STACK December 2016 Issue No. 146

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A feature you'll never read in an in-flight magazine. From airline disasters and deadly
passengers to post-crash investigations and airport operations, the dramatic potential
of air travel continues to take flight in the movies. Fasten your seatbelts! Words Scott Hocking
WHAT TO EXPECT
A familiarity with flying is what makes this
particular sub-genre work. We've all been on
a plane at one time or another and are all too
aware that there's only so much metal and plastic
between us and a 30,000 foot drop to the ground
below. Unless you're a white-knuckle flyer, it's
something you don't think about, but the movies
do – and accentuate what can go wrong.
The aircraft cabin serves as a microcosm
populated by a diverse group of passengers –
usually played by Hollywood's finest – who you'll
become acquainted with over the course the
film. And if the writing and performances are top
notch, you'll actually care what happens to some
of them. Suspense thrillers exploit this confined
environment to the max – there really is no way
out and the stakes become even, er, higher.
Furtive conversations between the cabin crew
provide exposition on the nature of the threat,
and there will always be an irate passenger who
demands to be told what's really going on.
Terrorists and hijackers are a frequent threat,
but fortunately there's usually somebody
onboard who can stop them, whether it's an air
marshal (Non-Stop), a security expert (Passenger
57), the US president ( Air Force One), or Kurt
Russell (Executive Decision ). And if the pilot and
co-pilot are put out of action, you can count on a
passenger to eventually land the plane – guided
by instructions from ATC or their own flight
simulator/video game experience.
It's not all mid-flight calamity,
though. The everyday workings
of an airport can also be a
primary focus. Although now
the subject of numerous reality
shows, the movies trade the
mundane minutiae for the
crisis situation. You'll pick up
air traffic control lingo like
"Foxtrot Alpha Charlie" and
watching simple glowing dots
traverse a screen can actually
be surprisingly thrilling. Action
films will invariably include a
scene where the hero chases
a departing plane down the runway, and the
villain's demise is often brought about by a fall
into a spinning jet engine.
An airport is a nexus for human drama, from
the turbulent lives and personal problems of the
ground staff (Airport), to a stranded immigrant
who's taken up residence in JFK (The Terminal).
Another popular plot device is the post-crash
investigation, which has all the dramatic frisson of
a good courtroom drama, as pilots are mercilessly
interrogated (Flight, Sully) while insisting they did
everything by the rulebook (even if they didn't).
Then there are the more fantastic scenarios
that capitalise on the irresistible mystery of flights
that vanish without a trace (The Langoliers), or
attempt to convince you that a passenger can go
missing mid-flight with no record of them ever
being onboard (Flightplan).
Thankfully, you can count on the
aforementioned films to be missing from the
in-flight movie selection on your next trip.
WHERE TO START
The disaster movie cycle of the 1970s saw
a lot of planes falling out of the sky with all-
star casts onboard. The Airport franchise is the
quintessential introduction to the genre, so ideally
you should start here.
Based on the best-seller by Arthur
Hailey, Airport (1970) is a big screen
soap opera offering "seven stories tied
into one". Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin
and George Kennedy lead the superstar
cast of airport and flight crew who face
both personal and professional crises
including infidelity and unexpected
pregnancy, and a mad bomber onboard.
Oh, and the airport is in the grip of a
blizzard, too. It's all super cheesy but lots
of fun in a retro kind of way.
Follow-up Airport 1975 (the series
used the year of release rather than a
sequel number) takes the drama to the skies
when a Cessna collides with 747, leaving the
pilots dead and Karen Black at the controls. A
daring mid-air attempt is made to transfer a new
pilot into the cockpit by helicopter. Seriously!
In Airport '77, a private 747 carrying the
fabulously wealthy and a cargo of priceless art
crashes into the Bermuda Triangle, no less,
trapping the passengers and crew underwater
with the pressure mounting. And by the time
Airport 80:The Concorde lifted off, the
franchise was in serious descent.
The Airport series made mega bucks at the
box office, but more importantly, its clichés
BEGINNER’S
GUIDE
#9 - AIRLINE MOVIES
Engine failure, turbulence, terrorists, time warps, hijackers and even
snakes can turn a routine flight into a high altitude nightmare – and a
box office bonanza. A lot can happen on the ground, too, in airports and
air traffic control towers or on the runways. And the smaller stories
involving frequent flyers, pilot heroism and what happens backstage at
the airport prove equally compelling.
visit
44 DECEMBER 2016
DVD&BD
FEATURE
[Note: Not all titles discussed are available on DVD and Blu-ray. Check the JB website.]