Word: runway
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...service it. Burt Lancaster lumbers about as Mel Bakersfield, manager of an unnamed metropolitan airport who is faced with the usual night of danger, laughter, suspense and heartbreak. Burt's main problem of the moment is the jetliner stuck in the snow out there on No. 29 runway. As if that were not enough, another flight just has to land on that runway. Seems there is a mad bomber (Van Heflin) on board, who is threatening to blow up the plane to give his wife (Maureen Stapleton) all the insurance money. Such churlish behavior endangers the crew of what...
Meanwhile, back on the ground, gruff but lovable Troubleshooter George Kennedy is struggling to clear the runway of snow, while the airport's p.r. girl, Jean Seberg, casts concerned glances at stoic Manager Lancaster. Customs Officer Lloyd Nolan tries to keep the flow of contraband at a minimum, but the flow of clichés is not, unfortunately, his department. Produced by Ross Hunter, fearless champion of the industry's carrière-garde (Pillow Talk and Thoroughly Modern Millie), the movie spends over two hours proving what every seasoned traveler already knows: waiting around airports...
...stresses their diverse functions and attitudes. Cross-cutting between Daria's final drive to Phoenix and Mark's return to L. A. stresses spatial differences and dissimilarity of direction and movement, widening the gap between their futures. Except for two brief inserts when police are pursuing him on the runway Mark is never shown again-just the plane. He loses all force and identity, becoming a distorted symbol for the ignorant people awaiting him on the ground...
...Buchwald's first play, Sheep on the Runway, is a cartoon allegory. Flush with military hardware but low on brainpower, a group of bumbling, do-good-ing, fast-talking Americans lead a small, neutral Himalayan nation in Asia into a deadly heap of trouble. The difficulty with themes like this is that a playgoer is not quite sure whether he is experiencing the shock or the drone of recognition. An audience should never know as much as or more about a play than the playwright does...
...they serve a playwright well, but only 50% of the way. The other 50% comes from a playwright's individuation of his characters so that they surprise, confound, delight and involve the audience. That is the 50% that Art Buchwald cannot yet supply in Sheep on the Runway...