MovieChat Forums > Airport (1970) Discussion > Grab him he's got a bomb?

Grab him he's got a bomb?


HELL NO, YOU GRAB HIM! Who would be so dumb?

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Definitely one of the strangest characters, granted, to only be an antagonist to the stars, but when Dean Martin got the briefcase away from the guy in the first place, hewas the one taking it back and telling Martin "you got no right" and gave it back to Heflin.

So then he takes Martin at his word there is a bomb in the briefcase? Just two seconds earlier, the guy was scoffing at Martin's intentions for taking the briefcase away.

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Yeah what an idiot he was. I mean why would the pilot grab a briefcase from someone unless he had a perfectly legitimate reason. I'd understand if it was some fellow passenger why he would think someone didn't have the right to do that but this is the pilot, the man running the plane. No one was killed on this flight except for the bomber but they should have taken that man with him for his stupidity alone.

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Marcus Rathbone is a curmudgeon and complainer. In the novel, his only action was taking the briefcase bomb away from Gwen Meighen, and his background and character were described. Since George Seaton couldn't do that, he expanded the part and gave Rathbone a lot more lines, having him complain about EVERYTHING.

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He didn't take the bomb away from the pilot -- he took it away from the stewardess, Gwen. Captain Demarest was still running down the aisle when the loudmouth grabbed the case away from Gwen and handed it back to Guerrero.

It was obvious from the look on Guerrero's face, and the fact that he started to move his hands holding the attaché case towards the pilot in an obvious gesture to hand it to him, that he was about to give up the case when that passenger walked out of the bathroom behind. That's when the moron yelled "Grab him, he's got a bomb" and all hell broke loose.

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Loved it when the priest reached over and slapped Rathbone!
May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?

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There should have been a lineup of angry passengers standing by to take their turns belting him, à la Airplane!

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And even more so for the Rathbone of the novel. Hailey goes into a lengthy narrative as to why Marcus Rathbone feels compelled to on his own interfere and literally snatch the briefcase out of Gwen's hands and give it back to Guerrero even *after* Demarest is walking down and telling her "Good job!" There is that offense over the seizure of "personal property" but Hailey also tells us in his omniscient narrative that "Marcus Rathbone also hated all women....including his own wife" and thus, the sight of a woman subjecting this seeming indignity on poor Guerrero offended his misogynistic code and compelled him to act, so he is written as grabbing it and holding it for Guerrero with "a polite nod."

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On another thread we're talking about whether he should have been prosecuted. Most of us say yes.

Then again, there's that nice new hole in the starboard can....

☁ ☁ ✈ ☁ ☁

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Then again, there's that nice new hole in the starboard can....


Which meant the lavatory was still usable the rest of the trip back. 😀

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That's doing you-know-what into the wind.

Brings to mind the denouement of Die Hard 2.

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[deleted]

Touch nothing!

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