Airplane!

Airplane! is an 1980 American parody film written and directed by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams.  It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. The film is a parody of the disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour!, from which it borrows the plot and the central characters, as well as many elements from Airport 1975 and other films in the Airport film series. The film is known for its use of surreal humor and its fast-paced  slapstick comedy, including visual and verbal puns, gags, and obscure humour.

On release during the summer of 1980 Airplane! was a critical and financial success and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1980. It grossed $158 million worldwide against a budget of $3.5 million. In the years since its release, the film’s reputation has grown substantially.

The story follows traumatised (after a botched mission during WWII) former fighter pilot with a fear of flying, Ted Striker, who still hasn’t got over his old flame and flight attendant, Elaine Dickinson. Determined to win her back, Ted boards a domestic flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, only to come face-to-face with a severe case of in-flight food poisoning that is threatening everyone’s lives. Now, with most of the passengers and the entire cockpit crew down with illness, Striker has no other choice but to confront his inner demons and take over the control of the aircraft with the help of a gruff air-traffic controller and his former commander. Can Ted land the plane and save them all?

Several actors were cast to spoof their established images: prior to their roles in Airplane!, Nielsen, Stack, and Bridges were known for portraying adventurous, no-nonsense tough-guy characters. Lesley Nielsen saw a major boost to his career after Airplane!’s release. The film marked a significant change in his film persona towards a new specialty in deadpan comedy, notably in the three Naked Gun films based on the six-episode television series Police Squad!, in which he also starred and which was created and produced by the Abrahams–Zucker–Zucker team behind Airplane!

The film was followed by Airplane II: The Sequel, first released on December 10, 1982, which attempted to tackle the science fiction film genre, though there was still emphasis on the general theme of disaster films. Although most of the cast reunited for the sequel, the writers and directors of Airplane! chose not to be involved and David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker claim to have never seen nor to have any desire to see Airplane II.

Enjoy these hilarious classic scenes from the film!