Airplane!

PLOT:

Ex-fighter pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) became traumatized after an incident during the “war”, leading to his fear of flying and his “drinking problem” (implying alcoholism, but specifically the “problem” refers to the fact that he misses his mouth every time). Recovering his courage, Striker attempts to regain the love of his life from the war, Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), now a stewardess. In order to win her love, Striker overcomes his fear and buys a ticket on a flight she is serving on, from Los Angeles to Chicago. However, during the flight, Elaine rebuffs his attempts.

After dinner is served, many of the passengers fall ill, and fellow passenger Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) quickly realizes that one of the meal options, which was fish, gave the passengers food poisoning. The stewards discover that the pilot crew, including pilot Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves) and co-pilot Roger Murdock (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), have all come down with food poisoning, leaving no one aboard to fly the plane. Elaine informs the passengers that everything is fine. She then asks everyone on the plane if anyone knows how to fly a plane. Elaine then contacts the Chicago control tower for help, and is instructed by tower supervisor Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges) to activate the plane’s autopilot, a large blow-up doll named “Otto”, which will get them to Chicago but will not be able to land the plane. Elaine realizes that Striker, being the only pilot on board who has not succumbed to food poisoning, is their only chance, and he is convinced to fly the plane, though he still feels his trauma will prevent him from safely landing it.

McCroskey knows that he must get someone else to help take the plane down and calls Rex Kramer (Robert Stack). Striker and Kramer served together in the war and must overcome their negative history. As the plane nears Chicago, Striker becomes increasingly stressed and can only land the plane after a pep talk from Dr. Rumack. With Kramer’s endless stream of advice, Striker is able to overcome his fears and safely land the plane with only minor injuries to some passengers, and damage to the landing gear. Striker’s courage rekindles Elaine’s love for him, and the two share a kiss while Otto takes off in the evacuated plane after inflating a female companion.

REVIEW:

 For quite some time, I’ve been meaning to watch this classic film, and arguably the greatest spoof/satire picture not to be made by Mel Brooks. Finally, I got around to it this weekend, and boy was it worth the wait!

Airplane! takes aim at all those disaster movies that were so prevalent in the late 70s (this film was released in 1980). Some people don’t care for the humor, but I happen to love it. This type of toungue-in-cheek humor is perfect. Granted, some of the jokes  didn’t get, since I was still a baby at the time this film was released, but that didn’t make them any less hilarious.

The plot…if you can call it that…is qite entertaining, especially the way it unfolds. Even with the hilarious jokes and whatnot, one is still on their edge of their seat wondering what is going to happen to the plane and all the passengers.

The casting is genius. At the time, Leslie Nielsen was still a serious actor, so getting him to be in the farce was coup de gras, for sure. As was roping in Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, and NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabar.

Airplane! is hands down one of the funniest films I’ve seen in quite some time. I was literally on the ground, rolling around laughing. I highly recommend this to everyone. We all need a laugh, right?

5 out of 5 stars