AIRPLANE! REVIEW (THROWBACK SERIES)

*** This hilarious comedy is 43 years old!!! ***

Initial release date: July 2, 1980

Studios: Paramount Pictures

Tagline: What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?

Plot: This spoof comedy takes shots at a slew of disaster movies that were released in the 70s. When the passengers and crew of a jet liner are incapacitated due to food poisoning, a rogue pilot with a drinking problem must cooperate with his ex-girlfriend turned stewardess to bring the plane to a safe landing.

Cast

Robert Hays - Ted Striker

Julie Hagerty - Elaine Dickinson

Lloyd Bridges - Steve McCrosky

Peter Graves - Capt. Clarence Oveur

Kareem Adbul-Jabbar - Roger Murdock

Leslie Nielson - Dr. Rumack

Frank Ashmore - Victor Baste

Jonathan Banks - Gunderson

Barbara Billingsley - Jive Lady

Writer(s)/Director(s): Jim Abrahams (Hot Shots; Scary Movie 3-4); David Zucker (Scary Movie 5 - writer); Jerry Zucker

Rated PG (88 minutes)

Over the years, there have been numerous parodies out there that are extremely hilarious and others that are simply just terrible. And, every time I watch this 1980 comedy Airplane, this parody just gets funnier and funnier.

There are several moments in this comedy that will really make you laugh. There might be a gag or two that may go over your head, but the jokes will keep coming in every scene possible. Throughout the movie, I definitely did notice a couple jokes that didn't age all too well between then and now.

All the actors did a great job in the movie and the scene-stealer here has to be Leslie Nielson. His deadpan performance as the doctor makes his lines funnier and all of his scenes even better!

This classic parody of the disaster film genre has several memorable lines and moments that will easily stand out. One scene that really stands out and is still humorous is the "jive scene" where the older white woman (the mother from Leave It To Beaver) is speaking jive. Airplane also spawned a sequel which I haven't seen and might check it out for the Series down the road if it's available on any of the streaming services I have.

Airplane can be streamed on HBO Max until the end of the day but it's available on a few PVOD rental services!

Here are some interesting tidbits about this hilarious 1980 comedy:

• For the argument between announcers concerning the white and red zones at the airport, the producers hired the same voice artists who had made the real-world announcements at LAX.

• Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker chose actors such as Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves and Leslie Nielson because of their reputation for playing no-nonsense characters. Until this movie, these actors hadn't done comedy, so their "straight-arrow" personas and line delivery made the satire in the movie all the more poignant and funny. GOOD CALL!!!

• To get the movie green-lit by Paramount, the filmmakers pitched it as "Animal House on a plane" which, of course, was far from the truth, but was the only way they could get the studio executives to understand it was a zany comedy.

• The directing trio passed on the opportunity of making Airplane II: The Sequel as they felt that they'd exhausted every airport gag with this movie.

• The part of the Jive Lady was originally intended for Harriet Nelson, who had played the mother in the 1950s sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. She turned it down because she was concerned about the movie's adult language. She was replaced by Barbara Billingsley, who played the mother in the 1950s sitcom Leave It To Beaver.

• The movie's dialogue between Striker and Rumack ("Surely you can't be serious" "I am series and don't call me Shirley") was voted as the No. 79 movie quotes by the AFI.

• This was the fourth most popular 1980 movie at the domestic box office.

• Peter Graves only accepted to do the movie because his wife loved the script.

• Prior to the movie's release, the directors were apprehensive following a mediocre audience response at a pre-screening, but the movie earned its entire budget of about $3.5 million in its first 5 days of wide release.

• Overall, it grossed $83 million at the domestic box office and returned $40 million in rentals.

• Airplane received universal acclaim from critics and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1980. In 2008, the comedy was selected by Empire Magazine as one of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time."

• Airplane II: The Sequel, initially released on December 10, 1982, attempted to tackle the sci-fi film genre, though there was still emphasis on the general theme of disaster films.