Fourth and final entry in the series that began in 1970. That first film helped kickstart the all-star big budget disaster trend in 70's cinema, and this final outing helps just as much at putting the final nails in the genre's coffin. Of course "Airplane" the following year would make fun of the entire previous decade's worth of disaster films.

Alain Delon gets top billing as the captain of the title craft. With Susan Blakely and John Davidson as reporters, Robert Wagner as a crooked arms dealer, Sylvia Kristel as the head stewardess, Eddie Albert as the airline owner, Sybil Danning as his trophy wife, Avery Schreiber as a Soviet Olympic coach with a deaf daughter, Andrea Marcovicci as the oldest Russian Olympic gymnast ever, Mercedes McCambridge as her busybody chaperone, Cicely Tyson as a mother to a child desperately in need of a heart transplant, Nicolas Coaster as the doctor to perform it, David Warner as the dieting flight engineer, Bibi Andersson as a prostitute, Jimmie Walker as a pot-smoking sax player, Charo as Margarita and Martha Raye as the woman who can't stay out of the bathroom (no, really).

George Kennedy costars as Patroni, the only character to appear in all four films. This time he has a larger part as co-pilot of the title passenger jet, on route from the US to Paris, as Wagner's evil arms dealer hatches numerous inept plans to bring down the craft and destroy incriminating evidence. The dialogue is trite and banal as usual, and the various relationships and mini-dramas amongst the bloated cast never rise above the mundane.

Keep your eyes open for an early appearance by Ed Begley Jr as Rescuer #1. Like many films of the era, the studio also cut together an extended version for TV broadcasts that added even more subplots and characters, played by the likes of Jose Ferrer, J.D. Cannon and Alan Fudge, but the version I watched was the original.

This film along with THE SWARM the year before killed the disaster genre for at least 20 years. First of all, where have you ever seen such a variety among the cast? There is some real talent here, Cicely Tison, Bibi Anderssen, Mercedes McCambridge right along TV hacks Robert Wagner and Susan Blakely. We even get a bona fide international star, Alain Delon. Wasn't Sylvia Kristel in porn? I told you this film had everything, even Charo!

To punch up the action beyond its three predecessors, the plane is attacked more times than any aircraft can endure. The dialog is as stupid as the subplots. The acting awful, especially from Wagner and Blakely. They had no place out of bad 1970s TV. George Kennedy discusses sex incessantly and considering the source, its downright revolting. Martha Raye has a bladder condition. Susan Blakely has a Farrah hairdo. Both are key to the "plot."

They finally gave up and realized they had a turkey and re released it as a comedy.