AIRPORT 4K UHD Box Set - $39 @ Amazon

[AndyDursin]

No TV cuts regrettably...maybe Arrow or whoever will take a look overseas at doing them.

[Monterey Jack]

Sleeve packaging…

[Eric Paddon]

I am passing not only because they don't include the TV cuts, but because I have ZERO desire to listen to any commentary that Julie Kirgo is part of or any liner notes that she is the author of. Get set for her to go off about feminist subtexts or a lot of discourse on abortion for the first film.

Honestly, the more I look at Kino's screwups starting with the Columbo release where they yanked commentaries I WANTED to hear and keep shoveling insipid commentaries on their other film releases and now this one where they drop the ball on the bonus content that should have been an obvious no-brainer, the more ticked off I get. I no longer take part in their sales stuff and I'm through with blind buys of their titles for the sake of supporting the label.

[AndyDursin]

Preorder on the Kino site is very agreeable at $79

If you want to wait for overseas releases, which I have to assume will happen because these are popular titles, it's possible the TV cuts could pop up there. Kino for whatever reason has never been a label that's dabbled into the TV cuts. Other people have, but they pretty much will just release "whatever was on the previous studio disc" and that's it 99% of the time.

[Eric Paddon]

Preorder on the Kino site is very agreeable at $79

If you want to wait for overseas releases, which I have to assume will happen because these are popular titles, it's possible the TV cuts could pop up there. Kino for whatever reason has never been a label that's dabbled into the TV cuts. Other people have, but they pretty much will just release "whatever was on the previous studio disc" and that's it 99% of the time.

It didn't use to be that way. Kino in the past would give us alternate cuts of key releases like the theatrical and TV cut versions of the "Buck Rogers" pilot and they also delayed their release of "SOS Titanic" to find the original longer ABC TV cut which was a major find (they also gave us both cuts of "One Million Years BC" too, mindful as they were of the differences there). This approach is just cheap on all levels and I especially don't want to hear a Julie Kirgo commentary or read any essay by her.

Since Via Vision/Imprint has been doing a lot of Universal catalog material I would rate them the best hope at this stage to do something right. For now, I'll get by with what I have.

[AndyDursin]

This approach is just cheap on all levels and I especially don't want to hear a Julie Kirgo commentary or read any essay by her.

They're charging $20 per-movie (in the box set) for 4K UHDs carrying brand new, remastered scans of these movies. That's a good deal whether the extras are lame or not. And to be fair, it's a lot more than Imprint usually does, when they charge Criterion or Arrow-level pricing for discs that many times are HD masters that are 10-20 years old. None of these boutique labels has really expended less effort collectively than they have (I assume the money they charge must go to the people they recruit for supplements) from a technical angle, and only recently have they started turning that around. And I like Imprint discs still -- I always give Imprint credit for curating catalog content into interesting collections, but it took them a while to realize releasing scans of HD masters that were years old was not a prudent idea.

As far as Julie Kirgo, politics aside, she knows her history at least and I find her enjoyable to listen to. Otherwise I'm mostly tired of these talking head participants that routinely get hired (does Alexandra Heller-Nicolas work on every label's disc?) who are would-be "intellectuals" and film theory "historians" who overanalyze a movie and generally provide a viewpoint as far to the left as it gets. Many times they're not even informed...but at least we seem to have broken out of the COVID era where every disc had a Daniel Kremer commentary or visual essay.

Regardless, I find it easy to glance at these things and never pay attention to them, nor do they detract my enjoyment of watching a movie.

[Eric Paddon]

The TV cut of "Airport 77" though is something that can't be dismissed as unnecessary because in all honesty, that version is more comprehensible to me as a narrative than the theatrical one is. For years the only times I ever saw the film was in its TV version because NBC showed it about six times between 79 and 83 collectively and when I saw the theatrical version there were so many narrative gaps I felt like I was watching a film where someone had pressed the pause button and missed things. I do have my own off-air versions of it, but I wanted to have an official one at last to go alongside those efforts that have also received commercial release ("King Kong", "Two Minute Warning" and even the foreign release of "Midway" had the TV cut which I was then able to burn back to regular Blu-Ray)

If they'd done '77 without the expanded "Concorde" (which is a bad film either way) I would have been okay with that.

[AndyDursin]

I do wonder if the actual masters for those are gone because a) they havent been broadcast in forever and b) they've never been attached to any home video release. Even some of the off-air versions are not the best quality, which is odd because they used to be shown so many times.

[Eric Paddon]

That is certainly possible, though in that case if Shout! could include an old TV airing of "Two Minute Warning" as a bonus, Kino could do likewise with "Airport '77" since there are decent looking ones out there. All they'd have to do is make an effort.

[AndyDursin]

These transfers look good -- the original is a bit dark, especially evident during the cockpit sequences, but the others really have a nice amount of grain and use of HDR also. The 5.1 remixes are all superb also with nice expansion of the stereo field while keeping dialogue anchored to the center.

For whatever reason I find AIRPORT 1975 a perfect mix of guilty pleasure entertaining and unintentionally funny -- at times -- but I had the best time watching it again, probably because the pacing is brisk and the cast is engaging. The original AIRPORT by comparison feels like a film from the 1950s and is a stodgy soap opera until the final third when it kicks into gear. AIRPORT 77 is fine, and probably dramatically superior to 75, but it's not quite as much fun (despite also having a couple of bits where I laughed out loud). THE CONCORDE is bad movie trash and wasn't even shot in scope, but I'm still glad to have it.

[John Johnson]

These transfers look good -- the original is a bit dark, especially evident during the cockpit sequences, but the others really have a nice amount of grain and use of HDR also. The 5.1 remixes are all superb also with nice expansion of the stereo field while keeping dialogue anchored to the center.

For whatever reason I find AIRPORT 1975 a perfect mix of guilty pleasure entertaining and unintentionally funny -- at times -- but I had the best time watching it again, probably because the pacing is brisk and the cast is engaging. The original AIRPORT by comparison feels like a film from the 1950s and is a stodgy soap opera until the final third when it kicks into gear. AIRPORT 77 is fine, and probably dramatically superior to 75, but it's not quite as much fun (despite also having a couple of bits where I laughed out loud). THE CONCORDE is bad movie trash and wasn't even shot in scope, but I'm still glad to have it.

On a side note, by the time the film was released in the UK, The Concorde was retitled Airport 80' The Concorde

[AndyDursin]

My review!

AIRPORT (1970) 8/10
AIRPORT 1975 (1974) 7/10
AIRPORT '77 (1977) 7/10
THE CONCORDE...AIRPORT '79 (1979) 4/10

Producer Ross Hunter’s box-office smash ignited a whole genre of “disaster movies” that followed throughout the 1970s, yet there’s something very “50’s” about the original AIRPORT (137 mins., 1970, G), which makes its 4K UHD debut this month from Kino Lorber along with its three sequels.

This George Seaton-scripted and directed adaptation of Arthur Hailey’s bestseller is more soap opera than Irwin Allen, at least for its first two-thirds, with “Airport” introducing us to its main leads Burt Lancaster (the workaholic manager of a Chicago airport) and Dean Martin (philandering airplane pilot who just knocked up stewardess Jacqueline Bisset), along with a bevy of supporting players including ace airplane engineer George Kennedy (who appears in all four films) and stowaway Helen Hayes, who only needs a few more one-liners and music by DeVol to turn her scenes into a veritable sitcom.

“Airport” offers big-screen entertainment of the old-fashioned variety – and I do mean old, as it feels very much anchored to a different time and place, accentuating the personal problems of Lancaster, who’s interested in co-worker Jean Seberg despite being married, and Martin, who’s trying to figure out “what to do” with his unborn. The widescreen Todd-AO trappings of cinematographer Ernest Laszlo provide an elegant visual gloss with Alfred Newman’s classy final score adding to the presentation, yet the movie doesn’t really come alive until the disaster element kicks in nearly 2/3 of the way through.

Perhaps that’s a reason why, when it came time to make the classic 1980 spoof “Airplane!”, there was more grist for the satirical mill in AIRPORT 1975 (107 mins., 1974, PG), the first sequel in the franchise and a movie that provides quite a bit of guilty-pleasure fun. Though initially considered as a TV-movie, Universal wisely opted to ride the crest of the disaster genre’s rise at the box-office, pumping more money into this first “Airport” follow-up and releasing the film just weeks ahead of the studio’s “Sensurround” epic “Earthquake.”

Like that bigger-budgeted spectacle, Charlton Heston stars here in full-on “hero mode” as a daring pilot who takes command of a 747 damaged by a small plane in a harrowing accident – but not until its voyage is first salvaged by the heroic efforts of stewardess Karen Black (also Heston’s girlfriend), who improbably takes command after pilot Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is gravely injured (we won’t speak about what happens to his co-pilots, Erik Estrada and especially Roy Thinnes!).

There’s more a “Guest Star” component to ‘75, including a singing nun (Helen Reddy), a teenager (Linda Blair, fresh from “The Exorcist”) hoping for a transplant, a group of drunks (Norman Fell, Jerry Stiller, Conrad Janis), a former Tinseltown bit player (Sid Caesar) and even Gloria Swanson herself! George Kennedy reprises “Petroni” also, while the thrills include exciting aerial photography and a suspenseful climax, the footage of which would be recycled in a memorable episode from “The Incredible Hulk” a few years later.

“Airport 75”’s box-office success lead to another follow-up, AIRPORT ‘77 (114 mins., 1977, PG), which battens down the dramatic hatches for a solid enough outing involving a 747 hijacked and left for dead after a botched cargo heist downs the plane inside the waters of the Bermuda Triangle. Pilot Jack Lemmon, thankfully, saves the day after philanthropist Jimmy Stewart’s flight goes down with a bevy of folks on-board, including Christopher Lee’s business tycoon, his unhappy wife (Lee Grant), Lemmon’s own girlfriend (Brenda Vaccaro) and another mix of Golden Age Hollywood talent (Olivia De Havilland, Joseph Cotten) and up-and-comers like Kathleeen Quinlan.

Director Jerry Jameson helms the movie efficiently and the picture is well-made – it just feels a little bit like a low-bar variation on “The Poseidon Adventure” in its mid-section, leading to a competent if overall unremarkable entry on the whole.

The genre was drying up by the time we hit the late ‘70s, with Irwin Allen himself having struck out with “The Swarm” and “Beyond the Poseidon Adventure,” while producer Dino DeLaurentiis failed to find many takers for his remake of “The Hurricane.” Universal attempted to exploit the “Airport” franchise one last time with THE CONCORDE...AIRPORT ‘79 (113 mins., 1979, PG), but diminishing returns played out with this decidedly less ambitious affair that nearly resembles a TV movie.

Certainly the cast is more “small screen” with “Guest Stars” like Jimmy Walker, Martha Raye and a brief appearance by Charo making you think Captain Stubing was right around the corner. The movie, scripted by future Oscar winner Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”!), finds conniving entrepreneur Robert Wagner trying to smuggle weapons and deciding the only way to stop journalist girlfriend Susan Blakely from finding out about his scheme is by taking out the super-sonic Concorde jet she’s a passenger on. That throws her, her fellow passengers and the stalwart crew – including Alain Delon and a returning George Kennedy (Patroni has magically been promoted here to pilot) – into jeopardy as the Concorde has to evade multiple attacks including drone-controlled missiles.

Complete with a “layover” in Paris so Patroni can bed hooker Sylvia Kristel (then red hot off “Emmanuelle”), director David Lowell Rich’s movie feels notably reduced in scope off the previous “Airport” pictures. That extends to its non-anamorphic lensing, though some decent special effects and Lalo Schifrin’s fine score compensate; overall, I can’t say I didn’t have a good time watching the picture despite its abundant flaws and indifferent execution, with Kennedy’s genial presence carrying the load.

All four “Airport” movies have been newly scanned in 4K (all 2.35 except for “Concorde”’s 1.85) by Kino Lorber – the original from a 4K scan “of the 35mm interpositive reduction element,” and the sequels from their respective 35mm OCNs. This makes sense as the first picture looks good if a tad dark at times with its Dolby Vision HDR grading, with good detail but not a whole lot of “pop” in the HDR category. It’s satisfying, but a full-blown restoration of its original negative would have produced greater results (something not cost-prohibitive, however). The sequels all fare better and look superior with nice HDR highlights and pleasing details throughout.

On the audio side, “Airport” offers both 5.1 DTS MA and 2-channel mixes, while the sequels are all offered in both their original mono or quite serviceable 5.1 remixes, which have properly centered dialogue and a nice expansion for their effects and music. Extras include trailers on each disc, a collectible slipcover featuring original theatrical artwork, and new commentaries from (“Airport”) Julie Kirgo and C. Courtney Joyner, (‘75 and ‘79) Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, and (‘77) Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff.

[Eric Paddon]

The 4K transfer of "Airport" looks great. For the first time I'm noticing the titles of the magazines in Burt Lancaster's office and even the name on a tag of a ramp supervisor.

But as I expected.......Kirgo gave me another reason why she's so damned insufferable. She and her partner just yap endlessly on subjective stuff and of course give us requisite soapbox asides when they must go off on Jean Seberg's travails (or in another moment when Kirgo implies that air travel is now going to be less safe because Trump is now in office) And what is REALLY maddening is how they both profess to know so much about Arthur Hailey as an author yet they clearly don't remember the specifics of the novel and what was changed in bringing this to the screen etc. and a number of times they make speculations about aspects of the film that if they'd only remember were PART OF THE NOVEL, they'd understand why that was in the film etc. THAT is the kind of discussion that a commentary should be about, but instead I learned next to nothing about the film's production other than the fact that Henry Hathaway shot all the location material. Commentary tracks like this are just a joke and Kino seems to always give us one dud after another.

[AndyDursin]

$39.95

https://www.amazon.com/Airport-The-Comp ... s_li_ss_tl

[John Johnson]

Sleeve packaging…

Perhaps Via Vision will pick up this title.