One of my favorite movies...I too think of this music during a snowstorm & usually watch the movie on a snowy night. Best disaster movie, as far as I'm concerned, and I love disaster movies!
Man I wish we would get that much snow in St. Louis last few winters have been mild. Always like the sight of those snowblasts shooting snow as they clear the runway. Do they still use flamethrowers on the runways anymore?
Actually, if you were observant, you will notice that they are "right on the money" according to the VASI (Visual Approach Slope Indicator) lights ... 3 red on the left, 3 white on the right :)
So this movie inflicted the 1970's disaster movies on us lolol Great film highlighting the beautiful Boeing 707. I dread to think about a new Airport movie featuring that bloody ugly behemoth the Airbust
Event movies that were epic dramas usually had a "set piece,, " which was a sequence of spectacle that the audience usually had to wait for at the climax. In AIRPORT, it was the decompression; the parting of the Red Sea is another, Chariot race in BEN HUR- nowadays there is no buildup to anything. The audience has to be bombarded with spectacle the minute the screen lights up. I think we are missing alot today- especially a story line that would hold your attention to that moment!
Demille40, I couldn't ragree with you more. Airport still works as a classy piece of entertainment 39 years later. It takes it's time to build up the characters and the multiple plot lines and then brings them all together so that you care about the characters and what happens to them. And it doesn't go for overkill. I guess the problem was that each big movie had to outdo the spectacle or suspense of the previous movies and that's why we've ended up with saturated movies.
As I watch this opening credits with the great music and shots of Minneapolis International Airport back in the day, I feel bad as Northwest Airlines becomes merged with Delta. The great shot of the terminal with the Northwest Ticket Counters, the Northwest red tails sitting in front of the terminal and the jet taking off- We were proud of Northwest and sad to lose it. Remember, North by Northwest was also for our proud hometown airline. Sacrificed to the almighty dollar.
So sad on this day as the Northwest fleet and all the counters at Minneapolis International are being rebranded from Northwest to Delta. I love seeing the redtails and the ticket counters with Northwest Orient at the beginning of this opening.
best movie ever done about an airport all the things that go on behind the scenes. i listen to this music everytime i shovel snow in ny. it does keek you pumped some have rocky i use this the best.. to bad the real airports arent as fun....
greaterst airport movie not the series but an airport all that goes on behind the scenes i shovel snow to this when we get enough in ny everytime i pass lga or jfk i cant help whislting this song.
Love the flame throwers on the runways, reminds me of the way they would get the Met ready for Vikings back when I was a kid. My parents would take us out to MSP to watch the planes come in. Free entertainment.
There is a version of the main theme that was recorded by the Johnny Gibbs Orchestra, available on iTunes. Very good rendition, and you're right, it's great motivation before the daily grind.
This movie was filmed at the Minneapolis / St. Paul Intl Airport in February 1969. I know because I was on leave from the Air Force and arrived from Chicago while they were filming. You can see me walk behind the guy with the bomb as he is buying his flight insurance from Nancy Nelson.
Too cool to see so many other people remember this theme/movie! It was great as a kid! No movie involving an airport is complete without George Kennedy,RIP.
Nope, George is still with us. But sadly, many of the other folks are gone--Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes, Jean Seberg, and Albert Reed (the man who played the security guard). He played Alderman Fred C. Davis on "Good Times" in the 1970s.
Don't forget Dana Wynter,Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Lloyd Noland, Ross Hunter, & the author of the novel Arthur Hailey. We saw this movie @ it's East Coast in March 1970 @ Radio City Music Hall in NYC on a 9th grade class trip. It started the disaster genre of movies. It was a great movie & it won best picture @ the Academy Award & it deserved it.The theme is also one of the best ever.
saw this movie in 1970 in one of the old style 70mm theatres with the Cinerama curved screens...this was all pretty impressive stuff to a kid, I can tell ya!
The Boeing 707 in this movie was "borrowed" from American Airlines. It was later sold by AA to a South American airline and turned into a cargo hauler, where it subsequently crashed and burned a few years later.
a nostalgia trip,a classic when movies where still fun to watch because you actually have to go to a cinema where the lines are long queing to buy tickets and all the seats are taken. A star studded movie based on pop novelist Arthur Hailey's best book.
This is too cool, I never thought I'd find this here! As an after thought, 15yrs ago I bought the 69' Ford wagon used in this film driven by Burt Lancaster at Auburn IN. I still have the car squirred away in storage. Thanks for posting this!
Very Nice.. I lived in Minneapolis in 1969 during the filming. I was actually an "extra" in the movie...! Lots of fun, But long nights. MSP Airport sure has changed since then. Thanks for the great clip.
Just a nice side note.. if anyone wants the score (open) from Airport, its now available on iTunes.. and its pretty much what you hear here. An amazing replica.. if not the original.
Great! I think I'll pop in the dvd, get comfy & watch it right now. The Grand dad of all disater movies. "When I'm setting down over 200,000 of 707, I want something under my wheels that's pently long & mighty dry.."
I love this movie. It has a great score but with the footage shot for the opening credits, the movie should have been titled Snow Plowers Terminal, or Carpark. As for airplanes, I counted just three or four at the most.
This music score is composed by Alfred Newman. His last works. I love this very much. But the movie editor is no good. Music is not synchronized dialogue. I regret Newman's sudden death.
When flight was still glamorous and exiting.Look how poorly NBC's rather recent LAX did in the ratings.First rate movie in every way,far superior to the sequels.Oh,the good old days when a nice man just wanted to blow up a plane for the life insurance.I could go on but I better not.
I totally agree with mplsmn. I remember hanging out at the aiport when this was being shot...and I used to work in the building right next to the control tower (about 10 years later). The Mpls/St. Paul airport is almost unrecognizable today.
Ever since I saw this movie I thought the music in the beginning was ridiculous, kinda spoiled the spirit of the film completely, but during the film it gets better though.
Wow, it's amazing how much the airport here has changed since 1970. Always like to watch this movie when it's on TV, kinda neat to see the old planes and airlines that aren't around any more.
One of my favorite movies...I too think of this music during a snowstorm & usually watch the movie on a snowy night. Best disaster movie, as far as I'm concerned, and I love disaster movies!
fcatf6 2 months ago
It is so the « I know it, I saw it on TV» type of film :P
ianyslem 8 months ago
Two-niner is CLOSED! Call Patroni!
SFConifer 1 year ago
Almost 4 minutes of movie for just a few bucks.
rpfberkvens 1 year ago
Great theme!
mqblues 1 year ago
Great Score to a truly BAD FLICK!!! Even Burt Lancaster said the movie was pure junk. HE is right.
UFOSPACE1999 1 year ago
Yes remake this great movie with more drama and do it right
Ironmind10 1 year ago
Yes they should remake this great movie but do it right with added drama
Ironmind10 1 year ago
Yeah I guess if they updated for today and replaced the bomber as a Muslim terrorist, people might be offended.
russwinkler 1 year ago
@russwinkler Great idea. Instead of blowing up a briefcase, he could blow up his underwear.
hrrj9119 1 year ago
My favorite classic.
tjmady 1 year ago
They need to make a remake of this movie. Why haven't they done it yet?
sigzor85 1 year ago
great movie, but such cheesy fake snow
jackscal1 2 years ago
Yeah, and you can still see the shadows from the sun!
dma124 2 years ago
The very last original score composed and conducted by Alfred Newman, as well as his very last of his 44 Oscar nominations. Posthumously.
tonytakoma 2 years ago 2
Thank you for posting!
busterbeezandjack 2 years ago
Man I wish we would get that much snow in St. Louis last few winters have been mild. Always like the sight of those snowblasts shooting snow as they clear the runway. Do they still use flamethrowers on the runways anymore?
bradhig 2 years ago
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
moty001 2 years ago
As a lifelong "propellorhead" it is a privilege to share my birth year with this movie.
The music is the greatest Movie theme of all time in my opinion - truly awesome.
I would give anything to hear this live played by an orchestra.
AndrewJM70 2 years ago 2
Hard to buy Dean Martin as an airline pilot. Haha!
leafyutube 2 years ago
You haven't been reading the news much lately. ;O)
fls13ec 2 years ago
it would have been ideal to see good old Dino with a bottle of Ballantine Scotch,like in those Matt Helm spy spoofs....
mikethegent 2 years ago
glide slope! glide slope!!!
nimrob 2 years ago
@nimrob
Actually, if you were observant, you will notice that they are "right on the money" according to the VASI (Visual Approach Slope Indicator) lights ... 3 red on the left, 3 white on the right :)
2ninerniner2 1 year ago
Can you believe that this music was up against Woodstock for an academy award in music
swhin 2 years ago
So this movie inflicted the 1970's disaster movies on us lolol Great film highlighting the beautiful Boeing 707. I dread to think about a new Airport movie featuring that bloody ugly behemoth the Airbust
linebackertwo 2 years ago
I wish I wrote the score! It's fantastic!
jeprice08 2 years ago
Check out my channel, I just uploaded this movie.
oldclassicmovies 2 years ago
Event movies that were epic dramas usually had a "set piece,, " which was a sequence of spectacle that the audience usually had to wait for at the climax. In AIRPORT, it was the decompression; the parting of the Red Sea is another, Chariot race in BEN HUR- nowadays there is no buildup to anything. The audience has to be bombarded with spectacle the minute the screen lights up. I think we are missing alot today- especially a story line that would hold your attention to that moment!
Demille40 2 years ago
Story line in movies of today??? What's that concept? I have no idea what that could be. ;)
Aussiemarco 2 years ago
Demille40, I couldn't ragree with you more. Airport still works as a classy piece of entertainment 39 years later. It takes it's time to build up the characters and the multiple plot lines and then brings them all together so that you care about the characters and what happens to them. And it doesn't go for overkill. I guess the problem was that each big movie had to outdo the spectacle or suspense of the previous movies and that's why we've ended up with saturated movies.
dafmurray 2 years ago
As I watch this opening credits with the great music and shots of Minneapolis International Airport back in the day, I feel bad as Northwest Airlines becomes merged with Delta. The great shot of the terminal with the Northwest Ticket Counters, the Northwest red tails sitting in front of the terminal and the jet taking off- We were proud of Northwest and sad to lose it. Remember, North by Northwest was also for our proud hometown airline. Sacrificed to the almighty dollar.
MCWEDS 2 years ago
ahhh,another balmy day in Minneapolis...
irish89055 2 years ago
So sad on this day as the Northwest fleet and all the counters at Minneapolis International are being rebranded from Northwest to Delta. I love seeing the redtails and the ticket counters with Northwest Orient at the beginning of this opening.
MCWEDS 2 years ago
i consider it 2nd best..but that's not important right now,lol
Disneydanny 2 years ago
best movie ever done about an airport all the things that go on behind the scenes. i listen to this music everytime i shovel snow in ny. it does keek you pumped some have rocky i use this the best.. to bad the real airports arent as fun....
neweast1 2 years ago
greaterst airport movie not the series but an airport all that goes on behind the scenes i shovel snow to this when we get enough in ny everytime i pass lga or jfk i cant help whislting this song.
neweast1 2 years ago
god so 70's
DavidRectum 3 years ago
just read the book..was actually not bad ..great period aviation info..is the movie available to buy ?
fordlandau 3 years ago
Your local video store or from Universal Studios on line or at the Theme Parks in California or Florida.
frankd1965 2 years ago
Love the flame throwers on the runways, reminds me of the way they would get the Met ready for Vikings back when I was a kid. My parents would take us out to MSP to watch the planes come in. Free entertainment.
srmacdaddy 3 years ago
Old movie music is awesome - this is one of the classics.
sarge0144 3 years ago
I listen to this soundtrack every morning before I start work. It gets me motivated. Try it.
Toracube 3 years ago
There is a version of the main theme that was recorded by the Johnny Gibbs Orchestra, available on iTunes. Very good rendition, and you're right, it's great motivation before the daily grind.
cag1970 2 years ago
Love the terminal building! Still the main piece in place at MSP! Was an extra in terminal crowd scene 1in 1969. Lots of fun, no sleep!
Beagle3561 3 years ago
j adore se film je viens de le trouve en dvd il est genial
rharame 3 years ago
This movie was filmed at the Minneapolis / St. Paul Intl Airport in February 1969. I know because I was on leave from the Air Force and arrived from Chicago while they were filming. You can see me walk behind the guy with the bomb as he is buying his flight insurance from Nancy Nelson.
johnny9797 3 years ago 19
@johnny9797: This movie was filmed at the Minneapolis / St. Paul Intl Airport in February 1969.
JM: MSP looks a lot like Indy did back then. Interesting.
JetMechMA 1 year ago
i wish we could go back in time when things were a lot better.
redvdub70 3 years ago 2
? what ? what are you tolking about .wen were thengs good 70s? i dont think there was aver a good time all whas war going on.
tinymanthebeast 3 years ago
A time when they made clean movies.
mwdiet 3 years ago
Too cool to see so many other people remember this theme/movie! It was great as a kid! No movie involving an airport is complete without George Kennedy,RIP.
goldenagenut 3 years ago
He isn't dead!!!!
madmacks61 3 years ago
No? I was thinking he'd passed several year back, well cool, George Kennedy rocks.
goldenagenut 3 years ago
Nope, George is still with us. But sadly, many of the other folks are gone--Burt Lancaster, Helen Hayes, Jean Seberg, and Albert Reed (the man who played the security guard). He played Alderman Fred C. Davis on "Good Times" in the 1970s.
cag1970 3 years ago
Don't forget Dana Wynter,Van Heflin, Maureen Stapleton, Lloyd Noland, Ross Hunter, & the author of the novel Arthur Hailey. We saw this movie @ it's East Coast in March 1970 @ Radio City Music Hall in NYC on a 9th grade class trip. It started the disaster genre of movies. It was a great movie & it won best picture @ the Academy Award & it deserved it.The theme is also one of the best ever.
Colonel Santo A. Chase,USA(Ret.)
swt32567 3 years ago 3
sorry pal...but it didn't win best picture (though it WAS nominated)..."Patton" won.
funk0049 3 years ago
Helen Hayes won the best supporting-actress award as the cantakerous old stowaway.
frankd1965 2 years ago
Hmm..definite before global warming set in.
BTW love this movie!
Danish4ever77 3 years ago
saw this movie in 1970 in one of the old style 70mm theatres with the Cinerama curved screens...this was all pretty impressive stuff to a kid, I can tell ya!
Think I'll watch this tonight ;)
districtline 3 years ago
Flyoma - Are you going to add the next segment of the movie? :D
ragemanchoo82 3 years ago
Somebody should really upload the whole movie.
bsartist 3 years ago
and by the way----remind me to send a thank you note to Mr. Boeing!
disastertom 3 years ago
Like the pilots say -- "If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going."
CreoleCW 3 years ago
thanks for the correction - that will teach me for listening to a "buff" for this movie (as am I).
disastertom 3 years ago
ends at the point where it gets stuck :(
fijiboy68 3 years ago
:)cool
T0x1x 3 years ago
Very interesting comments. I love the music, and the red beetle in minute 2.00
Paulosoy 3 years ago 2
Ah, the good old days when commercial aircraft sometimes took off on time.
bbdupon 3 years ago 2
The movie and music are loved.(^^)ｖ
uiro007 4 years ago 2
I second that!
westxlcr 4 years ago
GR8 ICON MOVIE
patmix 4 years ago
this is one of the films I like really
silverfinger1 4 years ago
The Boeing 707 in this movie was "borrowed" from American Airlines. It was later sold by AA to a South American airline and turned into a cargo hauler, where it subsequently crashed and burned a few years later.
disastertom 4 years ago
a nostalgia trip,a classic when movies where still fun to watch because you actually have to go to a cinema where the lines are long queing to buy tickets and all the seats are taken. A star studded movie based on pop novelist Arthur Hailey's best book.
mandala921 4 years ago
This is too cool, I never thought I'd find this here! As an after thought, 15yrs ago I bought the 69' Ford wagon used in this film driven by Burt Lancaster at Auburn IN. I still have the car squirred away in storage. Thanks for posting this!
hearsedriver1968 4 years ago
Pictures, or it didn't happen ;)
cudak888 2 years ago
Where is this movie set?
1f5sda 4 years ago
It is set in Chicago but was filmed at Minneapolis/St Paul airport.
bassethound1 4 years ago
Sounds like the theme to the local 11:00 news in the '80s.
blanchelincoln 4 years ago
Very Nice.. I lived in Minneapolis in 1969 during the filming. I was actually an "extra" in the movie...! Lots of fun, But long nights. MSP Airport sure has changed since then. Thanks for the great clip.
Beagle3561 4 years ago
Did they have to wait for a snow system to come in for some of the scene's ?
I miss the days when you could go to the airport and walk around and watch from the windows near the gates.
tanyafoxx 2 years ago
Nope. The airport used to have a display which stated that the weather was clear and that director George Seaton had to use plastic snow..
dma124 2 years ago
nice movie!
flytampa 4 years ago
i love this movie!
jonathantrain 4 years ago
Just a nice side note.. if anyone wants the score (open) from Airport, its now available on iTunes.. and its pretty much what you hear here. An amazing replica.. if not the original.
nicksair 4 years ago
Great! I think I'll pop in this movie right now. The Grand dad of all disaster movies. Great aircraft, too!
"When I'm setting down over 200,000 pounds of 707, I want something under my wheels that's plenty long & mighty dry..."
Vernon Demerest, Captain, Trans Global airlines
fcatf6 4 years ago
"...you guys have a broad stashed in there or what.....?? Joe Patroni, Lincoln Airport Maint. Chief, Trans Global Airlines
disastertom 4 years ago
Great! I think I'll pop in the dvd, get comfy & watch it right now. The Grand dad of all disater movies. "When I'm setting down over 200,000 of 707, I want something under my wheels that's pently long & mighty dry.."
Vernon Demerest, Captain, Trans Global airlines.
fcatf6 4 years ago
I love this movie. It has a great score but with the footage shot for the opening credits, the movie should have been titled Snow Plowers Terminal, or Carpark. As for airplanes, I counted just three or four at the most.
markedjuan 4 years ago
Actually, I think there would have been less mayhem in the movie if Lancaster was flying the plane and Dean was singing at the airport lounge.
bbdupon 4 years ago 3
This music score is composed by Alfred Newman. His last works. I love this very much. But the movie editor is no good. Music is not synchronized dialogue. I regret Newman's sudden death.
tajimaharutaka 4 years ago 2
George Kennedy is not a nice guy!
pantok07 4 years ago
George Kennedy dominates almost every scene he's in. It's a textbook example of how a supporting actor can have more fun the leads.
BillKoenig 4 years ago
One of the classic film openings of all time.
arcadiasims 4 years ago
I love this movie!
vargas37 4 years ago
I was born in 1971 and I first saw this movie as a little girl on BBC. It was one of the films that inspired me to become a flight attendant.
britishmummy 4 years ago
I find myself always whistling this..
IWExcelsiorE 4 years ago
Absolutely fabulous score! The horns entering at 1.57 are brill! Thank you for this; will listen again and again...
ihadaralf 4 years ago
When flight was still glamorous and exiting.Look how poorly NBC's rather recent LAX did in the ratings.First rate movie in every way,far superior to the sequels.Oh,the good old days when a nice man just wanted to blow up a plane for the life insurance.I could go on but I better not.
korintenkaker 4 years ago
I totally agree with mplsmn. I remember hanging out at the aiport when this was being shot...and I used to work in the building right next to the control tower (about 10 years later). The Mpls/St. Paul airport is almost unrecognizable today.
badwx 4 years ago
Ever since I saw this movie I thought the music in the beginning was ridiculous, kinda spoiled the spirit of the film completely, but during the film it gets better though.
Jusu 5 years ago
There is still a Joe Petrone around in MSP. He's a little shorter and probably smokes Swisher Sweets.
skymanor 5 years ago
It sure can be fun to watch this and then follow it with "AIRPLANE-THE MOVIE" a great night of laughs!!
radiojim1023 5 years ago
Wow, it's amazing how much the airport here has changed since 1970. Always like to watch this movie when it's on TV, kinda neat to see the old planes and airlines that aren't around any more.
mplsmn 5 years ago
Not the most revolutionary of movie title sequences, but that music by Alfred Newman is like a jolt of adrenaline.
lump516 5 years ago