(1970)
3
Michael Betzold
Airport was widely lambasted by critics for its tried-and-true technique of showcasing a raft of Grand Hotel-style big-name box-office stars in a melodramatic thriller; Judith Crist called it "the best film of 1944." But no one could argue with its success or its influence. Director/screenwriter George Seaton displayed a masterful old hand's touch for showcasing stock characters in a soap opera format, adapting Arthur Hailey's blockbuster novel with Dean Martin as the pilot and a cast top-heavy with stars. Airport won huge audiences and six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, with veteran Helen Hayes, one of the first Oscar winners in 1932, winning a supporting award. The crowd-pleasing behemoth spawned almost a decade's worth of big-budget disaster films, including three inferior sequels, and then another round of disaster spoofs, beginning with 1980's Airplane!
Trailer
awards for Airport on AllMovie
Airport (1970)
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
|
Nominated |
Best Adapted Screenplay
|
1970 |
|
Won |
Best Art Direction
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Cinematography
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Costume Design
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Editing
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Original Score
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Picture
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Sound
|
1970 |
|
Won |
Best Supporting Actress
|
1970 |
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
|
Nominated |
Best Original Score
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
|
1970 |
|
Won |
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
|
1970 |
|
Nominated |
Best Picture - Drama
|
1970 |
