Airplane! arrived in theaters in 1980, and somehow the movie is still making people laugh more than four decades later. That alone is pretty remarkable. Part of understanding how Airplane! became such a lasting comedy is looking at just how quickly humor can age. Jokes that were huge at the time can lose their punch, and references that everybody understood suddenly need explaining.
Airplane! never seems to have much trouble with that.
The movie just keeps moving. There might be a joke in the dialogue, another one happening behind the actors and something completely ridiculous coming a few seconds later. Even if one gag doesn’t get you, chances are the next one will.
And a lot of the movie has become part of pop culture. People who haven’t watched Airplane! in years can still remember the lines.
The movie started with Zero Hour!
Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker didn’t invent the basic story from scratch.
They used the 1957 drama Zero Hour! as the foundation. In that movie, a former wartime pilot has to take control of an airplane after food poisoning knocks out members of the crew.
The trio acquired the remake rights and turned the serious story into something completely different.
Robert Hays plays Ted Striker, while Julie Hagerty plays Elaine Dickinson. Ted really does have to land the plane, and the danger is treated seriously.
What happens around them is another story entirely.
Leslie Nielsen helped set the tone
One of the reasons Airplane! works so well is the cast.
Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves were known for serious roles. Instead of playing the jokes like comedians, they delivered them as though they were in a drama.
That became a huge part of the movie’s personality.
It also changed the way audiences saw Nielsen. After Airplane!, his deadpan delivery became one of his trademarks and eventually helped lead him to The Naked Gun.
Airplane! never really went away
The movie’s reputation has only grown over the years. The American Film Institute ranked Airplane! No. 10 on its list of the funniest American movies ever made.
It also influenced a long line of spoof comedies that followed.
But there is still something different about Airplane!. The actors never seem desperate to make you laugh. They simply play the insanity completely straight and let the jokes do the work.
Abrahams and the Zucker brothers later revisited the making of the movie in their 2023 book, Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!
And David Zucker once told us about one decision that wound up having a major impact on the film.
Click on the media bar below to hear David Zucker talk about the decision that helped shape Airplane! and why it mattered so much.
Airplane! is available on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K and digital platforms, and is also streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
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