The Concorde…Airport ’79 (1979)

Directed by: David Lowell Rich | 123 minutes | drama, adventure, thriller | Actors: Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, Sylvia Kristel, George Kennedy, Eddy Albert, Bibi Andersson, Charo, John Davidson, Andrea Marcovicci, Martha Raye, Cicely Tyson, Jimmie Walker, David Warner, Mercedes McCambridge, Avery Shreiber, Sybil Danning, Monica Lewis, Nicolas Coster, Robin Gammell, Ed Begley Jr., Jon Cedar, Sheila DeWindt, Pierre Jalbert, Kathleen Maguire, Macon McCalman, Stacy Heather Tolkin, Selma Archerd, Brian Cutler, Michèle Lesser, Conrad E. Pamisano, Jerry Prell, Gus Retwisch, Dick McGarvin, George Sawaya, Leonora Wolpe, David Matthau, Frank Parker, Mario Machado, Hettie Lynne Hurtes, Gabrielle Rossillon, Aharon Ipalé, Isobel Estorick, Laurie Hagen, James R. Parkes, James Leigh, Jean Turlier, Jean-Philippe Ancelle, Uta Taeger, Robert Kerman, Doug Christenson, Harold ‘Happy’ Hairston, Bob Courts, Margolyn Curtis, Stoney Jackson, Glenn-Michael Jones, Ken Medlock, Patti Pivaar, Dwan Smith, Alex Rodine, Anna Rodzianko, Daryl Lynn Wood, Victoria Woodbeck

‘The Concorde…Airport ’79’ is the last and least part in the series of films about plane disasters. Director Lowell Rich makes a mess of it and the cast, which once again houses a number of big names, hangs together like loose sand. The makers completely exploit the possibility of a plane crash to the point of complete absurdity, making the last ‘Airport’ a sequel that you can find at the bottom of the grab bag of the video store. Sometimes you ask yourself what inspires filmmakers to start a film. The makers of ‘Airport ’79’ knew the basic rules of disaster movies that were popular in the 1970s. Put a cast of big names in a disaster scenario and the money will come in by itself. However, director Lowell Rich wants more and completely abuses the last ‘Airport’. The camera work is mediocre, the acting is laughable at times and the story is completely upside down, as are the passengers who are spun crazy at the end of the film.

Continuing with the latter, the plane, the Concorde, which can go faster than sound, is breaking new ground to avoid being hit by a nuclear missile targeting the plane’s heat sources. The cat-and-mouse game between Concorde and Rocket lasts a total of ten minutes, while a couple of seasoned actors in the cockpit try to make it look real, which absolutely fails. To top it off, moments later French fighter planes come over to hit the Concorde and again Kennedy and his fellow pilots do their very best not to get hit. Well, if you think this is it, you’re waiting a lot more. The Concorde makes not one, but two emergency landings, the second of which in the snowy mountains of the Alps demands the most from man and his imagination.

Instigator of all the disaster that befalls the Concorde is Wagner (‘The Pink Panther’, 1963) who manages to put on a poker face throughout the film. He’s as serious as the villainous director of Harrison Industries, it’s almost a caricature. ‘Airport’ phenomenon Kennedy has a bigger role this time around as Joe Patroni, but Patroni is no shadow of the figure from part one. Delon (‘La Piscine’) is the pilot next to Kennedy, but he is also unconvincing and seems to have little interest in it. He maintains a sort of relationship with Sylvia Kristel (“Emmanuelle”), who keeps her clothes on this time, but doesn’t put in too great a performance as a flight attendant.

‘Airport ’79’ is not a great success. The question is whether it was necessary to stick a fourth part to it, but if you do, at least do it right. What remains is a strange film, which tries to make fun of itself and thereby seals its own fate. None of the actors reach an acceptable level, with the serious Wagner being the only exception. The beautiful Concorde plane is central to the film, but the Concorde didn’t end well in real life either…