Airport - 1970

This was the movie that kicked off the disaster film spree of the 70's. It involves a star studded cast in danger, in this case an airport that's dealing with a blizzard, a jet blocking a runway and a bomb on a plane. Of local intrest is that large portions were filmed at the Minneapolis airport (named Lincoln airport and moved to Chicago for the story). It's very strange to not see the sprawling terminals and parking ramps that the modern airport has.
In fact, the whole movie is a strange look back in time. There are curtesy phones (do they still have those), flamethrowing trucks for the runway and pagers(!) roughly the size of grenades. One plot of the movie deals with noise abatement, another tie to today. The movie is dated, to be sure, but that just serves to make it more interesting.
The plot is complicated with airport/community issues, troubled marriages, stowaways and that bomb I mentioned. It handles the complications well and is interesting throughout. The acting is very strong with two women nominated for best supporting actress. Helen Hayes won, but Maureen Stapleton impressed me more. The men are fine, though Bert Lancaster suffers distracting hair.
A good movie and well worth watching. I'd be curious to hear my parents impression of seeing the old airport, as well as the FP Gal's. Also wonder what Heidi would think of the old air traffic control equipment (though it may not be updated that much!). Of course it was hard to watch without thinking of 'Airplane!' while watching this movie, I'll admit. It has the same features, especially the tough guys on the ground trying to fix things in the air. I kept wanting someone to offer to speak jive or something. I wonder if the current run of parody movies will have a similar effect.