a_southern_knight

I watched this film because some bozo at Dish Network gave it 3 stars. I expect a 3-star movie to have decent credentials while this one had ***NONE***.

I don't need to list all its faults seeing as other IMDb reviewers have already done so quite eloquently. In a nutshell, it is SciFi without the Sci. For example, preparing a Space Shuttle for launch would require several weeks at the very least even if one was already at the launch facility. Simply moving the Shuttle to the pad takes the better part of a day yet somehow ASI managed to launch one within a few hours. And, by the way, it's an orbiter meaning capable only of attaining earth orbit.... just one of the countless technical glitches in this turkey.

Actually the entire movie is just one gigantic mistake and an utter waste of time to watch with one possible exception.... it might be just the ticket for a kindergarten during a sudden blizzard if there was nothing else for the kiddies to do and nowhere they could go. A few of them might actually enjoy it.

Unless you are a masochist, save your time and money by skipping this movie. I Consider myself a pretty intelligent person but when the movie ended, I had not the slightest idea of what had happened.

I've read several of the reviews and it turns out that you have to watch it more than once to sort out all the cryptic plot details. Personally, I think that is the director's job. I watch a movie to be entertained not to try and make sense out of two and a half hours worth of disjointed vignettes.

The biggest mystery of all is how this film got an IMDb rating of 7.9. Quoting John McEnroe, "You cannot be serious!".

I looked forward to viewing this movie and found it to be pretty much a waste of time. I expected science fiction from the trailer but found it to be a boring dissertation in grieving for a lost love. In other words, it would best be characterized as "Love Story" with a space ship as its setting. In fact, I was a bit surprised that the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry" was not used in one of the flashbacks. I kept waiting for something to happen to make sense of the whole thing but was left with nothing but confusion and disappointment. I would sum it up as depressing.

"Skip it".

I have read many of the viewer comments on this film and I can say that most were right on target so there isn't much point in my repeating what they've already said.

My main comment would be: Save yourself the time and expense to see this film and rent "Airplane!" instead. They are essentially the same film with the only real distinction being that "Airplane!" actually was intended to be a comedy.... and a damned good one at that. In fact, as I recall, "Airplane!" was named the best comedy ever made by the American Film Institute. This is quite phenomenal when you consider that it was nothing but a spoof of "Airport 1975". And this may be the one and only truly distinctive aspect of "Airport 1975". That is, it did inspire a truly great film. Otherwise, it had very few redeeming qualities.

The film is nothing but a haphazardly thrown together collection of all the film clichés that could be squeezed into the allotted run time. I recently watched it for the first time since its original release mostly out of sheer curiosity. I remembered it being bad.... as all the sequels to "Airport" were. They were all presumably made as serious films but they were all so sloppily made with such terrible scripts that you couldn't help wonder why they weren't just released as comedies in the first place. For example, as has been well documented in other viewer comments, how could anyone take Linda Blair's and Helen Reddy's roles seriously? I mean, how could they keep straight faces with the scenario and dialogue they were supposed to work with? All that was missing was a laugh track.

I am glad I read some of the IMDb comments as I was viewing "Airport 1975" on AMC because they really added to my enjoyment of the comic aspects of the film.

As I said, this was the first time I had watched it in about 30 years and in the meantime I had of course seen "Airplane!" But until rewatching "Airport 1975" I did not realize the degree to which "Airplane!" was inspired by "Airport 1975". At times, I was dumbstruck at how scene after scene were all spoofs of actual scenes from "Airport 1975". And this made the film very entertaining to me when otherwise I may have just hit the channel button on the remote after the first 10 minutes of so of the drivel that "Airport 1975" actually is.

This is the third,and arguably the best, of the so-called "spaghetti western" trilogy. It is ironic that, at the time the three Sergio Leone westerns were released, they were largely panned by critics as being poor and even laughable imitations of American-made westerns. The fact that they were filmed in Italy and Spain resulted in them receiving their amusing nickname which was intended to degrade them at the time.

Somehow, over the quarter century or so since their release, the critics have tended to change their opinions, and now these movies are generally regarded as classics. Perhaps this is because Clint Eastwood was principally known only as the second banana, Rowdy Yates, in the television series "Rawhide" when the films were produced but since then has achieved superstardom. But I also think it goes beyond that. I believe the critics decided to take another look at these films and realized that they had been premature in writing them off. Actually, I believe the three films were considerably better than most of what Hollywood produced. In fact, I think that TGTBATU ranks among the best westerns ever produced bringing to mind the magnificent films of John Ford, the undisputed master of that genre, and his protege, the incomparable John Wayne.

I have nothing but praise for this film. In fact, I rank it as one of my favorite films of all time. I could write volumes of what is good about this film. But since its qualities have been oft repeated in other viewer reviews, I will focus on what others didn't like about it. Most of the IMDb reviews had only one major complaint: the film is too long. I disagree. In fact, in spite of its nearly three hour length, I was disappointed that it ended. I was so absorbed in the film that I was disheartened to have to return to reality. The combination of story, cinematography, acting and musical score left nothing to be desired other than more of the same! The sequences that seemed to drag on in the opinion of other reviewers were necessary to fully create moods and to drive home important points. For example, the opening sequence might be regarded as needlessly long as Angel Eyes taunts a hapless man over a leisurely meal. But to me, scenes like that are what makes the movie great! The time allows the viewer to fully appreciate the amazing replication of the primitive home and the pitiful life of its dirt-poor inhabitants. I felt as though I was sitting there at the table; I was half tempted to reach for a bowl and spoon to partake of the meal. And all the while the suspense was building towards the inevitable climax. You know it's coming but not when and the length of the scene drives you crazy but makes it all the more satisfying when it does happen.

Another example is when Tuco punishes Joe by forcing him to walk through the desert. This is possibly the only time that one might become bored with the film. But again, I think the time for the scene was justified in that we are able to receive the full impact of that experience and enjoy the haunting music at the same time. Joe's subsequent predicament might not have had much credibility had this sequence been abbreviated.

In my opinion, one of the essential elements of a great film is creating moods that absorb our attention. This often takes time, lots of time. For example, many of the scenes in the magnificent film "Dr. Zhivago" were almost painfully long but they were necessary to create those startling surrealistic moods, and the film would not have been great without them. In many ways, TGTBATU has this same sort of greatness. It is a sweeping epic with very compelling characters and magnificent settings that draws the viewer in and doesn't release him until the closing credits begin to roll. When it's over, you feel that you've been on a long and exciting journey. Such a journey takes time.

In summary, if you haven't seen this film, buy it right away. Don't rent it because you will not want to part with it once you've seen it.

Then curl up with it on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon when you are in no hurry to do anything.