Airplane

Airplane! is an American comedy film, first released on July 2, 1980, produced by the Zucker brothers, and starring Robert Hayes, Julie Hagerty, and Leslie Nielsen. It is the second of a number of movies produced and directed by the duo (the first being The Kentucky Fried Movie).

Airplane! is one of the most famous and acclaimed examples of a sub-genre of similar gag-based comedies that defy logic, reason, and the "fourth wall" to produce laughter in any way possible, with comic references to other famous 'straight' disaster films such as Airport. When this type of comedy works, it is exceptional (the animated cartoons of Tex Avery were a great influence), though it can be difficult for filmmakers to achieve success when working on a movie that denies characterization and even plot development. Other successful movies of this type include Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles and the "Road movies" of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. More recent movies of this sort include Hot Shots, The Naked Gun trilogy, the Austin Powers series, and the Scary Movie series. (A number of other films in this genre were less successful, including Loaded Weapon, The Big Bus, Kung Pow, and Spy Hard.)

In some foreign releases (including Australia), Airplane! was entitled Flying High. The film is regularly shown on television, with many devotees rewatching the film, in the process catching other 'gags' that they didn't notice, due to the sheer number of sight, sound and dialogue gags (often overlapping), in earlier viewings.

December 10, 1982, attempted to tackle the science fiction film genre. Although most of the cast reunited for the sequel, the two films have no writers in common.

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Plot Synopsis

Surprisingly, Airplane! does have a plot, though, derived from the 1957 movie Zero Hour! Airplane! is very nearly a remake of Zero Hour!, lifting its major characters and most of its story line. Indeed, many of the best known lines are repeated verbatim. (For example, "Can you face some unpleasant facts?" and "I guess I picked the wrong week to give up smoking.")

The plot is that when the pilots of a commercial airliner get sick, an ex-fighter pilot (Robert Hays) must conquer his fear of fear of flying the plane to its destination. Hays' girlfriend (Airport series of movies, which could no longer be taken seriously.

In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Airplane! as #10 on its list of the 100 funniest American films.