Thank Christ for the new technology that is DVD. Where would we be without all the studios raiding their vaults to bring us old classics on this new shiny medium.

Last weekend, for example, I had the divine pleasure of watching Airport ’75, arguably one of the greatest sequels ever made (available at Boîte Noire). The very same year as their other disaster stint, Earthquake, Charlton Heston and George Kennedy once more team up, this time to take on the trials and tribulations of a 747 headed for potential doom.

In this chapter, our innocent airplane is struck by a smaller plane, leaving a gaping hole. A couple of the pilots get sucked out as a result. Thus the only person left to fly the thing is über-stewardess Karen Black. The passengers are very nervous, among them Linda Blair playing a girl headed for a much-needed kidney transplant, and Gloria Swanson, playing herself in what would be her final role (a cruel end for such a great talent). Lucky for the other passengers, Sid Caesar happens to be aboard, chock full of rotten one-liners to cheer everyone up.

Idiocy rarely takes such a fun and hilariously dreadful turn as this. The best part is the way the screenwriters threw virtually all logic out the window (or off the plane) to create their various plot twists. Stupid don’t get much better. :

» Matthew Hays