Airplane! Poster

Airplane! (1980)

Comedy  
Rayting:   7.8/10 216.3K votes
Country: USA
Language: English
Release date: 18 December 1980

A man afraid to fly must ensure that a plane lands safely after the pilots become sick.

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User Reviews

MrBallroom 22 August 2005

The first time I saw this was at a sneak peek with my fiancée in 1980. I laughed so hard that it drove Deseret News film critic Christopher Hicks nuts; I believe he had to come back a second night – as did most of us – in order to catch most of the gags, they were flying at us so fast and furious.

The genius in this film existed in multiple places and at multiple levels: The Zucker Brothers were able to sell Paramount Pictures on the script of spoofing disaster movies – that was their first big sell – and then, they were able to stand up to studio pressure and not place comedic actors in the roles, but rather, long known dramatic actors who had never before done comedy, thus launching a few new careers, most notably Leslie Nielsen – who before then had best been for his role in the television series of the 1960's The Bold Ones.

What we got is the stuff of which legends were made: Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar of the Los Angeles Lakers. Even Jill Whelan of The Love Boat was able to get in on the act by playing a pediatric patient in need of surgery across the country. This movie took non-stop slapstick to a new level never before traveled to. It made fun of so many films – both disaster and non-disaster flicks – which you needed a scorecard in order to keep track of how many.

Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty were simply brilliant in their roles as the star-crossed (or should I say star cross-eyed) lovers who just weren't quite the right fit for one another. Look for cameo appearances by Barbara Billingsley in a role that will surprise you, Jimmie Walker (CBS'Good Times in the 1970's); and for Ethel Merman. I won't tell you where he appears in the film. They will simply crack you up! This is a film that you will want to check out for a week on DVD rental for at least a week in order to catch all the gags and full subtleties and not-so-subtleties of the humor involved. After rental, you will want to BUY a copy of the DVD to keep.

Already honored by the American Film Institute as one of the Top 100 films of all time, this truly is a modern American classic! On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this film an 11/10. ***

mattymatt4ever 13 March 2003

Fmovies: This is voted as one of the funniest comedies of all time, and it deserves that honor! The film is filled with hilarious gags! Sure, in every one of these campy farces, there's usually a few gags that are way too silly. In this case, it was the "drinking problem" gag and that annoying gay man who works on Lloyd Bridges' staff. But when I can actually count on my hand how many gags didn't work, that's a good sign. The majority of the film sent me into a frenzy of laughter! One of my favorites is when the blow-up auto-pilot runs out of air and Julie Hagerty blows it back up again. You'll have to see the movie to find out why it was so hilarious! I also got a great kick out of the running gag in which every passenger who listens to Robert Hays ends up killing themselves. This is definitely the Zuckers and Abrahams in top form! Unfortunately, I haven't seen a great spoof in years. The "Scary Movie" films were pretty good, but incredibly lewd and crude. And obviously the Zuckers and Abrahams have much better eyes for satire than the Wayans brothers. I caught "Scary Movie" on cable and watched it a second time, and I didn't laugh nearly as many times as I did the first time. I can watch "Airplane" 200 times and still laugh like there's no tomorrow! The film was made back when comedies didn't go strictly for sex and toilet gags to make an audience laugh. This was back when writers used to employ this quality called "wit." "Kentucky Fried Movie" had some racy gags, but even those were witty for the most part. There is a certain rhythm in every gag that helps make the film work. For example, Lloyd Bridges starts out by saying "I think I picked the wrong day to quit smoking." Then he says he picked the wrong day to quit drinking. And when he finally says "I picked the wrong day to quit amphetamines," I was laughing my head off! So basically, you watch a film like this and feel the urge to mail a copy of the video to the Wayans Brothers and whatever crackheads wrote "Not Another Teen Movie," along with a note saying "THIS is how to make a spoof!"

There are so many other gags worth mentioning, including the "Saturday Night Fever" sendup, which is definitely one of the best comic moments caught on film! That scene also contains my favorite line: "I told the guy next to me to pinch me to make sure I wasn't dreaming." After that voice-over, we see the guy next to Robert Hays repulsed and walking away from him. Another great example of perfect comic timing and delivery!

If you want to get some authentic belly laughs--I'm not talking chuckles, but actual LAUGHS!--you must check out "Airplane." Trust me, movies don't get much more original or funny than this!

My score: 9 (out of 10)

Anonymous_Maxine 7 May 2003

Unfortunately, Airplane! has been, for me, one of those comedies that I have seen so many times in the video store that its appeal has gradually worn down to almost nothing, resulting in a total absence of interest in renting it. I eventually watched it one day because I worked at the video store and could rent movies for free, and was continuing on my desperate attempt to watch every movie in the store (a goal which continues to this day, although by now I've come to realize that it's never going to happen). During my quest, by the way, I also saw the old 1970 film Airport, probably ten years after having seen parts of Airplane!, and realized that this is one of the many movies that inspired Airplane!

In general, I'm a little cautious about movies that have exclamation points in the titles, but Airplane! is without a doubt one of the funniest movies ever made. Consider, for example, those little montages that studios sometimes put together and put at the beginning of movies when they come out on videotape, honoring the great movies that the studio has made in the past. They show lots of memorable clips from their old movies (and I always write all of these titles down, determined to watch them all, and then promptly lose the list that I made) to remind you how great they are. I had a good time watching Airplane! and picking out how many scenes are in the movie that can and do go into those memorable montages.

Airplane! is made up of a series of hilarious scenes that string together a thin shoestring plot, which ironically speaks in the movie's defense. In general, movies with weak stories that are driven along by comedic stunts and pranks and whatnot tend to be pretty weak, but Airplane! is not driven by stunts to cover a weak story as much as the quality of the stunts and the slapstick comedy is so good that they overshadow everything else. It's interesting to watch someone like Robert Stack so many years ago and see that he looked and talked exactly like he did in Unsolved Mysteries so many years later, a show the seriousness of which boggles the mind, given that it's hosted by someone who did so well in a movie like this one.

My favorite thing about this movie is, obviously, the huge amount of sound bytes that comes from it, just the cleverness of the way it was written and put together. You have the main character's `drinking problem,' the airport announcers (`Listen, Betty, don't start up with your white zone sh*t againÂ…'), the stress of the people investigating the situation on the plane (`Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines.'), the plays on words (`There's a problem at the control tower!' `What is it?' `It's the big tower where the air traffic controllers talk to the planes.'), that one airport employee who was suspiciously bubbly and excited throughout the entire movie (while providing some of its best comedy), and then of course were the situational gags, such as Robert Stack pulling off his sunglasses to reveal another pair underneath (arguably the most famous scene in the entire film).

This is a movie where a list like this could go on and on, and I'm sure if you go to the memorable quotes page on the IMDb you'll find a gigantic list of hilarious quotes from the movie there. It is no secret that this is something of a childish and immature comedy, but it is smartly written and has so many great scenes and bits of dialogue that it's one of those rare movies that makes you w

gateaholic 6 October 2005

Airplane! fmovies. Very rarely does a film come out that is as truly brilliant as Airplane. It has everything that a comedy should have. The cast is fantastic, the jokes hilarious and almost constant.

One of the best things about Airplane that I have found is that the jokes are not all obvious, and because of this it has far more re-watchability than most comedies, as every time you watch it you pick up on more of the subtler jokes and background sight gags.

It is a film that manages to cater for almost all tastes in humour, from dry wit to slapstick via spoofery and dark humour. If you haven't seen this film you MUST watch it. This is one of those few films that everybody can enjoy. It's fairly rare to find a comedy the whole family can enjoy, most are either unsuitable for children or too childish for adults, but Airplane manages to find that balance where all ages can enjoy it.

In conclusion, if you have yet to see this film, watch it. If you have seen it, watch it again.

ryan_kuhn 13 February 2005

In a tense moment where Ted Striker (Robert Hays) needs to land an airplane where the pilots (Peter Graves and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) have fallen sick, and several passengers need to get off the airplane for various reasons, all Striker can think to himself (with an echo in his mind, of course) is "I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Hello?... hello... hello... Echo... echo... echo... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota..." That pretty much sums up the seriousness of Airplane!, the lampoon of the 1970s Airport movies, and pretty much every other disaster movie pumped out by Hollywood. The same guys who pieced together the Naked Gun movies write and direct this silly movie. Most of the jokes need to be seen to be properly experienced, the first rate actors are what brings the laughs. Robert Stack plays it straight, over-the-top straight, as a problem solver for the airline who happens to wear 2 pairs of sunglasses at all times. Stack's comedic timing and deadpan delivery bring out some of the biggest laughs of the film. Lloyd Bridges is the over-worked, over-stressed traffic controller who has picked the wrong week to stop drinking, smoking, and sniffing glue. And Leslie Neilson plays a doctor who has an acute sense for the obvious, surely one who could save the passengers and airline crew if they land safely, just don't call him Shirley. A few cheap laughs, a few misses, but over all, a pretty funny movie. If you like The Naked Gun, you'll like Airplane!

jif91 31 January 2005

If you really need a good laugh out loud movie, to make you feel good, this is one of them! The 1st time we saw this movie, on cable, not long after it came out, we were rolling with laughter! This movie was one of the all-time best, with Lloyd Bridges, and that crazy air traffic controllers' scenes were the funniest. With every line of the movie having a comeback, and another meaning--this movie ranks up there with the pool scene in Caddyshack as one of the best--you're rolling with laughter! With Lloyd Bridges slowly going insane throughout the movie, with an all-star cast including Robert Hayes,very funny, they even had Ethel Merman doing a cameo, (not long before her death), it was hilarious. Even the sequel came out to be as good as the original.

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