MovieChat Forums > Airport (1970) Discussion > Mixed message about adultery

Mixed message about adultery

posted 10 years ago by mercury4
19 replies | jump to latest

On one hand they're telling you it's not okay to cheat on your spouse. Mel, Burt Lancaster's character, is stuck in a loveless marriage with his wife and is in love with Tanya. But no matter how he feels, he won't stray. They're showing you it's not okay to cheat. Mel does end up with Tanya, but only after his marriage is over.

Then, on the other hand, we have Vern, Dino's character, who is married to a nice wife, but he has no problem cheating on his wife with Gwen. In the end, Vern learns that Gwen is pregnant with his child. He gets to the airport and doesn't even look for his wife, who is noticeably concerned, and he goes off to the hospital with Gwen to live happily ever after. I don't get it. They say it's not okay and then that it is okay. I found it funny.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] rorysa 10 years ago

Doesn't Bakersfeld respond to her calling out "Mel" with "Hi, sis"?

[–] mercury4 10 years ago

Yes, it was his sister. I remember when Dean Martin leaves, he asks her how she ended up with him and she defends him a little. Little does she know, he's all set to leave her and start a new life with his stewardess. If it was Burt Lancaster's character that left his wife, I would've understood. But I guess Mel and Vern were different types of men. Vern, unlike Mel, seemed like a cad.

[–] lm362 9 years ago

I thought Burt Lancaster's character seemed a little like a cad. If I remember the movie correctly, his wife wanted him to spend more time with her and not at his job and he would not do that. But in the end, he goes off with his girlfriend instead of staying at the job. That's what his wife wanted him to do.

[–] rorysa 9 years ago

Bakersfeld and his wife didn't love each other anymore, and she was cheating on him.

[–] lm362 9 years ago

I understand that when a marriage is over, the people start over. I'm not saying that is wrong. What I am saying is that he started his life over doing for his girlfriend exactly what his wife wanted him to do, which is not be at his job so much.
And what did he do when he found out his wife was cheating on him? Did he temporarily let someone else handle things and try talking his wife out of cheating on him? No. He didn't even try talking her out of divorcing him. All he said was something like, "Are you sure?". And when he took that phone call while she was still talking to him, that was not right even though he had just been told she was cheating on him. He wasted an opportunity to give her priority. She looked so hurt and disgusted. I don't blame her.
I do wonder whether she really knew he was cheating on her? I thought she at least suspected he was.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
I try doing this with my posts

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] butaneggbert 10 years ago

I didn't get the impression the film was sending messages of approval or disapproval in either case. We're seeing two people with their own individual standards.

I think what you're seeing as a mixed message is the lack of an editorial POV on either character.

[–] k-gage 10 years ago

i don't think "they" (whoever "they" may be) are "telling you" anything. it's simply a depiction of the interaction of some characters who reflect some very real life situations. i don't see any aspect of preaching morals to anyone at all.

[–] hobnob53 10 years ago

I agree. I don't think there was any "message" about adultery intended, but everyone's forgetting that Mel's wife Cindy confesses to him that she's also had "someone else for some time". Adultery seems to particularly afflict the Bakersfeld offspring (Mel and Sarah). I wonder what it was about their upbringing that made both their spouses decide to cheat on them?

On the other hand, Captain Harris the co-pilot goes out of his way to tell Mel how he's always been faithful to his wife, and later that he never considered "doing anything" about their three unexpected pregnancies. So there is some rubbing it in there.

Adultery aside, the film does seem to carry a strong anti-abortion message: Gwen refusing to consider it, Harris's attitude, and so forth. And this was three years before Roe v. Wade.

[–] darryl-tahirali 10 years ago

Mixed message about adultery. . . . I don't get it. They say it's not okay and then that it is okay. I found it funny. - mercury4

Oh, I don't know. Maybe the filmmakers thought that audiences back then could handle more than one perspective, and then be trusted to draw their own conclusions?

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"He not busy bein' born is a-busy dyin'." - Bob Dylan

[–] enike-963-393398 10 years ago

Sorry to bring this up, but in the book, the Captain (demerot) thought, that he will rise the child with his wife (they didn´t have children), if I remember correctly
he maybe loved Gwyn, he said so and was affectionate towards Gwyn, but (again, sorry) in the book he had thoughts about having the child, and raising with his wife

[–] nycruise-1 10 years ago

It was taken from a novel, so the author of the book is the one who is responsible for this "mixed" message. More likely, however, is that the message about "adultery" is deliberately "mixed" - because it keeps you guessing as you read the novel.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] gribfritz2 10 years ago

It's not an afterschool special. It doesn't need to have a message.

If you really need a message, we're hit over the head with an anti-abortion message a few dozen times.

[–] Gambit771 10 years ago

Don't forget that when its the woman cheating and after we find out that her husband has refused to stray unlike her,it is glossed over.
It's only purpose is to vilify the husband who hasn't cheated by making it out that he's to blame for neglecting her.
blame the cheated on and find sympathy with the adulterer who is a completely unsympathetic character but because she is female we don't even think of blaming her but only him.

Read the threads on this and not one if the op mentions her when talking about the cheaters and not one blames the wives for any cheating when you could say Dean Martins wife is as much to blame because she's his enabler though I would say she knows the life they lead and has made her choice to live it even if we couldn't accept it