Movie Review – Airplane! (1980)
Today’s movie review takes a step over thirty years back in time to one of my favorite comedies, Airplane!
A king of the spoof films, Airplane! doesn’t just take jabs at disaster movies, but it follows closely to the 1957 film, Zero Hour!. If you love Airplane!, try to see Zero Hour! if you can. I saw it a couple of years ago on TCM. Just be warned that if you’re an Airplane! addict, it’ll be hard to watch Zero Hour! with a straight face.
Airplane! stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty in the lead roles. Although neither of them had a really shining Hollywood career, they’re still great in this movie. Airplane! also has a great supporting cast with Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and of course, the great Leslie Nielsen.
Airplane! is a comedic love story wrapped around a disaster in the air.
Former fighter pilot and current taxi driver, Ted Striker (played by Robert Hays) is traumatized with a fear of flying after fighting in a recent war. His wartime girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (played by Julie Hagerty), is a flight attendant (called a “stewardess” back in the day) ready to leave Ted and make a new life for herself in Chicago. Striker tries to convince her to stay, but she refuses and boards the flight. Ted summons the courage to purchase a ticket on her cross-country flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Meanwhile, we’re also introduced to Captain Clarence Oveur (played by Peter Graves) as he’s checking out a nude magazine at a news stand. Captain Oveur (pronounced “over”) receives a phone call from a doctor in Chicago. It turns out his flight will have a special passenger — a young girl flying across the country to receive a heart transplant. The doctor wants the girl to remain calm during the flight.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Soon everybody is boarding the flight to Chicago. Elaine is helping the passengers get seated, Ted Striker is nervous as ever, and the flight crew is preparing the aircraft for takeoff. Yes, that is basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing the role of co-pilot Roger Murdock.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
The flight departs and everything seems fine. The passengers are calm, the flight crew is in control, and Ted Striker tries to get over his nervousness by telling the tales of him and Elaine to his fellow passengers. The only problem is that his stories are apparently so boring and uninteresting that his companions commit suicide one by one.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Sometime after the meal is served on the flight, one of the passengers becomes ill. Fellow passenger Dr. Rumack (played by Leslie Nielsen) examines the ill passenger and determines that she needs to be hospitalized as soon as possible. Suddenly, more people start becoming sick, including the flight crew. Co-pilot Roger Murdock falls ill while Dr. Rumack is talking to Captain Oveur, causing the plane to severely drop in altitude until Captain Oveur takes over the controls.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Dr. Rumack surmises that it’s food poisoning from the fish dinner that’s causing everybody to become ill. As he’s explaining his theory, Captain Oveur becomes the next victim. While he’s being pulled from his seat, he tells Elaine to activate the automatic pilot. Sure enough, an inflatable pilot grows from the co-pilot’s seat and once again the aircraft is under control.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Elaine makes a may-day call over the radio and gets in contact with Steve McCroskey (played by Lloyd Bridges), the control tower supervisor at Chicago. He helps her maintain the aircraft over the radio, but McCroskey informs her that she needs to find a pilot on board the aircraft in order for them to safely land.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Elaine goes back to the passenger section and asks Ted to help the pilots in the cockpit. He agrees, but when he arrives in the cockpit he’s shocked that both pilots are in fact unconscious. Dr. Rumack informs Striker that he’s the only chance the passengers have at safely arriving in Chicago.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Ted Striker reluctantly agrees and takes a seat in the cockpit, though it’s clear that he’s uncomfortable handling such a large aircraft. He talks over the radio to McCroskey in Chicago, but it’s clear that he’s going to need extra help to land the aircraft. McCroskey sends a worker to bring Rex Kramer (played by Robert Stack) to the control tower to help talk Striker down to the ground.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Ted Striker gets frustrated and gives up on being the pilot, but Dr. Rumack convinces him to give it his all. Rex Kramer tells him over the radio how to land the airliner. Sure enough, Striker is able to land in Chicago although he ultimate crashes onto the runway.
Airplane! (1980) – (c) Paramount Pictures
But that’s just a small part of the awesomeness known as Airplane! What this review didn’t touch are the thousands of sight and sound gags that fill the movie from start to finish. Airplane! is not one of those movies that you can play in the background and listen to while working. I tried to do it last night, but couldn’t. You actually have to sit back and watch the movie to get the most out of it.
Sure, the lines of dialogue are hilarious, but the sight gags that support it are even better. This is literally one of the funniest movies of all time. You can’t take that kind of humor lightly. Airplane! requires that you get the widescreen, uncensored version of the movie (high-definition would be ideal), turn off the cell phone, and sit yourself on the couch for its 87-minute running time.
How the movie is rated only PG, I’ll never know. With the vulgarity and other references, including a few seconds of a topless stripper right in front of the camera, Airplane! requires lots of censoring whenever they try to show it on TV.
Airplane! (1980) – movie trailer
So, yes. Go out there and watch Airplane!. It’s comedic genius on an epic level. Although many of the scenes are somewhat dated, this is still a great movie. Is it a shame that Airplane! dominates over many of the comedy movies that Hollywood produces these days?
Steve McCroskey – “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.”