{ "id": "epfz8mehby", "slug": "the-concorde-airport-79", "title": "The Concorde... Airport '79", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries", "label": "Action, thriller, and crime series film entries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries.entries-released-1960s-and-1970s", "label": "Entries released 1960s and 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries.entries-released-1960s-and-1970s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Action, thriller, and crime series film entries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries", "label": "Action, thriller, and crime series film entries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) is the fourth and final Universal Airport disaster film, directed by David Lowell Rich, starring Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, and George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, with a sabotaged Concorde flight as its plot.", "snippet": "The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) is the fourth and final Universal Airport disaster film, directed by David Lowell Rich, starring Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, and George Kennedy as Joe Patroni, with a sabotaged Concorde flight as its plot.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries.entries-released-1960s-and-1970s", "markdown": "# The Concorde... Airport '79\n\n**The Concorde... Airport '79** is a 1979 American aviation disaster film directed by David Lowell Rich and the fourth and final entry in [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures)' Airport series, following *Airport* (1970), *Airport 1975* (1974), and *Airport '77* (1977).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) Its plot centers on a Concorde flight from Washington, D.C. to Paris and Moscow that becomes the target of sabotage by a corrupt arms dealer trying to silence a journalist on board.[2](https://www.fandango.com/the-concorde-airport-79-157863/movie-overview) The film was written by [Eric Roth](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-roth) and Jennings Lang, produced by Lang, and stars [Alain Delon](https://www.edgepedia.org/alain-delon), Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, and George Kennedy.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | Los Angeles and New York openings on 3 August 1979; 113 minutes; rated PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) |\n| Series position | Fourth and final Universal \"airport\" disaster film, after *Airport* (1970), *Airport 1975* (1974), and *Airport '77* (1977)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) |\n| Key personnel | Director David Lowell Rich; writers Eric Roth and Jennings Lang; composer Lalo Schifrin[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Concorde-Airport-79-The) |\n| Recurring character | George Kennedy, as Joe Patroni, was the only cast member to appear in all four Airport films[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) |\n| Real aircraft | One Concorde leased through arrangements with Air France and Aérospatiale; the featured aircraft, registration F-BTSC, later crashed as Air France flight 4590 on 25 July 2000[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) |\n| Budget and gross | $15 million budget, $4 million for special effects; $13,000,000 domestic and worldwide box office[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) • [3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Concorde-Airport-79-The) |\n| Critical reception | Metascore 39, \"Generally Unfavorable\"; six critic reviews scored between 40 and 70[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-concorde-airport-79/critic-reviews/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nTelevision anchorwoman Maggie Whelan ([Susan Blakely](https://www.edgepedia.org/susan-blakely)) reports from Washington, D.C. on Concorde flight twenty-eight, a goodwill flight to Moscow via Paris in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games, and on Harrison Industries, a munitions manufacturer for the U.S. military that will test the Buzzard, a new attack missile, against an unmanned radio-controlled plane over the ocean.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) Whelan discovers that her married boyfriend, Kevin Harrison ([Robert Wagner](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-wagner)), heads a company involved in illegal arms sales, and Harrison decides to kill her by bringing down the Concorde she is taking from Paris to Moscow.[2](https://www.fandango.com/the-concorde-airport-79-157863/movie-overview) Keeping the aircraft flying and undamaged as Harrison's jets launch missile strike after missile strike is the job of the two pilots, Paul Metrand (Alain Delon) and Joe Patroni ([George Kennedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-kennedy)).[2](https://www.fandango.com/the-concorde-airport-79-157863/movie-overview)\n\nThe passenger list carries the series' customary melodramatic subplots: [Cicely Tyson](https://www.edgepedia.org/cicely-tyson) plays a distraught mother transporting a live heart to Paris for her child's transplant operation, [Avery Schreiber](https://www.edgepedia.org/avery-schreiber) plays a Russian weightlifter with a deaf child, [Eddie Albert](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-albert) plays the airline's president, and Martha Raye plays a queasy matron given comic relief.[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/09/14/pearl-of-many-perils/eaf8d448-edb3-4472-9398-a04aa1793ac5/) The cast also includes Sylvia Kristel as stewardess Isabelle, David Warner as flight engineer Peter O'Neill, and television personalities Charo, John Davidson, and Jimmie Walker.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) • [6](https://letterboxd.com/martymckee/film/the-concorde-airport-79/)\n\n## Production\n\n**Filming and locations.** Production ran from 16 November 1978, starting in France, to 16 February 1979.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) French locations included [Charles de Gaulle Airport](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-de-gaulle-airport), Le Bourget Airport, the [Champs-Élysées](https://www.edgepedia.org/champs-elysees), the Palais de Justice, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Seine River, the Place de l'Étoile, and Toulouse Airport; American locations included the [Washington Monument](https://www.edgepedia.org/washington-monument) and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., the Naval Air Station at Point Mugu in Oxnard, California, the Snowbird ski resort in Utah, which stood in for the Alps, and Universal Studios in Los Angeles.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779)\n\n**The real Concorde.** Through arrangements with [Air France](https://www.edgepedia.org/air-france) and [Aérospatiale](https://www.edgepedia.org/aerospatiale), the owner and manufacturer of the Concorde, the filmmakers leased one supersonic aircraft.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) According to an interview with Alain Delon, Air France insisted on script changes before granting permission: the airline wanted the pilots portrayed as professionals while operating the aircraft, with no alcohol or discussion of workplace romance on board.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) The aircraft carried registration F-BTSC, visible in several shots; the same plane, as Air France flight 4590, crashed on takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport on 25 July 2000, the only fatal crash in the Concorde's history, killing over 100 people.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779)\n\n**Effects.** Exterior footage of the real airborne Concorde was intercut with models and miniatures built by Universal Hartland, the studio's special effects facility.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) Effects supervisor Abe Milrad devised a computerized motion control process named Cinesonic, photographing the plane models against backdrops of water, skies, and clouds rather than the customary black background of science fiction films.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) A replica Concorde interior seating sixty passengers was built on stage 12 at Universal Studios; its main cabin and cockpit could be rotated and flipped upside down to represent the plane's aerobatic maneuvers, with cast members locked in their seats by invisible harnesses.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) The budget was reported as $15 million, of which $4 million went to special effects.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779)\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nThe film received generally unfavorable reviews. Its Metascore of 39 aggregates six critic reviews: Variety at 70, TV Guide Magazine at 50, and 40 each from The New York Times (Janet Maslin), Time Out, The A.V. Club, and Newsweek.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-concorde-airport-79/critic-reviews/) Variety's review credited the excellent special effects work and some decent dramatics while calling unintentional comedy the series' forte.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-concorde-airport-79/critic-reviews/) The Washington Post's Gary Arnold, reviewing at release, called it a \"Good Bad Movie\" and wrote that the photogenic Concorde itself conferred class on the disaster act.[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/09/14/pearl-of-many-perils/eaf8d448-edb3-4472-9398-a04aa1793ac5/)\n\nThe film earned $13,000,000 at the domestic and worldwide box office, less than each of its predecessors: *Airport* grossed $100,489,150, *Airport 1975* $47,285,152, and *Airport '77* $30,000,000.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Concorde-Airport-79-The) • [7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Airport) Inflation-adjusted, its domestic gross equals $58,577,679.[3](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Concorde-Airport-79-The)\n\n## Later releases\n\nFor the television broadcast on ABC, twenty-five minutes of footage was added; [Sybil Danning](https://www.edgepedia.org/sybil-danning), Eddie Albert, and George Kennedy were brought back for extra scenes directed by Peter Rich, son of director David Lowell Rich.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779) Kino Lorber later issued a 4K UHD Special Edition from a new 4K restoration.[8](https://themovieisle.com/2025/10/02/4k-uhd-review-kino-lorbers-the-concorde-airport-79-special-edition/) The film remains available on digital, Blu-ray, and DVD through Universal's Airport: The Complete Collection sets.[9](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-concorde-airport-79)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film closed the Airport series, and its blend of supersonic aviation with military-industrial sabotage is frequently cited as the point where the franchise's disaster formula tipped into self-parody.[6](https://letterboxd.com/martymckee/film/the-concorde-airport-79/) • [10](https://letterboxd.com/jssexton/film/the-concorde-airport-79/) The screenplay is an early credit of Eric Roth, who later received seven Oscar nominations.[6](https://letterboxd.com/martymckee/film/the-concorde-airport-79/) The film's most-remembered sequence has Patroni diverting a heat-seeking missile by flying the Concorde inverted and firing a flare gun out of the cockpit window.[10](https://letterboxd.com/jssexton/film/the-concorde-airport-79/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Concorde...Airport '79 (1979), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56241-THE-CONCORDE...AIRPORT-%2779)\n2. [The Concorde: Airport '79, Fandango movie overview](https://www.fandango.com/the-concorde-airport-79-157863/movie-overview)\n3. [The Concorde: Airport '79 (1979), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Concorde-Airport-79-The)\n4. [The Concorde... Airport '79 Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-concorde-airport-79/critic-reviews/)\n5. [Gary Arnold, \"Pearl of Many Perils,\" The Washington Post, 13 September 1979](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/09/14/pearl-of-many-perils/eaf8d448-edb3-4472-9398-a04aa1793ac5/)\n6. [Marty McKee, review of The Concorde... Airport '79, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/martymckee/film/the-concorde-airport-79/)\n7. [Airport Franchise Box Office History, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Airport)\n8. [A.W. Kautzer, \"4K UHD Review: Kino Lorber's The Concorde … Airport '79 (Special Edition),\" The Movie Isle, 2 October 2025](https://themovieisle.com/2025/10/02/4k-uhd-review-kino-lorbers-the-concorde-airport-79-special-edition/)\n9. [The Concorde: Airport '79, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-concorde-airport-79)\n10. [Jeff Sexton, review of The Concorde... Airport '79, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/jssexton/film/the-concorde-airport-79/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Action, thriller, and crime series film entries › Entries released 1960s and 1970s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Concorde... Airport '79\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Concorde... Airport '79](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Concorde... Airport '79\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-concorde-airport-79. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Concorde..." }