747 at risk

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747 in Danger ( Airport 1975 ) is an American film directed by Jack Smight , released in 1974 .

Synopsis

The 747 action at risk is aboard a Boeing 747 aircraft of the fictional Columbia Airlines between Washington and Los Angeles . To avoid the thick fog that covers Los Angeles , Commander Stacy ( Efrem Zimbalist Jr. ) is ordered to land in Salt Lake City .

During the descent to the airport, a collision with a small passenger aircraft whose pilot has just died of a heart attack, ejects the co-pilot and kills the flight engineer in the Boeing 747 cockpit . The only survivor, Commander Stacy seriously injured and unable to maintain control.

With the help of the air traffic controllers in Salt Lake City , Nancy Pryor ( Karen Black ), the in charge of the cabin, tries to keep the aircraft in flight. His fiance, Alan Murdock ( Charlton Heston ), an experienced pilot and former instructor on 747 at Columbia Airlines , participates in rescue operations with Joe Patroni ( George Kennedy ), vice president of Colombia Airlines , whose wife ( Susan Clark ) and his son are aboard the Boeing 747.

Linda Blair plays the role of a sick girl transported to Los Angeles for a kidney transplant. Helen Reddy is a tormented singer of the situation.

Technical sheet

  • French title: 747 en danger
  • Original title: Airport 1975
  • Director: Jack Smight
  • Scenario: Don Ingalls
  • Music: John Cacavas
  • Photography: Philip H. Lathrop
  • Editing: J. Terry Williams
  • Production: William Frye
  • Production and Distribution Company: Universal Pictures
  • Country: United States
  • English language
  • Size: Color – Mono – 35 mm – 2.35: 1
  • Genre: Catastrophe
  • Duration: 106 min
  • Budget: $ 4,000,000
  • Release dates:
    •  United States :
    •  France :

Distribution

  • Charlton Heston (VF: Raymond Loyer ) : Alan Murdock
  • Karen Black (VF: Évelyn Selena ) : Nancy Pryor
  • George Kennedy (VF: André Valmy ) : Joe Patroni
  • Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (VF: Jean-Claude Michel ) : Commander Stacy
  • Susan Clark (VF: Perrette Pradier ) : Helen Patroni
  • Roy Thinnes : Urias
  • Sid Caesar (VF: Roger Crouzet ) : Barney
  • Helen Reddy (VF: Claude Chantal ) : Sister Ruth
  • Linda Blair (VF: Séverine Morisot) : Janice Abbott
  • Dana Andrews (VF: Jean Michaud ) : Scott Freeman
  • Gloria Swanson (VF: Marie Francey ) : She herself
  • Myrna Loy (VF: Monique Mélinand ) : M me Devaney
  • Christopher Norris (VF: Monique Thierry ) : Bette
  • Ed Nelson (VF: Michel Gatineau ) : Major John Alexander
  • Nancy Olson (VF: Nadine Alari ) : M me Abbott
  • Larry Storch (VF: Francis Lax ) : Glenn Purcell
  • Martha Scott (VF: Lita Recio ) : Sister Beatrice
  • Jerry Stiller (VF: Henry Djanik ) : Sam
  • Norman Fell (VF: Marc de Georgi ) : Bill
  • Conrad Janis : Arnie
  • Linda Harrison (VF: Béatrice Delfe ) : Winnie Griffith
  • Guy Stockwell (VF: Jacques Deschamps ) : Colonel Moss
  • Erik Estrada (VF: Serge Lhorca ) : Julio
  • Ken Sansom (VF: Jacques Balutin ) : Gary
  • Alan Fudge (VF: Claude Brosset ) : Danton
  • Brian Morrison : Joseph Patroni, Jr.
  • Beverly Garland (VF: Nelly Vignon ) : M me Scott Freeman
  • John Lupton : Bill Oringer
  • Laurette Spang (VF: Anne Rochant ) : Arlene
  • Terry Lester (VF: Jean-Pierre Dorat ) : Mr. Kelly
  • Irene Tsu : Carol
  • Ray Ballard (VF: Claude Joseph ) : The hostile passenger
  • Alice Nunn (VF: Hélène Tossy ) : The passenger with the dog
  • Gene Dynarski (VF: Albert of Medina ) : The first friend of Scott Freeman
  • Ted Gehring (VF: Jacques Marin ) : The mechanic

Aeronautical Scenes

One of the main aeronautical scenes of the film sees the implementation of a Sikorsky CH-53A Sea Stalion helicopter supposed to allow a pilot to join passengers in distress through the gaping hole of Boeing. After an unsuccessful first attempt, Alan Murdock finally manages to take control of the aircraft in distress. This CH-53A rescue helicopter was originally from the United States Marine Corps.

As for the Boeing 747-123 , registered N9675, its barely made-up decoration suggests that it belongs to American Airlines [ref. necessary] .

History of this 747 codes: 747 MSN 20390-N675UP serial number: 20390 LN: 136 type: 747-123 first date: flight 07/05/1971 25/05/1971: AMERICAN AIRLINES N9675 02/06/1976: TMA OD-AGM 10/01/1977: AMERICAN AIRLINES N9675 12/09/1984: UPS N9675 sold in: 2005 in Roswell situation: 11/2011 scrapping

Anecdotes

  • The 1970s were propitious for the production of disaster films: earthquakes, forest fires, shipwrecks, meteorites, avalanches and air disasters. Five air disaster movies have been released in ten years:
    • 1970 : Airport of George Seaton
    • 1972 : Bomb Threat ( Skyjacked ) of John Guillermin
    • 1974 : 747 at Risk ( Airport 1975 ) by Jack Smight
    • 1977 : The Shipwrecked 747 ( Airport ’77 ) by Jerry Jameson
    • 1979 : Airport 80 Concorde ( The Concorde … Airport ’79 ) by David Lowell Rich
  • Several scenes of the film inspired the authors of the parody Is there a pilot on the plane? like that of the nun who plays the guitar to distract a sick child.
  • Dana Andrews , who plays the role of the pilot whose heart attack is the cause of the disaster, had already worn the warrior uniform several times in the 1940s, most notably in The Most Beautiful Years of our lives . He was also the hero of Hall Bartlett’s The Hour Zero (1957) , a precursor whose script was very faithfully pastiched in. Is there a pilot on the plane? (1980).
  • This is the latest appearance on the screen of silent star Gloria Swanson .

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