This movie is amazing in that a few times there is the discussion about aborting Gwen's baby and the result is that everyone finally agrees that life even of the unborn is worth saving.
The passangers and the fetus are treated equally. I wonder if this slant would play if Airport were made today?
It probably would: the reason she gives is her love of Vern--she quickly dismisses a religious reason.
shareIn the book itself, Anson Harris has a long speech against abortion. Of course, it would be too long to repeat in the film, but the same point was made.
"Everytime I want to have a little fun-SHE turns out!" (Baron Bomburst)
That was the era. If the movie were made today, when Gwen is injured, they would probably perform an abortion on the plane, assisted by the nun, with Gwen's insistence if the fetus were damaged or she 'doesnt want to bring a child in a world such as this!'
I still find it interesting that Coalminer's Daughter (1980) about events that took place near 20 years earlier, Loretta didn't want to have the twins, but Patsy wasn't going to hear about it. No doubt, it is what each woman did (with only Loretta being able to confirm it), but I guess I'm surprised it made it into the movie and would figure a Hollywood flick would have Patsy wanting to assist Loretta in an abortion.
Again, Patsy's era was having children, but Loretta clearly wanted to consider ending the pregnancy, having had four kids already. But Patsy wasn't going to steer her that way.
Nowadays, if Coalminer's Daughter were made, and Loretta contemplated having an abortion, there would be something colossal (I guess Patsy's death) to convince Loretta to have the twins.
Hollywood slant would probably be Patsy saying they will get her an abortion when Patsy returned, then Patsy didn't return, so Loretta had the twins.
Been a long time since I read the book, but I seem to remember Vern having a hard time with the adoption idea, let alone abortion -- in the book he had gotten another stewardess pregnant, and she chose to not have an abortion, and carry the baby as long as she could and work, then some on his paycheck would be taken out each pay period and be sent to the girl, who went to a home, and then gave the baby up for adoption.
There is a bit in the book about it torturing him every time he saw a little girl or boy that was about the same age as the son/daughter he would never see. I would have to check, but I thought that he actually suggested abortion in the book, and Gwen wouldn't go for it.
You do realize that Coalminer's Daughter wasn't fiction, right? No matter when it was made, the real story wouldn't have changed. Even for dramatic purposes, I doubt they would change something like that for the film.
shareGood. This was obviously before the Left took over Hollywood
share"The Left". Hah, what a goof.
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Yeah, right. No such thing as a right-wing troll.
Anyway, to the thread topic, I never read the book, but I think the point was not to make an "anti-abortion" political statement, just a plot point about the characters.
Dean Martin needed to be redeemed in the viewers' eyes, since he was a philanderer and a rather nasty person in many ways (see how he treats Lancaster). If he'd forced his girlfriend to get an abortion, or even give up the baby, he'd have been seen as a complete rat, and his relationship with her exposed as clearly just a sexual one. For purposes of the plot it was necessary to have him seen as a basically decent guy, actually in love with the girl and wanting a family with her, so that we're set up to see him as a hero both when he confronts the bomber and in his later actions. Showing a more considered, complex side of him is a key point in the story.
Besides, remember that in 1970 abortion was still illegal in most of the US (three years before Roe v. Wade), so if they wanted an abortion they'd have to have it done abroad, or illegally in the States, making Martin and Bissett seem even more underhanded or surreptitious to the audience.
As to the politics of abortion, I have no idea what Arthur Hailey's, George Seaton's or anyone else's views on abortion were, and I'll pretty much guarantee neither does any other poster here, and in any case, who cares? And by the way, when was the date of "the Left's" takeover of Hollywood?
hobnob53 - Good point about Martin needing redemption. Your post did, however force me to consider counterfactual of what the movie would've been like had he _not_ been redeemed.
Everything goes on like the regular movie until some point after the plane is stabilized and heading back to Lincoln. Demerest goes back to the tail to tell the doctor that Capt. Harris has a hangnail. Once alone in the rear with Gwen, Vern glances forward and, while nobody's looking, gives Gwen the heave-ho over the side (try to visualize something along the lines of the "Bring Out Your Dead" scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Returning to the cockpit, he takes up his seat He makes up a sob story about how she started to get up, only to be sucked out the hole in the fuselage. As Capt. Harris gives him the Mother of all Dirty Glances, Dino responds with a "What, me worry?" shrug.
Once back on the ground, Vern gives a bravado press conference, in which he says that the one thing that kept him going was his love for his wife. Mel Bakersfeld leaves the room, with Bert reprising the facepalm he did in the party scene in Il Gattopardo.
At the end, Vern goes back home to hug his wife and kids.
It wouldn't have been quite the jaw-dropper that Henry Fonda's reveal in C'era una Volta nel West was, but the idea of a sociopathic murderer killing a member of his own crew and his own unborn child, then going back to his family and his job (in which he takes responsibility for hundreds of lives a day) as if nothing had happened, would've raised more than its share of eyebrows in 1970.
I hate director's cuts!!
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