BEFORE: Of course I've seen "Airplane" a dozen or so times - one of the best parody films ever. But, I've never watched the films that it was made to spoof - so let's correct that.
THE PLOT: Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.
AFTER: I'm going to have to take something of a mulligan on this one. I tried to watch it, I really did - but I kept falling asleep. Then I'd wake up, rewind the DVD back to where I left off, and try again - this scenario repeated until about 6 am, at which point I was forced to call off the attempt.
To be fair, I was up early on Friday morning for a 9 am doctor's appointment, then I worked a full day, came home and watched Tuesday's "American Idol", plus the results show, then had to get started on clearing my DVR before the weekend hit. So I guess I was pretty exhausted...
However, I place much of the blame on the movie itself - there were too many people TALKING about the action taking place, which is certainly not as exciting as the actions themselves. Guys, the general filmmaking rule is "Show, don't tell." I promise to review the plot summary online and fill in the gaps of what I missed, but this film is going to be like "Casablanca", another talky-talky film I've never been able to make it through without napping.
Burt Lancaster plays the manager of a Midwestern airport, and Dean Martin plays his no-good pilot brother-in-law - there's a terrible snowstorm, a madman with a bomb on a plane, a little old lady who sneaks aboard planes without paying (Helen Hayes) and George Kennedy plays Joe Patroni, the get-it-done guy who has to find a way to save the day.
Special effects? Virtually non-existent - again, it's all talk and very little action, at least the parts that I was able to watch.
Also starring Jacqueline Bisset, Maureen Stapleton, Van Heflin and Gary Collins
RATING: 3 out of 10 snowplows (I freely admit the low rating may be my fault)
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