Washington Dulles International Airport is a movie star! The Eero Saarinen designed terminal which opened in 1962 has featured in a number of Hollywood movies.
Passing through the airport after seeing it on screen is quite something as it hasn’t really changed that much. Just like another movie star airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Dulles has some unique features which makes it suitable for film.
Airport 1975 Movie Star
Starring Charlton Heston, Karen Black and George Kennedy, Airport 1975 showcases Washington Dulles at the beginning of the picture very well. Opening with Karen Black walking through the terminal, you see quite a lot.
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- Washington Dulles in 1974
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- Outside departures
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- A mobile lounge arriving
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- Terminal interior
A possible reason for Dulles being chosen is because it was not that busy. In 1975, the airport served 2.5 million passengers compared to Washington National’s 11.7 million.
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- The lines of the terminal are stiking
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- It looks very much the same today
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- Side on terminal view
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- Mobile lounge heading off
The only real change between then and now is that the terminal is larger and there are concourses on the field. No longer is all boarding through mobile lounges, though they are still in use for international arrivals.
Airport ’77 at Washington Dulles
A couple of years later, Airport ’77 arrived in cinemas. Starring Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Olivia de Havilland, Brenda Vaccaro, George Kennedy and Joseph Cotten it also featured the airport.
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- During the opening credits a terminal view
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- At take off, from the air
As opposed to the previous movie, this one barely shows the airport at all, but they mention it often enough. The original terminal was doubled in size from 600 feet to the original design specification of 1,240 feet in 1996. The difference is noticable.
The Concorde: Airport ’79
Also featuring Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, the final installment in the Airport series also has scenes at Dulles. Starring Alain Delon, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner and George Kennedy, this movie was a flop at the box office.
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- Looking across the airfield
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- A great view of the terminal landside
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- Interior of the Dulles terminal
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- A boarding gate
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- Those mobile lounges again!
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- A final shot from Airport ’79
Airport ’79 is worth seeing due to the shots of Concorde throughout the picture. Otherwise, it’s a strange mix of comedy and drama, which is a bit like life, I guess!
Overall Thoughts
Washington Dulles is definitely a movie star airport. Though the classic Christmas film Die Hard 2 is supposedly set at Dulles, it was in fact shot in Los Angeles at the airport there.
Are there any other movies you know featuring Washington Dulles? Did you enjoy seeing the terminal back in the day? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Joe Ravi via Wikimedia Commons.
All other images copyright Universal Pictures.
Yes, I know other films. Scorpio, a spy thriller staring Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon (also Joanne Linville, who was a Romulan commander on a Star Trek TV episode). They wanted a Soviet defector to talk when he wouldn’t, so they took him to IAD, boarded him on a mobile lounge, and headed to an Aeroflot plane. “OK, ok, ok, I’ll talk!!!!!!” said the defector, then the turned around and didn’t dock with the Aeroflot plane. I watched the film more than once, looking at IAD and sort of ignoring the plot. I heard that Russians used to do that… Read more »
Oh excellent, I’ll have to check that one out. I was totally unaware of that. Thanks for the heads up, appreciate it!
Dulles Airport is displayed in many other movies as well. Among others is “Argo” (with Ben Affleck). The film shows Affleck entering the terminal through the iconic Dulles glass windows. Then at the concourse at a vintage logo British Airways logo gate.
That sounds pretty cool – I know of Argo but I don’t think I’ve seen it. I will have to check it out! Thanks for letting me know 🙂