Airplane! (1980)

Airplane! (1980)


Airplane! is an early example of a spoof movie, and is one of the better spoof movies out there. Maybe it’s the garbage that has been released the past decade, but spoof movies are my least favorite genre. The concept of making fun of other movies is a genius idea, but the execution have been ranging anywhere from downright mediocre to absolutely horrendous. Fortunately, Airplane! is the right example how to make a spoof movie. There is no over-reliance on poop or fart jokes and although the movie is nearly forty years old, the humor ages like a nice bottle of fine wine. Plus it helps the movie sports a wonderful cast. One that began a career of comedy for many of the talented actors and actresses.

 

Although the plot can be tricky to describe because it pulls from many films, I will do my best to tell you about the basic story. Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is an ex-Navy pilot who is afraid of boarding a plane because of the war. He faces his fear and boards a plane to find his former flame, Elaine (Julie Hagerty). You know things are wrong when he is the only sane person on that airplane!

 

This movie came out at the right time. The 1970’s were ripe with disaster movies, and as we headed into the new decade, the public became worn out by these type of films. That is why the time was ripe for these films to be made fun of. Casual moviegoers might be able to pick out films like Airport and Jaws as some of the films that the movie had fun with. However, the one movie that really influenced this movie was 1957’s Zero Hour! I might add that this would be a good trivia question!

 

There is no denying that the script written by Jim Abraham, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker is juvenile and silly, but I just could not resist laughing at some of the happenstances that occurred in the film. There were zany, memorable quotes such as that “Don’t call me Shirley” quote. There were simple gags like the fin of the plane zipping through the clouds while the Jaws theme music is playing in the background. My favorite scene is when this lady is freaking out, a line of people line up to slap her silly by various means. That took me some time to stop laughing.

 

Another thing that elevated this spoof movie is its cast. The majority of the cast was filled with veteran actors, many whom had no experience with comedy. In addition to Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty, we had Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and the great Leslie Nielsen. Nielsen was mostly a dramatic actor prior to this movie, but Airplane! opened up a new side of himself and a new career path.

 

Despite being overly silly at times, I rather enjoyed Airplane! It might be one of the best spoof films ever made. Not all the jokes worked, but those that did are instant classics. David and Jerry Zucker are genius comedic forces, and it is great they created this movie as a blueprint for future spoof films. It’s sad that many of them will not reach the somewhat elevated heights of this film.

 

“Surely you can’t be serious.” “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

 

“You’ve ever been in a cockpit before?” “No sir, I’ve never been up in a plane before.” “You have ever seen a grown man naked.”

 

My Grade: B

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