Airplane!

“What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?”

7.3

1980

1h 28m

Comedy

Director: Jim Abrahams

Overview

An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.

Trailer

Airplane! - Trailer Official

Cast

Ted Striker

Robert Hays

Ted Striker

Elaine Dickinson

Julie Hagerty

Elaine Dickinson

Dr. Rumack

Leslie Nielsen

Dr. Rumack

Roger Murdock

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Roger Murdock

Steve McCroskey

Lloyd Bridges

Steve McCroskey

Capt. Clarence Oveur

Peter Graves

Capt. Clarence Oveur

Captain Rex Kramer

Robert Stack

Captain Rex Kramer

Randy

Lorna Patterson

Randy

Lisa Davis

Jill Whelan

Lisa Davis

Hanging Lady

Ann Nelson

Hanging Lady

Religious Zealot #6

Jim Abrahams

Religious Zealot #6

Gunderson

Jonathan Banks

Gunderson

Reviews

schoosskyler

An American Comedy _**Classic**_ - Everything about this film screams 'American Cinema Comedy'. A lot of the humor is a precursor to modern american humor, including the terribly cheesy pulp humor. This film is an homage to the comedies that came before it, but is innovative in its combination of wordplay and referential humor. I see vestiges of this film in everything from 'The Hangover' to 'The Office'. If at any point you are watching this and find yourself saying 'This is really stupid', just remember: Relax. It's supposed to be stupid.

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CinemaSerf

Right from the "Jaws" (1975) inspired opening titles, this is a treat of comedy that sends up just about every genre of cinema as poor old "Ted" (Robert Hays) has to stave off an airborne disaster aboard his aircraft. Half the folks travelling have been stricken with food poisoning and when the cockpit it wiped-out, it falls to him to bravely take the joystick and try to land in Chicago. Luckily, his ex-girlfriend "Elaine" (Julie Hagerty) is there, as is the always scene stealing inflatable "Otto" pilot. Lloyd Bridges is entertaining as the air traffic controller as is Robert Stack as the man trying to to talk down the stressed wartime pilot whom he used to command. The visual jokes are occasionally a bit too slapstick, but it's the writing that makes this funny - it is a pun writer's wet dream with plenty of risqué double entendres and literal interpretation of language that creates ample enjoyable ambiguity and humour. Clearance Clarence and Roger, Roger - it's quickly paced and unlike so many comedies from the 1970s really does raise a smile 40-odd years later when political correctness would probably throttle this at birth. Yes, it's a bit puerile but it is still well worth a watch.

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drystyx

Surely, this is hilarious. Surely. A film that never saw the word "Surely" in the same light again. This is a total parody, not just of disaster movies, but of all social mores. The "excuse" for the comedy is a plane where the entire flight crew is too sick to fly, so a nerve racked ex pilot needs to fly the plane. Lots of Monty Python style "unreal" events to make this even funnier, along with the parody of culture, such as the woman who speaks "Jive". You need someone to interpret "Jive" in life or death situations, you know? The people who don't find this funny probably don't even like gladiator movies.

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