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The 1980 comedy Airplane! is a spoof of the Airport series of disaster films that were popular in the 1970s. It also references other classic films, including Jaws, The Wizard of Oz, Shane, and Spartacus. The film is co-written and co-directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker and stars Robert Hays as Ted Striker, a shell-shocked veteran and pilot with a fear of flying. The film is packed with puns, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Film Name | Airplane! |
| Year | 1980 |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Sub-genre | Spoof, Parody, Satire |
| Run Time | 1h 28m |
| Rating | PG |
| Directors | Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker |
| Main Cast | Robert Hays, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges |
| Spoofing | 1970s Airport disaster movies, Zero Hour!, Jaws, From Here to Eternity, Saturday Night Fever, etc. |
| Plot | A pilot with a fear of flying must land a plane full of passengers |
| Gags | Puns, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, absurdity |
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What You'll Learn
- Airplane! is a spoof of the Airport series of disaster films from the 1970s
- The film parodies the stilted dialogue, wooden acting, and melodramatic plots of Airport movies
- It also satirises other 1970s disaster films, like Zero Hour! (1957)
- Airplane! spoofs other films, including Jaws, From Here to Eternity, and Saturday Night Fever
- The comedy in Airplane! goes beyond spoofing, with puns, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity
Airplane! is a spoof of the Airport series of disaster films from the 1970s
The 1980 comedy masterpiece, Airplane!, is a spoof of the Airport series of disaster films from the 1970s. It is co-written and co-directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker. The film is about Ted Striker (Robert Hays), a pilot with a fear of flying who struggles to maintain a relationship with his stewardess girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty). However, he must overcome his fears when he is tasked with landing a plane full of passengers after the pilots fall sick.
Airplane! is packed with puns, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity. It captures the setup and danger of airline disaster films, particularly Zero Hour! (1957), which it parodies the most. The film also includes a spoof of Steven Spielberg's Jaws during its opening credits, with a plane in place of a shark.
The film broadly lampoons the disaster movies that dominated 1970s cinema, specifically those set on aeroplanes, like the Airport series. However, like any great parody movie, it also includes references to other classic films. These include horror movies like Jaws, fantasy adventures like The Wizard of Oz, and even westerns and war movies.
Airplane! spoofs the stilted dialogue, wooden acting, and melodramatic plotting of the Airport movies. It invites audiences to laugh at the earlier films without making any serious points about them. The comedy in Airplane! goes beyond spoofing, with jokes about sex, drug abuse, and glue-sniffing. The sheer density of gags in the film ensures that audiences are saturated with laughs.
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The film parodies the stilted dialogue, wooden acting, and melodramatic plots of Airport movies
The 1980 comedy Airplane! is a spoof of the Airport disaster movies of the 1970s. It is co-written and co-directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker. The film parodies the stilted dialogue, wooden acting, and melodramatic plots of the Airport movies.
Airplane! is a satire of the disaster film genre, specifically the airborne ones, like the Airport series. It captures the setup and danger of airline disaster films, particularly Zero Hour! (1957), which it parodies the most. The film tells the story of a flight to Chicago where the passengers are poisoned by their fish dinners, and the plane must be landed by shell-shocked veteran Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who struggles with a fear of flying.
The film is filled with puns, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity. It also includes references to other films, such as Jaws, From Here to Eternity, and Saturday Night Fever. The opening credits, for example, spoof Steven Spielberg's Jaws, replacing the shark with a plane.
The cast of Airplane! includes Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, among others. They play authority figures, with Stack's character wearing two pairs of sunglasses at all times, and Bridges' character being an over-worked, over-stressed traffic controller. The film also features a disco-dance scene and a romantic subplot between Striker and his stewardess girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty).
Overall, Airplane! is a hilarious spoof that lovingly captures every aspect of life around an airport, from the announcements over the intercom to the security checks and boarding process. It is a unique and enduring comedy that remains embedded in the consciousness long after watching it.
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It also satirises other 1970s disaster films, like Zero Hour! (1957)
The 1980 comedy Airplane! is a spoof of Zero Hour! (1957) and other 1970s disaster films. It captures the setup and danger of airline disaster films, parodying Zero Hour! the most. The film's writers noted down every quirk and used them to create their own comedy. To avoid lawsuits and royalty issues, they bought the rights to Zero Hour! and made their own version.
Airplane! is based on Zero Hour!'s plot, telling the story of what happens when the passengers on a flight to Chicago are poisoned by their fish dinners. The plane must be landed by shell-shocked veteran Ted Striker (played by Robert Hays), who has to overcome his fear of flying and his "drinking problem". He also has to deal with his relationship issues with his stewardess girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (played by Julie Hagerty).
The film also satirises other 1970s disaster films, like Zero Hour! (1957). It spoofs the entire genre of airport movies, as well as the self-importance of Hollywood disaster films. The film's authority figures, such as the doctor on board, Mr. Nielsen, and the hard-hearted Robert Stack at traffic control, add to the comedy with their incompetence and absurdity.
The film also includes a disco-dance scene, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity. For example, during the disco-dance scene, Robert Hays (Ted) is visible among the spectators, waiting to run back onto the dance floor. The film also includes a phone call to a pilot from the renowned Mayo Clinic, with a doctor talking in an office full of mayonnaise jars, setting up a pun.
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Airplane! spoofs other films, including Jaws, From Here to Eternity, and Saturday Night Fever
The 1980 comedy masterpiece "Airplane!" is widely regarded as one of the greatest spoofs ever made. While it primarily pokes fun at 1970s airplane disaster movies like the "Airport" series, the film also lovingly parodies several other classics.
One of the most notable spoofs in "Airplane!" is of the 1975 horror movie "Jaws." The opening credits of "Airplane!" cleverly mock the suspenseful masterpiece, with a plane taking the place of a shark.
Another film that gets the "Airplane!" treatment is "From Here to Eternity." While simply imitating the beach scene from the original may not be funny, "Airplane!" adds a twist by having the lovers emerge from the crashing waves covered in seaweed, creating a hilarious moment.
"Saturday Night Fever" is also spoofed in "Airplane!." In one scene, Ted Stryker poses in a disco, wearing the iconic white disco suit made famous by John Travolta in the original film. However, "Airplane!" takes the scene to a zany level by adding a violent bar, fighting girl scouts, and gravity-defying dance sequences.
"Airplane!" also includes references to other films, such as "The Wizard of Oz," with a running joke involving quotes from the movie, and "Shane," where Captain Oveur's dialogue with a young boy takes on a sexually suggestive tone, parodying the wise gunslinger from the classic Western.
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The comedy in Airplane! goes beyond spoofing, with puns, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity
The 1980 film Airplane! is a spoof of airport and airline disaster films, particularly the 1957 film Zero Hour!, from which it borrows the plot, central characters, and some dialogue. It also draws elements from Airport 1975 and other films in the Airport series.
While the film is well-known for its spoofing, its comedy goes beyond this. It is packed with puns, sight gags, and slapstick humour. Many of the jokes are corny, and some are coarse, with jokes about sex, drug abuse, and glue-sniffing. The sheer density of the gags in Airplane! means that the film never pauses for a laugh because there's always another one coming. With several jokes occurring in every minute of the movie, it hardly matters if the audience fails to find one joke funny.
The film has a steadier comic attitude than other chaotic comedies of its time, such as Love at First Bite or Animal House. This is because it is set up primarily as a satirical disaster film. For example, the film opens with a spoof of Jaws, followed by bickering airport announcers arguing over the loading zone, a traveller taking off his arm and metal leg after going through the metal detector, and an airplane crashing into a gate.
Airplane! also includes absurdity, one-liners, comebacks, and wordplay. For instance, Robert Stack plays an airline problem solver who wears two pairs of sunglasses at all times. In another scene, a phone call to a pilot from the renowned Mayo Clinic has a doctor talking in an office full of mayonnaise jars, which sets up the pun: "Excuse me, this is the operator". The film's wordplay also extends to its character names, such as the "Who's On First?" confusion of populating the cockpit with men named Oveur, Roger, and Victor ("Over, Oveur. Roger, Roger. What's your vector, Victor?").
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, Airplane! is a spoof of the Airport series of disaster films that ran throughout the 1970s. It is also a spoof of other films, including Jaws, From Here to Eternity, and Saturday Night Fever.
Airplane! is about a pilot, Ted Striker, who has a fear of flying and struggles to maintain a relationship with his girlfriend, a stewardess named Elaine Dickinson. Despite this, he is tasked with landing a plane full of passengers when the pilots fall sick.
Airplane! is funny because it lovingly captures every aspect of life around an airport, from announcements over the intercom to security checks, purchasing tickets, and boarding the plane. It is packed with puns, gags, slapstick, one-liners, comebacks, wordplay, and absurdity.
