Airplane!

Airplane! is an American comedy film, first released on 27 June 1980, produced, directed, and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Airplane! starred Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lorna Patterson. For release in Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, Airplane! was re-titled as Flying High. The title "Airplane!" was used for the UK release, even though "Aeroplane!" would be the correct British English spelling.

Airplane! is a spoof of the disaster movie genre. Airplane! (originally designed for a 20-minute sketch) is a virtual remake of the 1957 Canadian airplane disaster movie Zero Hour!, which featured Dana Andrews in the role of Lt. Striker, in which various jokes and gags have been added.[1] The food poisoning plot came from Zero Hour!

Airplane II: The Sequel, first released on December 10, 1982, attempted to tackle the science fiction film genre. Although most of the cast reunited for the sequel, the writers and directors of Airplane! chose not to be involved.

In the short term, Airplane! received slight recognition. Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker received the 1981 Writers Guild award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium, Jill Whelan was nominated as Best Young Comedienne by the Young Artist Awards, and the film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical/Comedy) and a BAFTA for Best Screenplay.[2]

It has been in the long term though that Airplane! has received significant recognition. It was voted as the 10th-funniest American comedy in AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list and it ranked number 6 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Segments Alluded To

 * Superman on Vacation