Airplane!

Director: David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams

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
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	1,670

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Hays	Ted Striker
Julie Hagerty	Elaine Dickinson
Lloyd Bridges	McCroskey
Leslie Nielsen	Dr. Rumack
Peter Graves	Capt. Oveur
Robert Stack	Rex Kramer
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	Murdock
Ethel Merman	Lt. Hurwitz
Lorna Patterson	Randy
Stephen Stucker	Johnny
Barbara Billingsley	Jive Lady
Joyce Bulifant	Mrs. Davis
James Hong	Japanese General
Maureen McGovern	Nun
Kenneth Tobey	Air Controller Neubauer
Jimmie Walker	Windshield Wiper Man
Howard Jarvis	Man in Taxi
Jonathan Banks	Gunderson
Jim Abrahams	Religious Zealot #6
Frank Ashmore	Victor Basta
Craig Berenson	Paul Carey
Lee Bryant	Mrs. Hammen
Ted Chapman	Airport Steward
Norman Alexander Gibbs	First Jive Dude
Marcy Goldman	Mrs. Geline
Howard Honig	Jack
David Leisure	First Krishna
Zachary Lewis	Religious Zealot #3
Barbara Mallory	Religious Zealot #2
Nora Meerbaum	Cocaine Lady
Mary Mercier	Shirley
Ann Nelson	Hanging Lady
Laura Nix	Mrs. Hurwitz
Cyril O'Reilly	Soldier
Nicholas Pryor	Jim Hammen
Conrad E. Palmisano	Religious Zealot #4
Mallory Sandler	L.A. Ticket Agent
Michelle Stacy	Young Girl with Coffee
Robert Starr	Religious Zealot #5
Barbara Stuart	Mrs. Kramer
Lee Terri	Mrs. Oveur
William Tregoe	Jack Kirkpatrick
Hatsuo Uda	Japanese Newscaster
Jesse Emmett	Man from India
Amy Gibson	Soldier's Girl
Mae Campbell	Security Lady
Rossie Harris	Joey
David Hollander	Young Boy with Coffee
Gregory Itzin	Religious Zealot #1
Michael Lawrence	Newscaster
John O'Leary	Reporter #2
Jill Whelan	Lisa Davis
Al White	Second Jive Dude
Jason Wingreen	Dr. Brody
Louise Yaffe	Mrs. Jaffe
Charlotte Zucker	Make-Up Lady,Ground Crewman #1,Ground Crewman #2
Allison Caine	Voices
Herb Voland	Air Controller Macias
Maurice Hill	Reporter 3
Elmer Bernstein	Composer
Stephen Sondheim	Composer

Technical Credits

Jim Abrahams

David Zucker

Hall Bartlett

John C. Champion

Arthur Hailey

Jim Abrahams	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
Jon Davison	Producer
Bruce Logan	Special Effects
David Zucker	Executive Producer,Executive Producer,Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Hall Bartlett	Screenwriter
John C. Champion	Screenwriter
Arthur Hailey	Screenwriter
Howard W. Koch	Producer
Max W. Anderson	Special Effects
David E. Campbell	Sound Effects
Bill Henderson	Sound Effects
David J. Hudson	Sound Effects
Bruce Paul Barbour	Stunts
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.