What really surprised me was how cooperative all the passengers were. In those days emergency rows were given to people who needed extra room, so the flight attendants told the elderly folks in the emergency rows to change seats and recruited youngsters like me (I was 25) to sit there and review how and if to open the window (I was the last-resort option and did not get to actually do it). They collected all our shoes and checked everybody's practice crash position. There was no screaming (except during the rather abrupt landing). And unlike what you see today nobody tried to take their cabin baggage with them (they'd told us to empty our pockets, though I was naughty and kept my passport, which later made life a lot easier for me).
One thing is unchanged: I was the first one to leave the arrival hall (this was pre-mobile phones so I wanted to find a phone and get a new flight rather than let the airline deal with it like everyone else did), and there was a camera crew there. I was asked "were you on that flight" and when I said yes they asked, "and how was it?" I said, "exciting but I felt safe the whole time" they switched off the camera, looked annoyed, and went back to watching the exit door. sigh.
And I really got a strong lesson in the real purpose of flight attendants.