Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Airplane! (1980)

9/12/2013

Airplane! (1980) - The deadpan/spoof/crazy-comedy classic!

♥♥♥♥♥

The iconic poster poster for Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker's Airplane! makes me laugh all by itself

The majority of the passengers and personnel on a route airplane contract sudden food poisoning, so that a former hunter pilot with practically no skills for flying a major airplane has to step in for the ailing pilot.

This the first disaster movie spoof/satirical comedy by co-writer/directors 'ZAZ', Jim Abrahams (Mafia! (1998)), David Zucker (Scary Movie 3 (2003)) and Jerry Zucker (Ghost (1990)), is an incredibly funny film, even though I personally might find that Abrahams' Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) has even more laughs.
The style is the same though: A bombardment of gags and jokes and funny moments. The trio managed to cast a string of great male actors formerly unconnected with comedies for Airplane!, and they made them play their ridiculous lines and characters straight: Leslie Nielsen (Spy Hard (1996)), Lloyd Bridges (Bear Island (1979)), Peter Graves (Biography (1994-01, TV series documentary)) and Robert Stack (Uncommon Valor (1983)). Especially Bridges and the master of deadpan-comedy, Nielsen, carry many of Airplane's funniest moments.
Airplane! especially spoofs the disaster films Zero Hour! (1957) and Airport (1975), and references numerous other known films of different genres.
The ZAZ-trio more or less founded the spoof genre in American films here with this nonperishable delight.

Related post:

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Be reminded of some of the fun of Airplane! in its pretty long trailer here

Cost: 3.5 mil. $
Box office: 130 mil. $
= Blockbuster (returned 37.14 times its cost)
[Airplane! was released 2 July (USA) and runs 87 minutes. The ZAZ trio bought the rights to remake Zero Hour! for 2.5k $, from which they got the basic plot structure for the film. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, from June - August 1979. Nielsen brought a whoopee cushion onto the set to keep his cast mates off balance. The film made its budget in its first week of release domestically and became the year's 4th highest grossing film. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. The ZAZ trio returned united with Police Squad! (1982, TV-series) and theatrically with Top Secret! (1984). Robert Hays (Dr. T & the Women (2000)) returned in Angie (1979-80) and theatrically in Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Julie Hagerty (Instant Family (2018)) in The Day the Women Got Even (1980, TV movie) and theatrically in A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982). Airplane! is certified fresh at 97 % with an 8.38/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Airplane!?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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9/12/2013

Airplane! (1980) - The deadpan/spoof/crazy-comedy classic!

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