Line #1 Trivia/Airport


1	* AllStarCast:
2	** The original movie starred Creator/BurtLancaster, Music/DeanMartin, Creator/JeanSeberg, Creator/JacquelineBisset, Helen Hayes, Barbara Hale, Van Heflin, and Creator/GeorgeKennedy.
3	** Aside from Creator/GeorgeKennedy's reappearance as Patroni in ''Airport '75'', there's Creator/CharltonHeston, Creator/KarenBlack, Creator/EfremZimbalistJr, Creator/LindaBlair, Creator/GloriaSwanson ([[AsHimself As Herself!]]), Creator/MyrnaLoy, Creator/SidCaesar... the list just keeps on going.
4	** ''Airport '77'' had Creator/JimmyStewart, Creator/JackLemmon, Creator/JosephCotten, Brenda Vaccaro, Lee Grant, Creator/ChristopherLee, Creator/OliviaDeHavilland...
5	** ''Airport '79'' featured a weird ensemble cast, with a bunch of performers more famous for their TV work acting alongside arthouse cinema notables like Creator/BibiAndersson and Creator/AlainDelon, plus ''Film/{{Emmanuelle}}'' herself Creator/SylviaKristel.
6	* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/ChristopherLee accepted a role in ''Airport '77'' purely to work with Creator/JackLemmon.
7	* BillingDisplacement: Creator/CharltonHeston in ''Airport '75'' is billed first, but Creator/KarenBlack's character gets the most focus, as well as screentime.
8	* BoxOfficeBomb: ''The Concorde… Airport ‘79'': Budget: $14,000,000; Gross: $13,015,688.
9	* ContractualObligationProject: Creator/SusanBlakely appeared in ''The Concorde...Airport '79'' as the first in a three-picture deal she signed with Creator/{{Universal}} following the success of ''Rich Man, Poor Man''.
10	* CreatorBacklash:
11	** Creator/BurtLancaster described ''Airport'' as "the worst piece of junk ever made."
12	** Creator/JackLemmon later felt that appearing in ''Airport '77'' was a big mistake.
13	* CreatorsFavorite: Music/DeanMartin named Vernon Demerest from ''Airport'' as one of his favourite roles.
14	* DawsonCasting: In ''Airport '79'', Andrea Marcovicci, 30 at the time, plays a 24-year-old Russian gymnast.
15	** Also in ''Concorde'', Harrison's age is stated to be 43, meaning he was born in 1936 or late 1935. Robert Wagner was born in 1930 and was actually 49 when the movie hit theaters.
16	* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: ''The Concorde...Airport '79'' was originally intended to be released in New Zealand as a Christmas attraction in December 1979. When Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed into the snow-covered slopes of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica, in 28 November 1979, the New Zealand release was pushed back to Easter 1980.
17	* FollowTheLeader: ''Airport '77'' is essentially ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'' with a jumbo jet.
18	* FranchiseKiller: ''Airport [='79=]'' was raked over the coals by critics (who called it one of the funniest unintentional comedies ever made) and didn't quite earn back its then-huge $14 million budget, marking the end of the line for the series.
19	* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/SylviaKristel recounted the making of ''The Concorde...Airport '79'' in her autobiography. Creator/AlainDelon felt he was not being taken seriously in Hollywood. On the first day, he demanded to switch trailers with director David Lowell Rich because his trailer wasn't large enough. At first Delon and Kristel did not get along, and he refused to get down on one knee in front of her for one scene. It wasn't until director David Lowell Rich began to treat Sylvia unkindly that Delon became more friendly toward her and they finished the production on good terms.
20	* MoneyDearBoy: After the disastrous response to ''Alex and the Gypsy'', Creator/JackLemmon felt he might never work again and instructed his agent to accept the next high paying gig he was offered, which was ''Airport '77''. He subsequently said it was a terrible decision.
21	* NoStuntDouble: Creator/ChristopherLee did the "dead" stunt in ''Airport '77'' himself, and as a result, was awarded the Stuntmen's Union's belt buckle.
22	* OneForTheMoneyOneForTheArt: Creator/BurtLancaster only agreed to star in ''Airport'' in order to get some non-commercial films made. His contract gave him a 10% profit participation once the movie hit $50 million, and the film grossed $45.3 million in North America alone.
23	* ParodyRetcon: When critics panned ''The Concorde... Airport '79'' by calling it unintentionally funny, the movie started being marketed as a comedy. This didn't help the film's box office performance.
24	* PlayingAgainstType:
25	** In ''Airport '77'', Creator/ChristopherLee, frequently cast as a suave villain, plays the selfless Martin Wallace who [[spoiler: sacrificed his life when he tried to help rescue the other passengers.]]
26	** One review of ''Airport '79'' [[QuestionableCasting pointed out the perversity]] of the producers hiring three actresses with a sexpot image (Creator/SybilDanning, Creator/SylviaKristel and Charo) for the film, but, when it came time to cast the role of the prostitute who has a tryst with Patroni, they gave it to Creator/BibiAndersson, who, as ''The New York Times'' summed it up, symbolized "purity and youth, then complexity and disillusionment" in the films of Creator/IngmarBergman.
27	** Staying with ''Airport '79'' - Creator/RobertWagner, usually cast suave charmers,[[note]]in fact the film opened in the US the ''same month'' that ''Series/HartToHart'' began its run[[/note]] plays the BigBad.
28	* RealLifeRelative: When Creator/JackLemmon activates the radio beacon in ''Airport '77'', the radio operator who hears the beacon is his real-life son, Creator/ChrisLemmon.
29	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Why Creator/GloriaSwanson appeared in ''Airport 1975'':
30	-->I was holding out for a picture I could take my grandchildren to see, something exciting and contemporary without senseless violence.
31	* UnfinishedEpisode: According to John Wilson in "The official Razzie Movie Guide", there were plans for a FIFTH movie to be called ''Airport 82: UFO'', a blatant attempt to [[FollowTheLeader cash in on]] the hot new wave of sci-fi cinema. Numerous contemporary news articles (which also use the name ''Airport [[AdvancedTech2000 2000]]'') describe it as a "[[Mohs/SpeculativeScience science fact]]" film (well, not counting the giant alien spacecraft that engulfs the plane) that would have moved the action to TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. George Kennedy was slated to return, naturally, and even turned down an invitation to appear in ''{{Film/Airplane}}'' so as not to undermine his opportunity to work for this franchise. Presumably, ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel'' killed this film by pre-emptively parodying it.
32	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
33	** Creator/JeanArthur is reputed to have turned down the role of Ada Quonsett in ''Airport''.
34	** Producer William Frye fantasized about adding Creator/GretaGarbo to the cast of ''Airport 1975'', but she turned him down flat. She found it boring to play an aged actress, saying, "What could be worse than playing an old movie star?"
35	** Creator/JoanCrawford was offered the role of Mrs. Devaney in ''Airport 1975'', but refused. She was also offered the role of Emily Livingston in ''Airport '77'', but declined, later saying:
36	-->I wanted Creator/JoelMcCrea to play opposite me, and anyway, they actually asked me to fly out there with only one week's notice. Why, that is hardly enough time for make-up tests or rehearsals, and when I asked about costume fittings, they said they wanted me to wear my own clothes.
37	** Frye tried to lure Creator/IreneDunne out of retirement to play Emily Livingston by offering her a new Rolls-Royce every year for the next ten years. Dunne loved the script but declined because, "I don't like Rolls-Royces."
38	* WrittenByCastmember: Creator/GloriaSwanson wrote all her dialogue in ''Airport 1975''.

Context Trivia / Airport