Editing Airport (1970 film) (section)

===Critical response===
''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "Based on the novel by Arthur Hailey, over-produced by Ross Hunter with a cast of stars as long as a jet runway, and adapted and directed by George Seaton in a glossy, slick style, ''Airport'' is a handsome, often dramatically involving $10 million epitaph to a bygone brand of filmmaking" but added that the film "does not create suspense because the audience knows how it's going to end."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/1969/film/reviews/airport-1200422292/|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Film reviews: Airport|date=1970|access-date=July 22, 2019|archive-date=July 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722211352/https://variety.com/1969/film/reviews/airport-1200422292/|url-status=live}}</ref>[[Boxoffice]] praised the film's strong production values, excellent cast, and potential to be very popular but foresaw that other critics' opinions would not be universally favourable.<ref>https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/29864529/boxoffice-february231970 Boxoffice, February 23, 1970, Feature Reviews, p.11</ref>  Film critic [[Pauline Kael]] gave ''Airport'' one of its worst contemporary reviews, scornfully dismissing it as "bland entertainment of the old school."<ref name="Kael">{{Cite book |last=Kael |first=Pauline |author-link=Pauline Kael |title=5001 Nights at the Movies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4LzeUZ03vQC |year=2011 |orig-year=1991 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1-250-03357-4 |page=12 |access-date=2016-11-02 |archive-date=2017-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214220331/https://books.google.com/books?id=w4LzeUZ03vQC |url-status=live }}</ref> "There's no electricity in it", she wrote; "every stereotyped action is followed by a stereotyped reaction."<ref name="Kael"/> [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film two stars out of four and faulted a predictable plot and characters that "talk in regulation B-movie clichés like no B-movie you've seen in ten years."<ref name="Roger Ebert">{{cite news |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19700101/REVIEWS/1010301/1023 |title=Ebert's review of 'Airport' |access-date=2009-08-31 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |archive-date=2013-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309234742/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19700101%2FREVIEWS%2F1010301%2F1023 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and reported that while the theater audience cheered at the climax, "it's a long and torturous road to the applause. Blocking the path are speeches that promote the industry, dialog that ranks among the silliest in memory, and a labored plot that tells you everything twice.<ref>Siskel, Gene (March 25, 1970). "Airport". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. Section 2, p. 6.</ref> [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "an immensely silly film—and it will probably entertain people who no longer care very much about movies."<ref>Canby, Vincent (March 6, 1970). "[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0DEFDB1638EE34BC4E53DFB566838B669EDE The Screen: Multi-Plot, Multi-Star 'Airport' Opens] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102005806/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0DEFDB1638EE34BC4E53DFB566838B669EDE |date=2013-11-02 }}". ''[[The New York Times]]''. 34.</ref> [[Charles Champlin]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called the film "breath-taking in its celebration of anything which used to work when Hollywood was younger and we were all more innocent."<ref>Champlin, Charles (March 21, 1970). "'Airport' Recalls Older Hollywood". ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. Part II, p. 7.</ref> Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' called it "a lousy movie" that was "utterly predictable."<ref>Arnold, Gary (March 24, 1970). "Lousy 'Airport'". ''[[The Washington Post]]''. B6.</ref> ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote, "Corny is really the only word for this unbelievably old-fashioned look at the modern phenomenon of an international airport: the one surprise is that the sweet old white-haired stowaway doesn't spring to the controls and bring the distressed aircraft down single-handed as [[Julie (1956 film)|Doris Day did]] once upon a time in analogous circumstances."<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 1970 |title=Airport |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=37 |issue=437 |pages=126–127 }}</ref>

[[Christopher Null]] wrote in 2000, "With one grandiose entrance, ''Airport'' ushered in a genre of moviemaking that is still going strong—the disaster movie... Too bad the 'disaster' doesn't happen until 2 hours into the 2:15 movie. No matter—''Airport''{{'}}s unending sequels and spoofs are a testament that this film is a true piece of Americana, for good or for bad."<ref name="filmcritic">{{cite web |url=http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Airport |work=Filmcritic.com |title=Airport |access-date=2009-08-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202220109/http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Airport |archive-date=2010-02-02 }}</ref> Despite the film being one of the most profitable of Burt Lancaster's career, he called it "a piece of junk."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Montreal Gazette]]|date=March 8, 1971|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19710308&id=uJgkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oqAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3906,1786621|title=Airport 'junk' – Lancaster|access-date=June 27, 2015|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426212652/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19710308&id=uJgkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oqAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3906,1786621|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Stafford, Jeff|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/19875/airport#articles-reviews?articleId=66927|title=Airport|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=2024-10-24}}</ref>

Review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives the film a rating of 75%, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/airport/ |title=Airport (1970) |access-date=July 10, 2022 |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |archive-date=April 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430124223/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/airport |url-status=live }}</ref>  On Metacritic, the film holds an average rating of 42/100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{Citation|title=Airport|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/airport|access-date=2018-11-03|archive-date=2020-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215195735/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/airport|url-status=live}}</ref>