Posted on 08/20/2020 1:10:03 PM PDT by 11th_VA
It would be easy to put “Airplane!” on a no-fly list of offensive films. That would be a mistake because it demonstrates how to push boundaries in the right way.
When it first crash-landed in cinemas 40 years ago, the irreverent “Airplane!” wowed critics and audiences with its fast-and-loose brand of humor. It remains one of the most consistently uproarious laughfests ever filmed, and became an instant comedy classic when it hit screens in 1980. The 40th anniversary Blu-ray reissue arrives Tuesday.
In writing and directing “Airplane!,” the creative triumvirate of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker (later known as ZAZ) combined vaudevillian humor, oddball non sequiturs, dirty jokes and visual gags into a unique flurry of funny. One can rewatch the film and uncover new visual and verbal jokes because they packed in so many punchlines.
This was a topsy-turvy world where the roughest bar brawlers are feisty Girl Scouts, a military commander fights his way through religious recruiters at LAX, and a Boeing 747 sign features “no smoking” and “no screwing” light displays. And then there was the witty word play: "Surely you can't be serious?" “I am serious — and don’t call me Shirley.” And yes, coming at the beginning of the ’80s, it delved into gratuitous nudity and cursing, though it stopped short of totally overplaying its hand...
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
They knew the risk, the bought their tickets — I say, LET EM CRASH
Robert Stack in an episode of the good but very short-lived Most Wanted was a police captain who had to impersonate an airline pilot.
No humor though.
I remember that short-lived one as well.
My favorite scene is when the nun is singing to the sick little girl, then swings her guitar around, yanking the intravenous tube out of her arm. Everyone continues smiling and clapping along with the song, oblivious to the girl’s frantic efforts to get the tube back in her arm.
IMDB “Airplane” trivia;
Adult language warning due to some things that thankfully didn’t make it into the film;
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/trivia
My name’s not “Shirley”.
And “IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD.”
Johnny, what do you make of this?
“It shows its age” = “there’s some unwoke stuff in there, but *I* like it, so just give it a pass, okay?”
Oh, I could make a pin, or a broach, or a terradactyl..
“d making fun of absolutely everyone-no PC at all-is real equality....”
Get a Jewish friend to translate the “Indian Chief’s” hat.
(It’s in Hebrew.)
“For the argument between announcers concerning the white and red zones at the airport, the producers hired the same voice artists who had made the real-world announcements at Los Angeles International Airport. At the real airport, the white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only, and there’s no stopping in the red zone (except for transit buses). They were also married to each other in real life.”
IT’S COMING RIGHT AT US!!!
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
The Zuckers bought the rights to “Zero Hour” just to make sure they wouldn’t be sued for applying ginsu-level wit to it.
That was probably it, yes ...
My father, an old no-nonsense WWII vet, would sit there stern faced when watching most comedies. The only two things I ever saw him break down laughing at were the Benny Hill Show, (which he never missed) and the movie Airplane!.
Triple Feature
Airplane
Blazing Saddles
Spaceballs
Thanks-a Jewish neighbor lives on the next road-I’ll ask her next time I see her if she is familiar with the movie...
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