Airport '77

Directed by: Jerry Jameson
Music by: John Cacavas
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Brenda Vaccaro, Christopher Lee, Olivia de Havilland, George Kennedy, James Stewart
MPAA rating: PG
My Rating: 7 out of 10

All I can really say is that I expected more from this movie than what was shown. Like it’s predecessor Airport 1975, it had great potential to be a very good movie, even greater than it’s predecessor as it turned out. In the end however, like the other movies, this one has to be taken with a grain of salt and scrutinized carefully which makes it that much less enjoyable.
Airport ’77 begins when wealthy art collector Phillip Stevens (James Stewart) purchases a luxury Boeing 747 airliner to fly guests and art treasures down for the grand opening of his museum. However the plane, run by pilot Don Gallagher (Jack Lemmon) and Stewardess Eve Clayton (Brenda Vaccaro), is hijacked halfway into the flight, hits an offshore oil platform, and crashes into the ocean intact trapping the occupants underwater.
Stevens enlists the help of Admiral Herb Corrigan (Charles Macaulay) and the ever-present Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) to locate the plane and rescue the occupants while Gallagher and diver Martin Wallace (Christopher Lee) seek to find a way to get everyone out before the plane collapses and floods.
As with it’s immediate predecessor, Airport ’77 has an excellent plot, and the scenario is very well thought out. The special effects in the film are spectacular as always and the dialogue and flow of the film has you fully informed and on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Again what ruins the film is character development and morality. Unlike Airport 1975, the film takes longer to develop the characters which is good. However, the characters are not developed enough and the development is abruptly cut off leaving a lot of loose ends and questions about the characters.
Like Airport 1975, the biggest issue in this movie is the morality. At the beginning of the movie Gallagher and Clayton are portrayed as middle-aged people in love with each other, but the way in which it is portrayed brings up serious concerns. They are obviously living together already, Clayton states that she has been through a divorce just recently, and Gallagher states that he doesn’t care if he has kids or a wife first. Not a good sign. In addition swearing runs rampant throughout the film (Lemmon is particularly free with his language). The swearing is obviously not needed and just completely makes the dialogue and story flow hard to follow as a result.
This movie might be worth seeing, but it is not for children under college years. It comes closer to being as good as the original Airport, but still comes up short in many areas. However, you should still look for great performances from Stewart, Lee and De Havilland.