Overview
A gripping tale of survival and chaos unfolds at a major airport during a snowstorm.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- tense
- melodramatic
- procedural
- classic movie night
- disaster film marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly recognized the film's impressive production values and strong cast while finding its suspense predictable and its dialogue and melodrama formulaic.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Mel Bakersfeld and the airport staff confront interlocking snow, fuel, staffing, runway, and equipment problems across a single crisis period.
The plot intercuts the airport manager, pilots, customer relations staff, flight attendants, spouses, a stowaway, and a bomb-carrying passenger.
Runways, aircraft, schedules, fuel, and airport bureaucracy directly shape the characters' marriages, romances, professional conflicts, and emergency decisions.
The Ross Hunter Productions film uses a major star ensemble and large-scale airport production design to frame aviation emergencies as event cinema.
Films like Airport, and why
The High and the Mighty
shared airport-centered disaster tension, professional ensemble, and escalating aviation emergency
The Poseidon Adventure
shared large-scale disaster structure, melodramatic ensemble storytelling, and aviation peril
The Cassandra Crossing
shared 1970s disaster-film atmosphere, institutional crisis management, and suspense built around transportation failure
Movie Details
- Director
- George Seaton
- Release Date
- 1970-03-25
- Runtime
- 137 min
- Rating
- 6.5 / 10 (468)
Cast
- Burt Lancaster
- Dana Wynter
- Dean Martin
- Barbara Hale
- Jean Seberg
- Jacqueline Bisset
- George Kennedy
- Jodean Lawrence
- Helen Hayes
- John Findlater
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Airport about?
- A snowbound airport manager battles operational chaos, personal strain, and a bomb threat during one perilous night of aviation crisis.
- What is Airport like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Airport as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Airport violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Airport as mild.
- What did critics think of Airport?
- Critics broadly recognized the film's impressive production values and strong cast while finding its suspense predictable and its dialogue and melodrama formulaic.
- Which films are like Airport?
- Films with a similar feel include The High and the Mighty, The Poseidon Adventure, and The Cassandra Crossing.
- How long is Airport?
- Airport runs 137 minutes.
- Where can I watch Airport?
- In United States, Airport is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
