Movie Review: Airplane! (1980) directed by Jim Abrahams
Taxi driver Ted Striker (Robert Hays) has problems. A former pilot, he lost his self-confidence after a failed mission during “the war” which killed several of his comrades and he blames himself for. He’s been unable to hold a steady job and drifted from city to city. Today, he found a note from the love of his life, stewardess Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty) informing him that she was leaving him. Ted rushes to the airport and is unable to dissuade her, so gets a ticket on the Los Angeles to Chicago flight she’s working in the hopes of making his case again.
Fate steps in, as contaminated food renders several passengers violently ill. Worse, the entire flight crew, pilot Captain Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves), co-pilot Roger Murdock (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and navigator Victor Basta (Frank Ashmore) all ate the fish (against aviation regulations) and are unable to continue. Doctor Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) takes charge, but the only person aboard who has any pilot experience at all is–Ted Striker! He must step up despite his fears and doubts, and obsolete skills, to save the plane.
On the ground in Chicago, airport manager Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges) and Ted’s former superior, Captain Rex Kramer (Robert Stack) must work together and with Ted to guide him safely down.
A long flight on a large airplane is a pretty good setting for drama. The cast is kept to a manageable number, everyone’s together in a relatively confined space, and there’s the looming threat of everyone dying if something goes wrong. And so it was with the 1957 film Zero Hour. The creative team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker saw that movie on late night television while looking for a followup to their Kentucky Fried Movie. They immediately saw the possibilities in a spoof, and thus this comedy classic.
The main plot beats follow the older movie almost exactly, giving it a strong skeletal structure to hang the jokes off of. Several of the cast were veteran actors who’d done similar characters in serious roles, but also had comedic chops. (In particular, Leslie Nielsen got an entire second career out of his role.) Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s casting makes sense if you know the equivalent role was also played by a professional athlete turned actor.
And then there are the jokes, from the opening “Jaws” riff, through sight gags and silly dialogue (“Don’t call me Shirley”) to the credits gag and the stinger, almost all the humor lands. Admittedly, some of the gags might be outdated. No longer are religious fundraisers allowed to roam freely through airports, so the Hare Krishnas being solicited for funds won’t hit the same way for younger audiences. For pre-9/11 flyers, this movie may bring up strong feelings of nostalgia as well as laughs.
Perhaps the weakest part of the movie is Ted and Elaine as the leads. They seemed bland and lacking in chemistry together. On the other hand, the romance is not exactly the main draw here.
Content note: Many of the jokes are in bad taste. Don’t let yourself be fooled by bloviators, they were just as in bad taste back in 1980. Suicide is played for laughs, brief random female nudity.
It’s honestly amazing what the ZAZ crew were able to do on a modest budget, and this movie stands up well to multiple viewings. Highly recommended.
