I could tell from the beginning of this movie (as though the cover on the movie wasn't enough of a clue) that it was a comedic parody. The scene starts off with what seems like a normal airport terminal, with the usual cautionary recordings playing in the background about where and where not to unload passengers. Soon, however, the 'recordings' start bickering over one contradicting himself, which leads to the lady voice recording overreacting and accusing the male voice that he was only insinuating that she have an abortion. All the while, the rest of the airport goes about like nothing's wrong.
The
level of decorum and seriousness is kept throughout the movie, in the face
of some very silly gags and plays on words. Most everything said is taken
literally, at face value. Tickets for the smoking section actually smoke,
and a drinking problem literally means a drinking problem - the main
character, Ted Striker, is so traumatized by his war experiences that he
splashes his water all over himself anytime he goes to take a sip.
temporarily
up to the autopilot, Otto. In order to land, however, someone on board with
flying experience has to save the day. Ted Striker is that person (in fact,
the only person), so the job lands on him and his ablility to overcome his
fear of flying.
Make
sure, if you watch this movie, to pay attention to the end credits; the
comedy continues through to the very end of the movie (though, if you want
to cheat, most of the creative ones can be found at http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/crazycredits).Check out the trailer here:
http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=airplane
And another review
"Don't Call Me Shirley!"
Airplane (1980)
Characters: Ted Striker (Robert Hays), Elaine (Julie Hagerty) – the love interest, Capt. Oveur (Peter Graves), Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (as himself in disguise).
No matter how hard you try not to laugh at the endless supply of corny jokes and innuendos, you won’t succeed! Airplane is the best pun-based movie ever made! It laid the groundwork for future movies by sparking an interest, and creating a demand in moviegoers for more comedic movie knockoffs. The new demand for spoof-based movies led to the making of movies like: Hot Shots, Scary Movie, Shrek, etc. Airplane is truly a comedic classic poking fun at movies like Airport, Saturday Night Fever, Top Gun and itself. It derives its humour from making fun of the emotionally charged disaster-genre that had pervaded the movies in the 1970’s.
We
quickly discover that this movie is a comedy in the opening scene, which
takes place in the LA Airport. The filmmakers achieve the introduction to
the comedic farces that are present for the remainder of the movie through
the hilarious announcements over the intercom and through the funny
characters that are scattered about the airport. It is in the airport that
we become familiarized with the two leading characters: Ted Striker
(Robert Hays) and Elaine (Julie Hagerty). We find out that Striker was
once a fighter pilot in the war who had developed an extreme case of PTSD
by losing most of his squadron in battle. Elaine, who had stuck by his
side for a long time after his incident in the war, had finally left him
because she could no longer tolerate listening to his repetitive war
flashbacks. After Elaine told Striker that it was over, he decided to face
his fears and board the plane that Elaine worked on as a flight attendant
in hopes of winning her back.
The seriousness of PTSD that is portrayed in most dramas is made fun of relentlessly throughout this movie. On board the plane, Striker continues to relive the tragic tales of his past with other passengers on his flight, which leads them to either commit or attempt suicide via highly excessive measures. For example, one passenger tries to light himself on fire, and a nun hangs herself from the ceiling of the plane above her seat!
Upon
choosing to eat the fish dinner, the crew of the plane and all the
passengers who also ate the fish, are taken ill with food poisoning. Dr.
Rumack (Leslie Neilson), the doctor onboard (but don’t call him
Shirley!), makes the diagnosis of food poisoning. Once the crew has become
violently ill, as predicted by Dr. Rumack, Striker must finally confront
his fears and try to land the plane. The suspense, raw emotions and
overall drama that is usually portrayed in movies depicting a potential
plane crash, is mocked to the extreme through the use of: a blow up
autopilot, Striker pouring with sweat (literally), countless sexual
innuendos, and a myriad of many more farces!
Of course, as is usual in the case of dramas depicting this type of situation, Striker becomes the hero and gets the girl by courageously landing the plane!
I recommend that a viewer watch this movie more than once! Every time you watch it you are sure to find a gag that you missed before which makes it funnier and funnier each time you see it!!!
We have clearance, Clarence.
First I guess I should probably preface this by saying that I freaking love satirical comedies. That being said, I’m also a huge fan of stupid comedies, the ones with bad jokes and enough horrible puns to make you roll your eyes and laugh anyways because, lets face it, even after the 100th reference to bathroom humor, its still hilarious. Or maybe I’m just easily amused. Either way, I watched Airplane! and laughed the entire time. The movie makes fun of so many aspects of society: there’s the lovelorn war veteran following his ex-girlfriend half way around the world to prove that he’s still madly in love with her, the air traffic controller with a substance abuse issues, the basketball star co-pilot, the sick girl in the back of the plane who’s almost killed multiple times by the people trying to save her. And when people start to get deathly ill because of some bad airplane food, (which just begs the completely unrelated question of: is there ever such thing as good airplane food?) things just get funnier. It also makes fun of some of the disaster movies of the 70’s. I wouldn’t recommend this movie if you’re not a fan of stupid comedy, but honestly, watch it anyways. It’s a classic, one that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. Even if you hate it, you will at least get a greater appreciation for the reason why I crack up whenever someone says they have a drinking problem.