Airplane!

Ex-fighter pilot Ted Striker is a traumatized war veteran turned taxi driver. Because of his pathological fear of flying and subsequent "drinking problem"—he splashes beverages anywhere but into his mouth—Ted has been unable to hold a responsible job. His wartime girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson, now a flight attendant, breaks off her relationship with him before boarding her rostered flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. Ted abandons his taxi and buys a ticket on the same flight to try to win her back. Once on board, however, Elaine continues to reject him, causing Ted to inadvertently drive several other passengers to suicide as he sadly reminisces.

After the in-flight meal is served, the entire flight crew and several passengers fall ill. Passenger Dr. Rumack discovers that the fish served during meal service has caused food poisoning. With the flight crew incapacitated, Elaine contacts the Chicago control tower for help and is instructed by tower supervisor Steve McCroskey to activate the plane's autopilot, a large inflatable dummy pilot dubbed "Otto", which will get them to Chicago but cannot land the plane. Elaine and Rumack convince Ted to take the controls. When Steve learns Ted is piloting, he contacts Ted's former commanding officer, Rex Kramer—now serving as a commercial pilot—to help talk Ted through the landing procedure. Ted becomes uneasy when Kramer starts giving orders and he briefly breaks down amid more wartime flashbacks. Elaine and Rumack both bolster Ted's confidence and he manages to once again take the controls.

As the plane nears Chicago, the weather worsens, complicating the landing. With Elaine's help as co-pilot and Rex's guidance from the tower, Ted is able to land the plane safely, despite the landing gear shearing off, and the passengers suffer only minor injuries. Rescue vehicles arrive to help unload the plane. Impressed by Ted's courage, Elaine embraces and kisses him, rekindling their relationship. "Otto" restarts the plane and takes off as a female companion inflates beside him.

{{Cast listing|

• Robert Hays as Ted Striker
• Julie Hagerty as Elaine Dickinson
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as First Officer Roger Murdock
• Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey
• Peter Graves as Captain Clarence Oveur
• Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack
• Lorna Patterson as Randy
• Robert Stack as Captain Rex Kramer
• Stephen Stucker as Air Traffic Controller Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs
• Frank Ashmore as Flight Engineer Victor Basta
• Jonathan Banks as Gunderson
• Craig Berenson as Paul Carey
• Barbara Billingsley as Jive Lady
• Lee Bryant as Mrs. Hammen
• Nicholas Pryor as Jim Hammen
• Joyce Bulifant as Mrs. Davis
• Maureen McGovern as Nun
• Kenneth Tobey as Air Controller Neubauer
• Marcy Goldman as Mrs. Geline
• Barbara Stuart as Mrs. Kramer
• Ross Harris as Joey Hammen
• Norman Alexander Gibbs as First Jive Dude
• Al White as Second Jive Dude
• David Hollander as Young Boy with Coffee
• Michelle Stacy as Young Girl with Coffee
• David Leisure as First Krishna
• Jason Wingreen as Dr. Brody
• Jill Whelan as Lisa Davis
• Ethel Merman as Lieutenant Hurwitz
• Lee Terri as Mrs. Linda Oveur
• Jimmie Walker as Windshield Wiper Man
• James Hong as Japanese General
• Howard Jarvis as Man in Taxi
• Michael Laurence as Newscaster
• Herb Voland as Air Controller Macias
• Otto as Himself

}}

Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker (collectively known as Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, or ZAZ) wrote Airplane! while they were performing with the Kentucky Fried Theatre, a theatre group they had founded in 1971. To obtain material for comedy routines, they routinely recorded late night television and reviewed the tapes later primarily to pull the commercials, a process Abrahams compared to "seining for fish".{{cite news | url = https://www.avclub.com/article/surely-you-cant-be-serious-oral-history-airplane-218043 | title = Surely you can't be serious: An oral history of Airplane! | first = Will | last = Harris | date = April 17, 2015 | access-date = April 17, 2015 | newspaper = The A.V. Club | archive-date = April 18, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150418003221/http://www.avclub.com/article/surely-you-cant-be-serious-oral-history-airplane-218043 | url-status = live }} During one such taping process, they unintentionally recorded the 1957 film Zero Hour!, and while scanning the commercials, found it to be a "perfectly classically structured film" according to Jerry Zucker. Abrahams later described Zero Hour! as "the serious version of Airplane!" It was the first film script they wrote, completed around 1975, and was originally called The Late Show. The script originally stayed close to the dialog and plot of Zero Hour!, as ZAZ thought they did not have a sufficient understanding of film at the time to structure a proper script. ZAZ's script borrowed so much from Zero Hour! that they believed they needed to negotiate the rights to create the remake of the film and ensure they remain within the allowance for parody within copyright law. They were able to obtain the rights from Warner Bros. and Paramount for about $2,500 at the time. The original script contained spoofs of television commercials but people who proofread it advised them to shorten the commercials, and they eventually removed them. When their script was finished, they were unable to sell it.{{cite book|pages=337–342|title=The Directors: Take One|author=Emery, Robert J.|chapter=The films of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker|publisher=Allworth Communications, Inc.|year=2002|isbn=978-1-58115-218-0}}

While failing to sell their script, the trio met director John Landis, who encouraged them to write a film based on their theatre sketches. They managed to put The Kentucky Fried Movie into production in the late 1970s. David Zucker said "it was the first time we had ever been on a movie set. We learned a lot. We learned that if you really wanted a movie to come out the way you wanted it to, you had to direct. So on the next movie, Airplane!, we insisted on directing".

Eventually the Airplane! script found its way to Paramount through Michael Eisner. Eisner learned of the script via Susan Baerwald, another scriptwriter with United Artists, and had Jeffrey Katzenberg track down and meet with ZAZ to discuss details. Avco Embassy Pictures also expressed interest in producing the film, but ZAZ decided to go with Paramount.

Paramount insisted the film be shot in color rather than black-and-white as ZAZ wanted, and to be set aboard a jet airliner rather than propeller plane to better identify with modern filmgoers. In exchange, Paramount acquiesced to ZAZ's desire to cast serious actors for the film rather than comedy performers. Principal photography began on June 20, 1979, and wrapped on August 31, with the bulk of filming having been done in August. Jerry Zucker stood beside the camera during shooting, while David Zucker and Jim Abrahams watched the video feed to see how the film would look; they conferred after each take.{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/robert-hays-1798227786|title=Random Roles: Robert Hays|first=Nathan|last=Rabin|work=The A.V. Club|date=October 4, 2011|access-date=October 20, 2012|archive-date=October 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031060323/http://www.avclub.com/articles/robert-hays%2C62766/|url-status=live}}

David Zucker explained that "the trick was to cast actors like Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges. These were people who, up to that time, had never done comedy. We thought they were much funnier than the comedians of that time were".

David Zucker felt Stack was the most important actor to be cast, since he was the "linchpin" of the film's plot. Stack initially played his role in a way that was different from what the directors had in mind. They showed him a tape of impressionist John Byner impersonating Robert Stack. According to the producers, Stack was "doing an impression of John Byner doing an impression of Stack". Stack was not initially interested in the part, but ZAZ persuaded him. Bridges' children advised him to take the part. Graves rejected the script at first, considering it tasteless. During filming, ZAZ had explained to Graves that his lines spoken to a young boy, like "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?", would "be explained later in a part that you aren't in". On the DVD commentary, Abrahams said: "I don't understand. What did he think was tasteless about pedophilia?"

For the role of Dr. Rumack, ZAZ initially suggested Dom DeLuise, Christopher Lee (who had appeared in Airport '77), Vincent Price, and Jack Webb, all of whom turned it down, before they considered Nielsen,{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2020-05-25 |title=How We Made: Airplane! |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/25/how-we-made-airplane-the-movie |access-date=2023-10-18 |issn=0261-3077}} who was "just a fish in water" in his role, according to Jerry Zucker. Nielsen's career to this point had consisted mostly of serious leading roles but he wanted to work in comedy and was looking for a film to help in the transition. He was considered a "closet comedian" on set, pranking his fellow actors between shots, but immediately adopted his somber, serious persona when performing as Rumack. During filming, Nielsen used a device that made farting noises to keep the cast off-balance. Hays said that Nielsen "played that thing like a maestro".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/movies/27airplane.html|work=The New York Times|title=Surely It's 30 (Don't Call Me Shirley!)|date=June 25, 2010|access-date=June 30, 2010|archive-date=June 30, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100630091454/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/movies/27airplane.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=2020-07-02 |title='Airplane!' Is Considered One of the Best Comedies of All Time. But 40 Years Ago No One Saw it Coming. |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a33024479/airplane-1980-comedy-40th-anniversary-essay-history/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Esquire |language=en-US}} Christopher Lee would later acknowledge that turning down the role (to star in the film 1941) was a huge mistake.{{cite news|url=http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the_total_film_interview__christopher_lee |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612192345/http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the_total_film_interview__christopher_lee |archive-date=June 12, 2007 |title=The Total Film Interview – Christopher Lee |work=Total Film |date=May 1, 2005 |access-date=August 25, 2013}}

The role of Ted Striker was written for David Letterman, who had auditioned for a news anchorman role in Kentucky Fried Movie. Letterman did a screen test in 1979 that ZAZ liked and they wanted him to do a second audition, but Letterman did not want to pursue the role and was not selected.{{cite AV media|people=Jon Davison, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker|title=Airplane! audio commentary|medium=DVD|publisher=Paramount Pictures|time=9:50–10:00|isbn=0-7921-6688-4}}{{Cite web |title=David Letterman auditioned for 'Airplane!' against his better judgment |url=https://ew.com/movies/david-letterman-auditioned-for-airplane/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=EW.com |language=en}} Chevy Chase, Barry Manilow, Bill Murray and Fred Willard were also considered for the role.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2011/04/fred-willard-charmingly-recounts-turning-down-a-role-in-airplane.html|title=Fred Willard Charmingly Recounts Turning Down a Role in Airplane!|date=April 8, 2011}} Caitlyn Jenner{{efn|At the time of production, Caitlyn was still presenting as male and known as Bruce Jenner.}} also read for the part. Instead, ZAZ opted for Robert Hays, co-star of ABC situation comedy Angie. Elaine's part was auditioned for by Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Long but eventually went to Julie Hagerty. The directors advised the pair to play their roles straight. Hays and Hagerty developed an on-screen chemistry that worked in the film's favor; they spent time to practice and perfect the bar dance routine set to "Stayin' Alive", among other scenes.

For the "red zone/white zone" send-up of curbside terminal announcements in which public address announcers "Betty" and "Vernon" argue over the red and white zones, ZAZ went through the usual process of auditioning professional voice actors, but failed to find ones who could provide the desired authenticity. Instead, the filmmakers ultimately sought out and hired the real-life married couple who had recorded the announcement tapes which were then being used at Los Angeles International Airport.{{cite podcast|url=http://www.nerdist.com/pepisode/nerdist-podcast-airplane-the-movie/|title=Nerdist Podcast: Airplane! (The Movie)|website=Nerdist|host=Katie Levine|date=May 4, 2012|time=33:50|access-date=March 11, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222081357/http://www.nerdist.com/pepisode/nerdist-podcast-airplane-the-movie/|archive-date=February 22, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} ZAZ lifted some of their dialog directly from the 1968 novel Airport, written by Arthur Hailey who had also written Zero Hour!{{'s}} script. The lifted lines included ones about an unwanted pregnancy; David Zucker said the couple "got a kick out of it".{{cite news | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/inflatable-pilots-inappropriate-jokes-jive-talk-making-airplane/ | title = Inflatable pilots, inappropriate jokes and 'jive talk': the madcap making of Airplane! | first = Martin | last = Chilton | date = June 29, 2020 | access-date = July 2, 2020 | work = The Daily Telegraph | archive-date = July 2, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200702182240/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/inflatable-pilots-inappropriate-jokes-jive-talk-making-airplane/ | url-status = live }} The role of the Hare Krishna in the airport went to a college roommate of Hays's, newcomer David Leisure, due to Leisure's willingness to shave his head for the bit part;{{cite news|url=https://www.avclub.com/surely-you-can-t-be-serious-an-oral-history-of-airplan-1798279218|title=Surely you can't be serious: An oral history of Airplane!|last=Harris|first=Will|work=The A.V. Club|date=2015-04-07|access-date=2020-02-03}} it would be several more years before Leisure landed his breakthrough role as Joe Isuzu.{{cite web|url=https://people.com/archive/david-leisure-a-k-a-joe-isuzu-finds-that-the-road-to-success-is-paved-with-lies-lies-lies-vol-26-no-19/|title=David Leisure—a.k.a. Joe Isuzu—Finds That the Road to Success Is Paved with Lies, Lies, Lies!|last=Wolmuth|first=Roger|work=People|date=1986-11-10|accessdate=2020-02-03}} Baseball player Pete Rose was originally considered for the role of Roger Murdock.{{Cite web |date=2020-07-02 |title=We Have Clearance, Clarence, to Share These Secrets About Airplane! |url=https://www.eonline.com/news/1166898/we-have-clearance-clarence-to-share-these-secrets-about-airplane |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=E! Online}}

ZAZ got businessman and Republican politician Howard Jarvis to make a cameo appearance. Jarvis, who was well known in California at the time for getting his tax policy Proposition 13 passed in 1978, plays the patient passenger who gets into Ted Striker's cab at the start of the film. He then spends the entire movie sitting in an empty cab with the meter running. He also has the final line, which he says after the end credits: he looks at his watch and says "Well, I'll give him another twenty minutes, but that's it!", the joke being that Jarvis was wasting money while being known for his stance on fiscal responsibility and limited spending.{{cite web |last1=Fox |first1=Joel |title=The Funniest Part of California's 1978 Tax Revolt {{!}} Essay |url=https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2015/02/24/the-funniest-part-of-californias-1978-tax-revolt/chronicles/who-we-were/ |website=Zócalo Public Square |access-date=28 January 2023 |date=24 February 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thatericalper.com/2015/04/14/the-joke-in-airplane-hiding-in-plain-sight-that-everybody-missed/|title=The Joke In Airplane! Hiding In Plain Sight That Everybody Missed|website=www.thatericalper.com|date= April 14, 2015}}

The film's score was composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein, who had provided soundtracks for classic films like The Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Great Escape, and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. ZAZ told Bernstein they did not want an epic score like his past works but "a B-Movie level score, overdone and corny". According to ZAZ, Bernstein completely understood what they were trying to do, had laughed throughout a previous cut of the film, and wrote a "fantastic score".

In 1980, an LP soundtrack for the film was released by Regency Records which includes dialog and songs from the film. Narrated by Shadoe Stevens, it features only one score track, the "Love Theme from Airplane!" composed by Bernstein. The soundtrack was altered for the European Flying High release, with several featured tracks swapped for pieces original to the LP.

In April 2009, La-La Land Records announced it would release the first official soundtrack album for Airplane!, containing Bernstein's complete score.{{cite web|url=http://www.lalalandrecords.com/SpecialAnnouncement.html |title=La-La Land Records Announces a Special Mayday Alert! |website=Lalalandrecords.com |access-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819155257/http://www.lalalandrecords.com/SpecialAnnouncement.html |archive-date=August 19, 2010 |url-status=dead }} The soundtrack was released digitally on February 19, 2013, by Paramount Music.{{cite web|title=Airplane! (Music from the Motion Picture)|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/airplane!-music-from-motion/id598420923|publisher=iTunes Music Store|access-date=March 15, 2013|archive-date=July 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726212838/https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/airplane!-music-from-motion/id598420923|url-status=dead}}

Prior to the film's release, the directors were apprehensive following a mediocre audience response at a pre-screening, but the film earned its entire budget of about $3.5 million in its first five days of wide release.

Airplane! opened on June 27, 1980, in seven theatres in Toronto, grossing $83,058 in its opening weekend.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=July 2, 1980|page=3|title='Empire' Major Exception To B.O. Slump, Hits $65-Mil In Five Wks.|last=Ginsberg|first=Steven}}{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=July 2, 1980|page=17|title=Fasten Your Seatbelts! (advertisement)}} It also opened in two theaters in Buffalo, grossing $14,000 in its first week.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=July 9, 1980|page=14|title='Evil' Ominous 16G, Buff.; 'Lagoon' 7G}} The film then expanded on Wednesday, July 2 to 705 theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing $6,052,514 in its first five days of wide release, finishing second for the weekend with a gross of $4,540,000.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=July 9, 1980|page=3|title=Fox's Senior Notes, Debentures Primed For Undetailed Uses}} Overall, it grossed $83 million at the US and Canadian box office and returned $40 million in rentals, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1980.{{cite web|title=Airplane! (1980)|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=airplane.htm|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=February 6, 2015|archive-date=March 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326183710/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=airplane.htm|url-status=live}} Worldwide, the film earned $130 million in its initial release,{{AFI film|53895}} and by 2002 it had made $171 million.{{Cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=Top 50 worldwide grossers|date=July 15, 2002|last=D'Alessandro|first=Anthony|page=52, Paramount at 90 supplement}}

{{quote box|align=right|quote="Airplane! emerged in 1980 as a sharply perceptive parody of the big-budget disaster films that dominated Hollywood during the 1970s [and] introduced a much-needed deflating assessment of the tendency of theatrical film producers to push successful formulaic movie conventions beyond the point of logic".|width=30em|source=Library of Congress}}

Airplane! received universal acclaim from critics and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1980.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmsite.org/1980.html |title=Greatest Films of 1980 |website=Filmsite.org |access-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722104331/http://www.filmsite.org/1980.html |archive-date=July 22, 2010 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|author=Ethan Morris |url=http://www.film.com/features/story/10-best-movies-of-1980/15097039 |title=The 10 Best Movies of 1980 |website=Film.com |date=June 14, 2007 |access-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812102157/http://www.film.com/features/story/10-best-movies-of-1980/15097039 |archive-date=August 12, 2010 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.films101.com/y1980r.htm |title=The Best Movies of 1980 by Rank |website=Films101.com |access-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906013309/http://www.films101.com/y1980r.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2010 |url-status=live }} {{Rotten Tomatoes prose|score=97|average=8.5|count=72|consensus=Though unabashedly juvenile and silly, Airplane! is nevertheless an uproarious spoof comedy full of quotable lines and slapstick gags that endure to this day.|ref=|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/airplane/ |title=Airplane! (1980) |website=Rotten Tomatoes |date=January 1980 |publisher=Fandango |access-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722143724/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/airplane/ |archive-date=July 22, 2010 |url-status=live }} {{Metacritic film prose|78|18|access-date=3 June 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/airplane! |title=Airplane! Reviews |website=Metacritic |publisher=CBS Interactive |access-date=July 3, 2018 |archive-date=June 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621192053/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/airplane! |url-status=live }}

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote "Airplane! is sophomoric, obvious, predictable, corny, and quite often very funny. And the reason it's funny is frequently because it's sophomoric, predictable, corny, etc."{{cite news|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/airplane-1980|title=Airplane! :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews|website=Rogerebert.com|access-date=August 15, 2010|archive-date=September 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914172007/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/airplane-1980|url-status=live}} Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote "Airplane! is more than a pleasant surprise... As a remedy for the bloated self-importance of too many other current efforts, it's just what the doctor ordered".{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF1738E762BC4A53DFB166838B699EDE|title=Airplane! (1980)|date=July 2, 1980|author=Janet Maslin|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 2, 2010|archive-date=February 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217181340/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF1738E762BC4A53DFB166838B699EDE|url-status=live}}

In 2008, Airplane! was selected by Empire magazine as one of 'The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time'.{{cite web|title=Empire Features|url=https://www.empireonline.com/500/25.asp|access-date=August 15, 2010|work=Empire|archive-date=January 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119034539/http://www.empireonline.com/500/25.asp|url-status=live}} It was also placed on a similar list—'The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made'—by The New York Times.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html|work=The New York Times|title=The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made|date=April 29, 2003|access-date=April 23, 2010|archive-date=March 29, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050329013532/http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html|url-status=live}} In November 2015, the film was ranked fourth in the Writers Guild of America's list of '101 Funniest Screenplays'.{{cite news|title=101 Funniest Screenplays List|url=https://www.wga.org/writers-room/101-best-lists/101-funniest-screenplays/list|work=Writers Guild of America, West|date=November 11, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2019|archive-date=February 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202091302/http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=5949|url-status=live}}

MaximOnline.com named the airplane crash in Airplane! as number four on its list of "Most Horrific Movie Plane Crashes". Leslie Nielsen's response to Hays' "Surely you can't be serious" line—"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley"—was 79th on AFI's list of the best 100 movie quotes. In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Airplane! as number ten on its list of the 100 funniest American films. In the same year, Total Film readers voted it the second-greatest comedy film of all time. It was also second in the British 50 Greatest Comedy Films poll on Channel 4, beaten by Monty Python's Life of Brian. Entertainment Weekly voted the film the "funniest movie on video" in their list of the 100 funniest movies on video.{{cite magazine|author=Brod, Doug|title=The Kings of Comedy|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=October 16, 1992|url=https://www.ew.com/article/1992/10/16/kings-comedy|access-date=July 22, 2009|archive-date=September 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904044954/http://www.ew.com/article/1992/10/16/kings-comedy|url-status=live}}

A number of actors were cast to spoof their established images: prior to their roles in Airplane!, Nielsen, Stack, and Bridges were known for portraying adventurous, no-nonsense tough-guy characters. Stack's role as the captain who loses his nerve in one of the earliest airline "disaster" films, The High and the Mighty (1954), is spoofed in Airplane!, as is Lloyd Bridges' 1970–1971 television role as airport manager Jim Conrad in San Francisco International Airport. Peter Graves was in the made-for-television film SST: Death Flight, in which an SST was unable to land owing to an emergency.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/478220/sst-death-flight|title=Synopsis: SST Death Flight|publisher=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=December 7, 2014|archive-date=October 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020132211/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/478220/SST-Death-Flight/|url-status=live}}

Nielsen enjoyed a major career boost subsequent to Airplane!{{'}}s release. The film marked a significant change in his film persona towards deadpan comedy, notably in the three Naked Gun films: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988); The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991); and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). The films were based on the six-episode television series Police Squad! which starred Nielsen and was created and produced by Zucker–Abrahams–Zucker. This also led to his casting, many years later, in Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Brooks had wanted to make the film for a long time, but put it off because, as he said: "I just could not find the right Dracula". According to Brooks, he did not see Airplane! until years after its release. When he did, he knew Nielsen would be right for the part. When it was suggested that his role in Airplane! was against type, Nielsen protested that he had "always been cast against type before", and that comedy was what he always really wanted to do.{{cite web|first1=Andrew |last1=Dalton |first2=Bob |last2=Thomas |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_LESLIE_NIELSEN?SITE=TXMCA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |title='Airplane!', 'Forbidden Planet' actor Nielsen dies |agency=Associated Press |date=November 29, 2010 |access-date=November 30, 2010 |archive-date=December 8, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208205723/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_LESLIE_NIELSEN?SITE=TXMCA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT |url-status=dead }}

Peter Farrelly said of the film: "I was in Rhode Island the first time I saw Airplane! Seeing it for the first time was like going to a great rock concert, like seeing Led Zeppelin or the Talking Heads. We didn't realize until later that what we'd seen was a very specific kind of comedy that we now call the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker school". Farrelly, along with his writing partner Bennett Yellin, sent a comedy script to David Zucker, who in return gave them their first Hollywood writing job. Farrelly said: "I'll tell you right now, if the Zuckers didn't exist, there would be no Farrelly brothers".

During the Qantas Flight 72 incident over the Indian Ocean west of Australia in 2008, the captain recited some of Lloyd Bridges' lines to relieve tension while trying to land the plane. This was commented in the Air Disasters episode "Free Fall".

The 2010 documentary Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story opens with a scene from the film, in which a passenger is offered the very short book Famous Jewish Sports Legends by a flight attendant.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-nov-19-la-et-jews-baseball-20101119-story.html|author=Kenneth Turan|title=Movie review: 'Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 19, 2010|access-date=December 12, 2010|archive-date=December 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204034008/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/19/entertainment/la-et-jews-baseball-20101119|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jewsandbaseball.com/film1.html|title=Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story|publisher=Jewsandbaseball.com|access-date=December 12, 2010|archive-date=August 11, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811064202/http://www.jewsandbaseball.com/film1.html|url-status=live}}

The MythBusters TV show episode "Airplane Hour" reenacted the climax of the film to see if an inexperienced pilot could land a plane with only a call from Air Traffic Control. The Mythbusters had to use a simulation to test the myth but concluded that the scene was plausible. They did, however, mention that most planes today have an autopilot to land the plane safely.

In the 2012 film Ted, main character John Bennett tells the story of how he met Lori Collins. The flashback is a close recreation of the scene where Ted Striker met Elaine Dickinson in the disco.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ryan/ted-25-questions_b_1619250.html|title='Ted': Will 'Ted' Make You Feel Guilty For Laughing?|work=The Huffington Post|date=June 22, 2012|access-date=October 9, 2013|archive-date=March 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140312034420/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ryan/ted-25-questions_b_1619250.html|url-status=live}}

In early 2014, Delta Air Lines began using a new on-board safety film with many 1980s references, featuring an ending with a cameo of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reprising his role as co-pilot Roger Murdock.{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/delta-airlines-promotes-safety-1980s-themed-video-article-1.1595323|title=SEE IT: Delta Airlines promotes safety in 1980s-themed video|author=Joel Landau|date=January 29, 2014|access-date=June 9, 2014|archive-date=July 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714215649/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/delta-airlines-promotes-safety-1980s-themed-video-article-1.1595323|url-status=live}}

In 2014, Travel Wisconsin began airing an ad with Robert Hays and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reprising their roles from the film. Kareem makes the comment "Why did I ever leave this place?" referring to his time playing for the Milwaukee Bucks.{{Cite web |title=Kareem |url=http://www.nba.com/bucks/features/boeder-140303 |website=The Official Site of the Milwaukee Bucks |access-date=January 30, 2016 |archive-date=February 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206053916/http://www.nba.com/bucks/features/boeder-140303 |url-status=deviated}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|url = http://www.nba.com/bucks/news/MB_071121.html|title = Kareem: The return of the King|date = November 21, 2007|access-date = January 29, 2016|website = The Official Site of the Milwaukee Bucks|publisher = National Basketball Association|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170202183302/http://www.nba.com/bucks/news/MB_071121.html|archive-date = February 2, 2017|url-status = dead}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.jsonline.com/sports/lew-alcindor-jersey-sells-for-95600-gh8t6pv-192796261.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114075628/http://www.jsonline.com/sports/lew-alcindor-jersey-sells-for-95600-gh8t6pv-192796261.html |archive-date=January 14, 2015 |title=Lew Alcindor jersey sells for $95,600 |date=February 24, 2013 |access-date=January 29, 2016 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |url-status=dead}}{{cbignore}} Hays also reprises his role as an airline pilot in Sharknado 2: The Second One.

The first episode of the eighth season of the TV series The Goldbergs re-enacts certain scenes.

Airplane II: The Sequel, first released on December 10, 1982, attempted to tackle the science fiction film genre, though there was still emphasis on the general theme of disaster films. Although most of the cast reunited for the sequel, the writers and directors of Airplane! chose not to be involved. In the DVD commentary for Airplane!, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker claim to have never seen nor to have any desire to see Airplane II.

An oral history on the making of Airplane!, was published on October 3, 2023.{{cite web |url= https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250289315/surelyyoucantbeserious |title= Surely You Can't Be Serious |access-date= October 30, 2023 |publisher= Macmillan}} An audiobook version was also released, featuring ZAZ as well as guests Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Hader, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Molly Shannon, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Beau Bridges, John Landis, Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, among others.{{cite web | url = https://deadline.com/2023/09/airplane-audiobook-david-zucker-jim-abrahams-jerry-zucker-jimmy-kimmel-weird-al-yankovic-sarah-silverman-1235557328/ | title = 'Airplane!' Filmmakers David Zucker, Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker To Narrate Making-Of Audiobook With Jimmy Kimmel, "Weird" Al Yankovic, Sarah Silverman, Trey Parker, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner & More | first = Andrea | last = Wiseman | date = September 27, 2023 | accessdate = September 29, 2023 | work = Deadline Hollywood }}

Informational notes

{{notelist}}

Citations

{{Reflist}}

{{wikiquote}}

• [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/airplane2.pdf Airplane! essay by Michael Schlesinger] at the National Film Registry
• {{AFI film|53895}}
• [http://web.archive.org/web/20230928213234/https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/airplane Airplane! (1980) (archived 2023)] on ParamountMovies.com
• {{mojo title|airplane}}
• {{IMDb title|0080339}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|airplane}}
• {{TCMDb title|66945}}
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/movies/27airplane.html Surely It’s 30 (Don’t Call Me Shirley!)] {{--}} Retrospective article on The New York Times, June 25, 2010
• [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/aug/22/airplane-at-30-zucker-abrahams-interview Airplane at 30! The ride of their lives] {{--}} Retrospective article from The Guardian, Aug 22, 2010
• "[http://remakechronicles.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/the-two-troubled-commutes-of-ted-stryker/ The Two Troubled Commutes of Ted Stryker]", comparison of Zero Hour! and Airplane! by Adam-Troy and Judy Castro.

{{Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker}}

{{Airport}}

{{Arthur Hailey}}

Category:1980 comedy films

Category:1980 directorial debut films

Category:1980 films

Category:1980s American films

Category:1980s disaster films

Category:1980s English-language films

Category:1980s parody films

Category:1980s satirical films

Category:American aviation films

Category:American disaster films

Category:American parody films

Category:American satirical films

Category:American self-reflexive films

Category:American slapstick comedy films

Category:Disaster comedy films

Category:Films about aviation accidents or incidents

Category:Films about post-traumatic stress disorder

Category:Films based on adaptations

Category:Films based on works by Arthur Hailey

Category:Films directed by David Zucker

Category:Films directed by Jerry Zucker

Category:Films directed by Jim Abrahams

Category:Films produced by Jon Davison (film producer)

Category:Films scored by Elmer Bernstein

Category:Films set in airports

Category:Films set in Chicago

Category:Films set in Los Angeles

Category:Films set on airplanes

Category:Films shot in Los Angeles

Category:Films shot in Los Angeles County, California

Category:Films using stop-motion animation

Category:Films with screenplays by David Zucker

Category:Films with screenplays by Jerry Zucker

Category:Films with screenplays by Jim Abrahams

Category:Paramount Pictures films

Category:Surreal comedy films

Category:United States National Film Registry films