Movies Scenes that Feature Airports

September 20, 2006 7:19 PM

Can anyone recommend movies in which reunions and/or interesting experiences occur in airports?

I'm not terribly interested in the typical gushing "Oh how WONDERFUL to see you again, my dearest dear!" teary meeting (although the montage at the end of Love Actually fits the bill quite nicely) but more in scenes in which the airport itself is intrinsic to the scene.
Examples - Leonardo DiCaprio and the stewardesses in "Catch me if you can", the voyueristic behaviour of Meg Ryan in "Sleepless in Seattle", the way in which status and class are defined by the airport farewell at the beginning of "All About Eve."

Other suggestions?

posted by defcom1 to media & arts (37 comments total)

12 Monkeys?
posted by xo at 7:27 PM on September 20, 2006

Check out the end of Hal Hartley's Henry Fool. Great movie.
posted by sholdens12 at 7:27 PM on September 20, 2006

Ah, and the end of The Killing, by Kubrick, starring Sterling Hayden.
posted by sholdens12 at 7:30 PM on September 20, 2006

The Terminal probably is the film in which an airport is most intrinsic to the plot.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:32 PM on September 20, 2006

The opening of the Jacques Tati movie Playtime is the most fascinating scene in an airport I've ever watched on film.
posted by MsMolly at 7:35 PM on September 20, 2006

darn it xo!
posted by neilkod at 7:37 PM on September 20, 2006

Fight Club
posted by lunalaguna at 7:39 PM on September 20, 2006

Casablanca.
posted by paulsc at 7:44 PM on September 20, 2006

When Harry Met Sally!
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 7:45 PM on September 20, 2006

There's a decent, but brief, scene in Dogma worth mentioning.
posted by galimatias at 7:54 PM on September 20, 2006

Garden State
posted by ewiar at 7:56 PM on September 20, 2006

Donnie Brasco
posted by Xalf at 8:05 PM on September 20, 2006

Die Hard 2
posted by Durin's Bane at 8:07 PM on September 20, 2006

Fight Club.

Not a movie, but the TV series LOST has lots and lots of flashback scenes at the Sydney airport.
posted by zardoz at 8:14 PM on September 20, 2006

Airplane!
posted by ubu at 8:14 PM on September 20, 2006

The Family Man
A Fish Called Wanda
Who's Harry Crumb?
Quick Change
The Langoliers

And I understand there was a movie recently about snakes and a plane?
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:29 PM on September 20, 2006

To clarify why 12 Monkeys is so relevant (without revealing spoilers): it may not be clear from descritions of the movie, but it revolves around a key scene in an airport that we keep seeing from different perspectives and with more background/info each time. Definitely worth seeing without knowing the plot beforehand.
posted by allterrainbrain at 8:31 PM on September 20, 2006

Almost Famous
posted by jodic at 8:50 PM on September 20, 2006

Rain Man - the airport provides the reason for the cross country trip.
posted by filmgeek at 8:52 PM on September 20, 2006

La Jetee, which provided the basis for 12 Monkeys.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:28 PM on September 20, 2006

Airport, with Burt Lancaster.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:30 PM on September 20, 2006

Mel Brooks' "High Anxiety" starts with a very dramatic airport scene.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 9:42 PM on September 20, 2006

There are short but pivotal airport scenes in 2001*, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Final Destination.
*spaceport, actually
posted by rob511 at 10:10 PM on September 20, 2006

Tin Cup, especially the jet-wake scene.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:40 PM on September 20, 2006

Love Actually starts and ends at an airport, with the Hugh Grant character explaining that every time you go to an airport, you actually see love happening, as people welcome their loved ones.
posted by frogan at 10:46 PM on September 20, 2006

Tin Cup, especially the jet-wake scene.

You're thinking of the crazy-air-traffic-controllers movie Pushing Tin, not the golf move Tin Cup.
posted by frogan at 10:47 PM on September 20, 2006

Moonstruck: The conversation between Loretta (Cher) and the little old lady who cursed the plane.
posted by Robert Angelo at 6:49 AM on September 21, 2006

Jet Lag with Reno and Binoche.
posted by of strange foe at 7:20 AM on September 21, 2006

The Rules of the game- Jean Renoir. A French aeronautic hero (the French Lindbergh?) is feted upon arrival. It is pivotal in the plot.
posted by Gungho at 7:40 AM on September 21, 2006

Another NOT a movie but 6 feet under when Nate and Brenda meet.
posted by beccaj at 8:10 AM on September 21, 2006

Since Otar Left (IMDb) ends with one of the best airport scenes I've scene seen. And it's a superb movie in general, which too few people know about. Go rent it, you won't be disappointed (unless you only like action flicks).
posted by languagehat at 8:15 AM on September 21, 2006

Dogma.
posted by timepiece at 8:59 AM on September 21, 2006

Blow

and

Maria Full of Grace
posted by slenderloris at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2006

Near the beginning of Wonder Boys there's a funny scene where Micheal Douglas meets Robert Downey and the giant transvestite that Downey's character has picked up on the plane. It was filmed in the same airport as in Dogma.
posted by octothorpe at 2:04 PM on September 21, 2006

The final scene in Bend it Like Beckham where the two young soccer women are leaving their families and England to study and play socceron scholarship in California and see the real Beckham striding through the airport.
posted by trii at 5:59 PM on September 21, 2006

Not Another Teen Movie has a rather humorous end sequence in an airport parodying all the other uberdramatic romantic movie end sequences that take place in airports. And it features a cameo by Molly Ringwald as a sarcastic bitch, and you can't beat that. ;-)
posted by WCityMike at 8:20 AM on September 22, 2006

Midnight Run features a Mob ransom exchange at LAX. Good Deniro/Grodin buddy movie.
posted by JDC8 at 5:20 PM on September 23, 2006