by Lisa Fagan

Created on: August 18, 2011

Airport. Released in 1970. Produced by Ross Hunter. Directed by George Seaton. A Universal Pictures Release. Starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes, Jean Seberg, Maureen Stapleton, Van Heflin, Barry Nelson, Barbara,Hale, Gary Collins, Dana Wynter, and Lloyd Nolan. Based on the 1968 best-selling novel of the same name by Arthur Hailey.

Suspense! Drama! Disaster! A major snowstorm. An all-star cast, Put them altogether and what do you got? A major blockbuster! Airport tells the story of Mel Bakersfeld, the general manager of the fictional Lincoln International Airport in Chicago, dealing with all sorts of problems when a major snowstorm hits. A closed runway when the landing of a Trans Global Airlines flight gets stuck in the snow; leaving only one runway open; a runway which disturbs the sleep of the residents of the Meadowood project. The lawyer for the Meadowood project threatened to sue Mel for ten million dollars if he didn't stop flying those planes over their houses.

He contacts Joe Patroni, (George Kennedy), the chief mechanic for TWA. to help dig the plane out because he needed that runway badly. Joe had to give up a romantic evening with his wife Marie because of this.

Mel's family life was also affected as well. Because of the snow emergency, he reneged on a promise to be home by six o'clock that evening to take his glamorous, brunette, and long-suffering wife Cindy (Dana Wynter) to a charity dinner. Cindy wanted Mel to meet with her father about taking his job; a job that will give Mel regular hours, more pay, and more time with his family. (Mel and Cindy also had two young daughters; Libby and Roberta.) But Mel repeatedly said was not interested in his father-in-law's job. He prefered to stay in navigation instead.  When Cindy comes to his office from the dinner, she tels Mel that she wants a divorce, and that she had been seeing somebody else.

Besides Mel Bakersfeld, the other characters in the movie were:

1. Captain Vernon Demarest (Dean Martin), Mel's brother-in-law. (Vern was married to Mel's sister Sarah; played by Barbara Hale of Perry Mason fame.) Both he and Captain Anson Harris (Barry Nelson) were the pilots on that nigiht's ill-fated Trans Global Flight # 2 to Rome. The flight was delayed an hour because of the weather. Vernon refused to take off and land on the only runway that was available. He didn't want any broken glass or cracked plaster over the Meadowood houses. When the plane had

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