The Concorde ... Airport '79

Infobox_Film
name = The Concorde ... Airport '79
imdb_id = 0078740
producer = Jennings Lang
director = David Lowell Rich
writer = Jennings Lang (story)
Eric Roth (screenplay)
starring = Alain Delon
Susan Blakely
Robert Wagner
music = Lalo Schifrin
cinematography = Philip H. Lathrop
editing = Dorothy Spencer
distributor = Universal
released = August 17, 1979
runtime = 123 min.
language = English
amg_id = 1:1311
preceded_by = "Airport '77"

"The Concorde ... Airport '79" is a 1979 American disaster film (in the UK, it was released a year later as "Airport '80: The Concorde"). The film was the fourth and final installment of the Airport series. Panned by critics, the film made only US$13 million [ [http://the-numbers.com/movies/series/Airport.php Airport - Box Office History ] ] at the box office.

Plot

Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner), an arms dealer, attempts to destroy an American-owned Concorde supersonic transport on its maiden flight after one of the passengers Maggie Whelan (Susan Blakely) learns of his weapons sales to communist countries during the Cold War. After the Concorde manages to escape destruction by remotely-controlled missiles and rogue fighter aircraft, Harrison attempts to de-pressurize the aircraft at altitude, forcing it to crash in the Alps.

Cast

* Alain Delon "as" Capt. Paul Metrand
* Susan Blakely "as" Maggie Whelan
* Robert Wagner "as" Kevin Harrison
* Sylvia Kristel "as" Isabelle
* George Kennedy "as" Capt. Joe Patroni
* Eddie Albert "as" Eli Sands
* Bibi Andersson "as" Francine
* Charo "as" Margarita
* John Davidson "as" Robert Palmer
* Andrea Marcovicci "as" Alicia Rogov
* Martha Raye "as" Loretta
* Cicely Tyson "as" Elaine
* Jimmie Walker "as" Boise
* David Warner "as" Peter O'Neill
* Mercedes McCambridge "as" Nelli
* Monica Lewis "as" Gretchen
* Stacy Heather Tolkin "as" Irina
* Avery Schreiber "as" Russian coach Markov

Inconsistencies and criticism

This movie is the fourth and last sequel to Airport. Like the previous sequel "Airport '77" this movie is also regarded as unrealistic Fact|date=August 2008 due to the highly unlikely plot. A number of obvious continuity errors and inconsistencies are found, contradicting both the storyline and the earlier movies.

In previous "Airport" movies, Joe Patroni, the character played by George Kennedy, was the chief mechanic for Trans World Airlines (on loan to Trans Global Airlines) ("Airport"), Vice President of Operations for Columbia Airlines ("Airport 1975"), and served in an undefined role to businessman Phillip Stevens ("Airport '77"). In "Airport '79", Patroni is a pilot working for Federation World Airways, who is qualified to fly the Concorde.

There are several errors in the movie concerning the configuration of the nose of Concorde during takeoff (5°) and landing (12.5°), during her takeoff and landing in Dulles Airport and Charles de Gaulle Airport, as prescribed in the flight manual.

Allmovie's Bruce Eder interpreted the film as a self-parody due to the film's outrageous premise, situations, and casting. Additionally, the film's underlying premise of a "good will" flight to Moscow in celebration of the (then) upcoming 1980 Summer Olympics was seriously undermined by the real-life Soviet war in Afghanistan which began almost contemporaneously with the film's release and the resulting U.S.-lead 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, making the film a victim of extremely bad timing.

Extended version broadcast on ABC Network in 1982

When ABC aired the movie in 1982, several new scenes were added to the film:

*Several scenes featured an American detective in Washington who interviews Carl Parker's wife in connection with her husband's murder, and an Interpol investigator in Paris who interviews Mr. & Mrs. Eli Sands concerning the attacks on the Concorde.
*A conversation takes place between the flight crew during the initial ferry flight from Paris to Washington; we learn that Paul Metrand, while in Indochina consorted with a prostitute named "the Tarantula", whom Joe Patroni knew when he was fighting in the Vietnam War. (The scene where Patroni talks about the Tarantula was left in the original theatrical release.)

*The Virginia State Police shoot down the "Air Peace" balloon after its near-miss with the Concorde.

*Additional scenes involving Maggie Whelen and Kevin Harrison are added, including a romantic scene where she reveals that she is pregnant with Harrison's child.

*Maggie Whelan is shown doing a news broadcast from Moscow revealing the contents of the documents after the destruction of the Concorde.

*Kevin Harrison does not commit suicide on his private jet in the ABC version, but does so at an impromptu press conference in Washington, D.C., almost before the end of Maggie Whelan's broadcast in Moscow.

*Scenes with Charo were cut, as were scenes showing Jimmie Walker smoking cannabis in the lavatory.

*Certain scenes had profanity either edited out or dubbed with less-profane language.

Trivia

*Many of the flying sequences in the movie feature Concorde Airreg|F|BTSC|disaster. Coincidentally this aircraft, operating as Air France Flight 4590, is the same Concorde that crashed into a hotel after take-off from Charles de Gaulle International Airport on July 25 2000 killing all on board, and four on the ground. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078740/trivia IMDB: Trivia for The Concorde ... Airport '79] ] [ [http://www.concordesst.com/accident/203a.html ConcordeSST.Com: Information about the Concorde used in the movie.] ] This accident, among other factors, led to permanent grounding of the Concorde aircraft in 2003.

*This marked the third and final time that both Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner would both co-star together, and were back working at Universal.

*This is the only Airport film not to feature Edith Head as the Costume Designer.

ee also

* Concorde
* Air France Flight 4590
* "Airplane!"
* ""
* "Airport"
* "Airport 1975"
* "Airport '77"
* "" (a/k/a "SST: Disaster in the Sky")
* "Starflight One" (a/k/a "Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land")

References

External links

*imdb title | id=0078740 | title=The Concorde ... Airport '79