There’s something beautifully analog about the tension in Airport. No CGI explosions. No digitally de-aged stars. Just snow, sweat, and a ticking clock in a crowded control tower. Released in 1970 and based on Arthur Hailey’s bestseller, Airport didn’t just kickstart the disaster movie craze of the ’70s — it practically invented the blueprint. Long before Bruce Willis walked barefoot across broken glass or Gerard Butler saved the President for the third time, this was the big-budget, star-stuffed thriller that taught studios how to turn panic into popcorn.

It’s a cold, miserable January day at Chicago’s fictional Lincoln International (actually Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport), and things are rapidly spiraling. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the airport manager trying to hold the place together amid a runway-blocking snowstorm, a failing marriage, and a looming public scandal. Meanwhile, his brother-in-law, cocky pilot Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), is tangled in an affair with chief stewardess Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset, When Time Ran Out) — who just found out she’s pregnant. And oh yeah, there’s a bomb on a Rome-bound flight.

The stakes escalate fast, but George Seaton (who also directed Miracle on 34th Street) plays things with slow-burn confidence. The film juggles nearly a dozen subplots, from a desperate bomber played by Van Heflin to Helen Hayes’ utterly delightful stowaway Ada Quonsett — a role that earned her an Oscar. Even as the film careens toward disaster, it’s the human moments that stick. Lancaster’s weary resolve, Jean Seberg’s flinty charm, Bisset’s vulnerability — the cast turns airport soap opera into something oddly gripping.

And then there’s George Kennedy. Introduced here as Joe Patroni, the mechanic who muscles planes off runways like it’s nothing, Kennedy is the glue of this franchise. Patroni would return in all three sequels, but Airport gives him a perfect entrance: confident, practical, just the right amount of gruff.

Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD restoration is the best this film has ever looked. Sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm inter-positive, the disc’s HDR and Dolby Vision elevate Ernest Laszlo’s crisp widescreen photography to near-theatrical levels. Blacks are deeper, skin tones richer, and that fake plastic snow? Still pretty convincing. It’s a top-tier transfer — the kind that makes you appreciate the precision behind every split screen and every camera move.

Bonus features round out the package with a meaty commentary from Julie Kirgo and C. Courtney Joyner, diving into production history, casting trivia, and why Airport worked despite being as much about marital infidelity as it was about aviation and suspense in the skies.

Over 50 years later, Airport remains the classiest disaster movie ever made. It cares more about its people than its pyrotechnics, which is probably why it earned 10 Oscar nominations and became the highest-grossing film of 1970 (adjusted for inflation, around 129 million). If the 1980 comedic spoof Airplane! was the eulogy, Airport was the sermon. And it still gets high marks.