Airport '80 - The Concorde

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Airport '80 - The Concorde
Original title The Concorde… Airport '79
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1979
length 106 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director David Lowell Rich
script Jennings Lang
Eric Roth
production Jennings Lang
music Lalo Schifrin
camera Philip H. Lathrop
cut Dorothy Spencer
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Lost in the Bermuda Triangle

Airport '80 - The Concorde (original title: The Concorde… Airport '79 ; also: Airport '80 - The Concorde ) is the fourth and last film in a series of disaster films that began in 1970 with the film Airport . The film opened in German cinemas on October 25, 1979.

action

The flight captains Metrand and Patroni are flying the supersonic Concorde passenger aircraft, which has recently been handed over to the American airline Federation World Airlines, from Washington via Paris to Moscow. In preparation for the Olympic Games in Moscow, a delegation of Soviet athletes, several illustrious personalities and a journalist, Maggie Whelan, are on board. The latter was still in a relationship with the industrialist Kevin Harrison, the chairman of the defense company Harrison Industries.

Maggie Whelan has confidential material given to her in dramatic circumstances by a former Harrison Industries employee alleging that the company was involved in illegal but executive-approved arms deals, such as with the Viet Cong .

In order to avoid publication, Harrison is ready to do anything and hijacks the aircraft while testing an armed drone in order to attack the Concorde. However, through extreme flight maneuvers, Patroni manages to keep the drone at a distance until the American air force succeeds in shooting it down.

Harrison then informs a French partner who sends a Phantom from the European side . The pilots can save the Concorde by daring maneuvers and by using signal ammunition as decoys until French fighter pilots can eliminate the Phantom.

However, the machine was so badly damaged by these incidents that a normal landing is no longer possible. Shortly before the end of the runway at Le Bourget and supported by safety nets, the first flight stage is just about safely completed.

Due to these two failures, the conspirators decide to destroy the Concorde by sabotage the next day on its flight to Moscow, and have a purchased technician, who is supposed to repair the damage to the aircraft overnight, install a timer on the cargo hatch. This then opens as planned the next day while the aircraft is over the Alps. The drop in pressure and flying luggage damage the fuselage so badly that the next airport can no longer be reached.

The Concorde is forced to make an emergency landing in the middle of the Alps, which is achieved on a prepared ski slope. While evacuating the passengers, Maggie can also rescue the documents on Kevin Harrison. In her live report from the scene of the accident, she announced the publication of the explosive information. Kevin Harrison then commits suicide on board his private plane . All passengers and crew members manage to leave the Concorde in good time before it explodes in a huge fireball.

background

  • Aerospatiale provided the Concorde with the registration number F-BTSC , which was later used by Air France . This machine was the one that crashed on July 25, 2000 as Air France flight 4590 near Gonesse .

Reviews

"Poor fantasy and tension-free staged infusion of the cash-rich airport series, full of inconsistencies."

- Lexicon of international film

Cinema.de sees “cheap showmanship that shamelessly disregards the laws of aerodynamics.” Janet Maslin mocked the overconstructed and illogical script in the New York Times and concluded: “The most interesting thing about a film is to watch the actors until the finale in the snow and to wonder what they are doing. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Airport '80 - The Concorde . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2006 (PDF; test number: 51 005 DVD).
  2. ↑ a b Airport '80 - The Concorde. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed October 26, 2011 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ^ Concordesst.com - Aircraft Number 203 (English) accessed on January 23, 2011
  4. ↑ review (with film images)
  5. ↑ Janet Maslin: The Concorde Airport 79 (1979) . In: New York Times . August 3, 1979 ( nytimes.com ).