Airport 1975 (Jack Smight, 1974)

Bizarrely wooden acting in the first third. And the end was poorly directed. There’s no long shot of the plane making its final stop. But in between, pretty damn tense. And there’s actually an emotionally wrenching scene where George Kennedy talks via radio to his wife Susan Clark who’s on the doomed plane and both are suppressing tears trying to be strong for one another. Tons of stars, natch, including an ageless Gloria Swanson playing herself. Bonus: the purple-as-funk color scheme and carpet art. We watched it on Blu-Ray and while the opening scenes were too vivid in that digital way with the actors looking too sweaty and pancaked, later scenes had higher grain and made Charlton Heston look like a star rather than a gargoyle. Is it a matter of different reels? Grade: B, harmless.