Eileen Wesson

John Carpenter wrote and directed this science fiction thriller about a group of aliens who try to take over the world by disguising themselves as Young Republicans. Wrestler Roddy Piper stars as John Nada, a drifted who makes his way into an immense encampment for the homeless. There he stumbles upon a conspiracy concerning aliens who have hypnotized the populace through subliminal messages transmitted through television, magazines, posters, and movies. When Nada looks through special Ray-Bans developed by the resistance leaders, the aliens lose their clean-cut "Dan Quayle" looks and resemble crusty-looking reptiles. Nada joins the underground, teaming up with rebel-leader Frank (Keith David) to eradicate the lizard-like aliens from the body politic. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Airport had enough plot and enough star power in its cast for three feature films, and it only encompassed about half of the complexity or characters found in Arthur Hailey's best-selling potboiler. Essentially built around 12 harrowing hours at a major Midwestern airport, the film had everything an audience of the period could have wanted -- suspense, romance, drama, and comedy -- all spread across a vast canvas. Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster) is the manager of Lincoln Airport, facing a night beset by the worst blizzard in a decade, a wife (Dana Wynter) who announces she wants a divorce, a primary runway blocked by an airliner stuck in a snowdrift, and a governing board ready to fire him. Bakersfeld's cynical, smooth-talking brother-in-law, Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin), won't let up on his criticism of the management at Lincoln, but he has his own problems as well, mostly in the form of a young stewardess, Gwen Meighen (Jacqueline Bisset), who is pregnant by him and whom he finds he genuinely loves. Add to that the presence of an old lady stowaway (Helen Hayes) and a mentally disturbed passenger (Van Heflin) carrying a bomb, and there's more than enough plot to keep viewers engrossed for two hours plus. Airport became one of the top-grossing movies of its era, racking up seven-digit box-office numbers and spawning an entire film genre -- the disaster movie. With Jean Seberg, George Kennedy, Lloyd Nolan, Barry Nelson, and Maureen Stapleton filling out the rest of the leading roles, there was something for almost everyone in this film. The movie still has a lot to offer if only as a prime example of Hollywood at its most successfully glitzy, but, if possible, viewers should try and see the letterboxed version of Airport on DVD (released May 2001). ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

After registering well in supporting roles in such Bob Hope farces as Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number and Eight on the Lam, raucous comedienne Phyllis Diller attempted to carry a picture all by herself. Alas, Did You Hear the One About the Travelling Saleslady? proved to be as bad as its title. Borrowing elements previously utilized in Joan Davis' Travelling Saleswoman (1950) and the Ginger Rogers-Carol Channing vehicle The First Travelling Saleslady (1956), the film casts Diller as a player-piano saleslady, dispatched to the Wild West. TV-sitcom perennials Bob Denver and Joe Flynn offer their usual overplayed support; at times they're funnier than Diller, though that's not saying much. The film's highlight is a cattle stampede, which should give you some idea. Did You Hear the One... was scripted by John Fenton Murray, soon to be a mainstay of such Sid & Marty Krofft kiddie fare as The Bugaloos and Lidsville; compared to the Diller film, the Krofft stuff was a step upward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this second half of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour episode), Ironside (Raymond Burr) is in the hospital awaiting an operation that may cure his paralysis--or bring about his death if things go wrong. In typical fashion, the detective is able to put aside his own worries and solve a number of problems facing his fellow patients. Meanwhile, a homicidal drug thief steps up his efforts to bump off Ironside, who is the only witness to his most recent killing. The huge guest cast includes Joseph Cotten as the chief surgeon, Troy Donahue as a priest, former child star Margaret O'Brien as a patient, and future Jaws costar Lorraine Gary as a nurse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When wealthy landowner John Sullivan, Sr. Arch Johnson and his airplane pilot are reported missing in Brazil, Sullivan's three sons (Martin Milner, Linden Chiles, and Don Quine) begin to search for the missing men in the wilds of the Amazon jungle. They battle headhunters, jungle animals, and sinister revolutionary forces trying to topple the government. The film is a Universal pilot for a proposed television series that never materialized, and it is apparent why the series never took off after watching the forgettable feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide