotlines. You watch a disaster movie to get to the disaster, and then you hope that the disaster is enough to overcome the unnecessary melodrama you waded through to get there.The disaster here is a mid-air collision between a 747 and a small prop-plane. The collision rips a hole in the cockpit of the 747 and kills the crew, except for the captain, who's too badly injured to fly the plane. So the afore-mentioned Nancy (the head stewardess) has to take the controls. Karen Black makes Nancy look appropriately frightened - but somehow this disaster didn't hit home. To be honest, there wasn't enough panic among the passengers. Even once they found out that their intrepid but totally untrained stewardess was piloting the plane - well, there was concern, but not real panic. It all seemed to go reasonably well. Nancy was able to take instructions from the ground and fly the plane - even through some mountains. True - they needed a pilot aboard, so in a totally expected twist, her beloved Alan (with whom she has to have a "talk") manages to board the plane via a tether line from a military helicopter, easing himself through the hole, and guiding the big jet to a safe landing at Salt Lake City. Somehow, I just never had the sense that it could be otherwise. The tension was lacking.It had a cast of fairly well known names (Heston and Black being the biggest probably.) George Kennedy was back as Joe Patroni from the first movie, and there were people like Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Helen Reddy, Linda Blair, Gloria Swanson and Sid Caesar included. But for all the cast and all the melodrama and the disaster itself, what I found myself thinking about mostly as I watched this was the fact that it was obviously the basis for the 1980 spoof movie "Airplane" - which I would highly recommend you watch over this. (2/10)

I seen this movie in the theatre upon its initial release. And though I was only 9 years old at the time, I found it to very intense and exhilarating. But if you're going to compare this movie to the high quality production of the 90's and beyond...imo you're not being honestly fair towards it. It's a 70's disaster movie...and should be assessed as such. Besides, without this movie, the comedy classic "Airplane" wouldn't have resulted.The movie starts out with an introduction of the hotshot pilots and free spirited stewardesses. And we also get a glimpse of the troubled romantic relationship between the two main characters (Heston and Black). Some of the cameo performances were a bit hokey and overacted imo, but there were so many familiar faces that they help to retain the viewers interest. Norman Fell, Sid Caesar, Jerry Stiller, Efrim Zimbalest Jr, George Kennedy, Erik Estrada, Helen Reddy, Linda Blair...to name a few. With that being said, the story probably could have done without the bumbling news reporter (played by Larry Storch).As far as the main body of the movie, the story (for the most part) is believable and suspenseful...with a pretty decent performance by Karen Black. The movie also contains some very cool footage of a 747 flying over mountainous terrain. Despite some of the 70's hokiness, I still found it to be a fairly enjoyable watch (42 years later).

For anyone who's seen that episode of 'Family Guy' where Peter is sent by Death to kill the cast members of 'Dawson's Creek' on an airliner and Karen Black lands the plane, this is the source of that reference!Now, on to the film!As a disaster movie, 'Airport 1975' is not that bad. It was made at a time when all of those clichéd "there's no one flying the plane" plot lines were still quite fresh. When television shows such as 'Charlie's Angels' and 'The A-Team' began to cash in on the gimmick with their own interpretations, you could tell that the plot device was getting stale!Charlton Heston and George Kennedy reunite in another disaster movie after the also much-lambasted 'Earthquake' (1974) and both of them get quite good roles, with Kennedy reprising his role as Joe Patroni from 'Airport' (1969).The plot is not as complex as that in 'Airport' and the characters are hardly as well-developed. However, this film still has a certain charm. Not only is it the source of that Karen Black joke, which has been much-parodied beyond the realms of 'Family Guy', but the flying scenes were conducted using an actual commercial airliner being piloted low around mountainous terrain! These kinds of films convinced modern luminary directors such as Christopher Nolan to film things for real, even though these films probably earned more in popcorn sales than for actual screen-worthiness.If that is not exciting enough, there are plenty of perilous decisions, stunt work and high-octane situations to keep you busy. Plus, a pleasant combination of well-known and television actors appear in the film, such as Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (long before lending his voice to Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred), Helen Reddy as a singing nun (it's not as bad as it sounds), Linda Blair (post-'Exorcist') and even screen icon Gloria Swanson in her final film role.Certainly not the most complex of the 'Airport' films and certainly not the worst - if you're looking for something to thrill you and you're not taking a flight the next morning, then watch this!!

Just about every 1970s disaster cliché and typical cast member is present in this ludicrous, yet entertaining movie. The first of a long line of sequels to the original Airport from 1970, this film raises the bar in terms of ridiculous situations and casting of washed-up actors. One cannot however ignore the interesting scenario of an untrained person having to fly a jumbo jet if the entire crew somehow would become incapacitated.Karen Black (an underrated talent) plays the lead stewardess on a 747 flight who has to take over the flying duties after a Cessna crashes into the cockpit and either kills or severely wounds the pilots. Luckily the script only calls for her having to make adjustments to the plane's course instead of actually bringing it safely into the gate! Instead, the plan is to lower a trained pilot from a jet helicopter into the 747 cockpit so he can make the landing. Of course there are complications involving sick passengers, fuel leaks, mountains, and finding a good rug for Charleton Heston to wear. Can this motley crew of actors bring the plane down safely?? I wonder.You gotta love the casts of these kind of movies. I can take Cid Ceasar, Myrna Loy, Gloria Swanson, and Linda Blair as passengers. I can hold my nose and accept Helen Reddy as a singing nun. The welcome sight of George Kennedy in some sort of administrative role certainly helps. But what in the world was former NFL quarterback Jim Plunkett doing on board? And sitting in coach, yet?? I guess he hadn't won a superbowl yet, so he didn't rate first class! 6 of 10 stars.The Hound.