Airplane!

Director: David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker David Zucker

Overview

Sophomoric, pugnacious and relentlessly hilarious, Airplane! is the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof of airplane disaster films, particularly Airport (1970). It is also the film that made heretofore serious thespian Leslie Nielsen one of the most popular slapstick film comedians of the '80s and '90s. The goofy plot centers on the struggle to safely land a jumbo jet after its entire crew is stricken with a case of ptomaine poisoning. The only one who can possibly save them is an alcoholic ex-fighter pilot with a fear of flying. Though his girlfriend, a flight attendant, and a doctor try to help him through his fears, the situation is critical due to increasingly hysterical passengers and the impossibly garbled instructions. Aboard the plane are the usual disaster movie characters (most of them television performers ranging from Barbara Billingsly ("June Cleaver") to Lloyd Bridges to Jimmie Walker.The final credits are among the film's highlights. A silly sequel followed in 1982.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/25/2017
UPC:	0032429256324
Original Release:	1980
Rating:	PG
Source:	PARAMOUNT
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	10,352

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Hays	Ted Striker
Julie Hagerty	Elaine Dickinson
Leslie Nielsen	Dr. Rumack
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Roger Murdock
Lloyd Bridges	Steve McCroskey
Peter Graves	Captain Clarence Oveur
Lorna Patterson	Randy
Robert Stack	Captain Rex Kramer
Jim Abrahams	Religious Zealot #6
Johnathan Banks	Gunderson
Stephen Stucker	Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs
Frank Ashmore	Victor Basta
Craig Berenson	Paul Carey
Barbara Billingsley	Jive Lady
Lee Bryant	Mrs. Hammen
Joyce Bulifant	Mrs. Davis
Mae Campbell	Security Lady
Ethel Merman	Lieutenant Hurwitz
Jimmie Walker	Windshield Wiper Man
Jill Whelan	Lisa Davis
Nora Meerbaum	Cocaine Lady
Ken Tobey	Air Controller Neubauer
James Hong	Japanese General
Michelle Stacy	Young Girl with Coffee
David Leisure	First Krishna
Ann Nelson	Hanging Lady
Al White	Second Jive Dude
Nicholas Pryor	Mr. Hammen
Cyril O'Reilly	Soldier
Ted Chapman	Airport Steward
Jesse Emmett	Man from India
Norman Alexander Gibbs	First Jive Dude
Amy Gibson	Soldier's Girl
Marcy Goldman	Mrs. Geline
Bob Gorman	Striped Controller
Maurice Hill	Reporter #3
Rossie Harris	Joey
Howard Honig	Jack
David Hollander	Young Boy with Coffee
Gregory Itzin	Religious Zealot #1
Howard Jarvis	Man in Taxi
Zachary Lewis	Religious Zealot #3
Barbara Mallory	Religious Zealot #2
Maureen McGovern	Nun
Mary Mercier	Shirley
Laura Nix	Mrs. Hurwitz
Len Mooy	Reporter #1
Conrad E. Palmisano	Religious Zealot #4
John O'Leary	Reporter #2
Mallory Sandler	L.A. Ticket Agent
Bill Porter	Hospital Contortionist
Robert Starr	Religious Zealot #5
Barbara Stuart	Mrs. Kramer
Lee Terri	Mrs. Oveur
William Tregoe	Jack Kirkpatrick
Hatsuo Uda	Japanese Newscaster
Herb Voland	Air Controller Macias
John David Wilder	Second Krishna
Jason Wingreen	Dr. Brody
Louise Yaffe	Mrs. Jaffe
Charlotte Zucker	Make-up Lady,Ground Crewman #2,Ground Crewman #1
Michael Lawrence	Newscaster
Kitten Natividad	Bouncy Topless Woman on Plane
Larry Blake	Upside-Down Man
Paula Moody	Girl Scout In Bar
Sandy Gimpel	Girl Scout In Bar
Henry Wills	Commuter on Baggage Carousel
Joyce Mandell	Woman on Flight
Jean Lebell	Religious Zealot
Allison Caine	Voices
Susan Breslau	Ticket Agent
Elmer Bernstein	Composer

Technical Credits

David Zucker	Director,Director,Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Jim Abrahams	Director,Executive Producer
Jon Davison	Producer
Joel Thurm	Casting
Jesse Wayne	Stunts
Tom Overton	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Three years after their initial blip on the cultural radar as co-writers of The Kentucky Fried Movie, boyhood friends Jim Abrahams and Jerry and David Zucker landed with a riotous bang -- writing, producing, and directing the zaniest comedy of the '70s, Airplane! Mixing absurd sketch-comedy, puns, wordplays, and cartoonish slapstick with relentless glee, the trio lampooned Hollywood’s penchant for formulaic schlock, using the airline-disaster movie as their framework. The story here is of a burned-out fighter pilot (Robert Hayes) who boards an airplane in hopes of reconciling with his lost love (Julie Haggerty), a flight attendant, and winds up having to overcome his anxiety and crash-land the suddenly stricken jet. The story, though, is secondary to the whirligig of goofball characters on the plane and on the ground. The unending barrage of quips, sight gags, and one-liners transcends the often self-aware dopiness of the humor, making Airplane! as much a brilliant exercise in post-structuralism as it is a gut-buster. Employing seasoned TV straight men such as Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, and Robert Stack to brilliant, self-parodying effect, the movie served up a buffet of deadpan catchphrases. When Hayes says to Nielsen, who portrays a doctor who happens to be aboard, "Surely you can’t be serious," Nielsen dryly responds: "Yes, I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley." And so was born a new Leslie Nielsen, vaulting from ‘70s TV guest star to Hollywood’s go-to buffoon in a single line reading. For the lion's share of films out there, a single viewing will more than suffice -- for Airplane! the notion is simply unthinkable.