Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89115 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-05-01
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Running time: 137 minutes

Amazon.com
One of the first of the big disaster films, this stodgy Hollywood product lumbers and creaks as it tries to sort out the various plot threads of Arthur Hailey's doorstop of a novel. Set at (what else?) a busy metropolitan airport, it details what happens one eventful night when, among other things, a huge blizzard threatens to disrupt air traffic for the airport manager (Burt Lancaster) even as a suicidal bomber (Van Heflin) heads into the air with mayhem on his mind. There's also an impish old lady (Helen Hayes, who won an Oscar for this role) who specializes in sneaking aboard airliners, and the married pilot (Dean Martin) is having an affair with a stewardess (Jacqueline Bisset). An old-fashioned movie that inspired a bunch of sequels, the Airplane spoofs, and a host of other disaster films. --Marshall Fine