Airplane! (Wide Screen) > Reviews > Say Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked...

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Truly hilarious spoof in which nothing and no - one is sacred
Disadvantages:	You'll be quoting lines for eternity

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I've been prompted to write this op for two reasons. One involves the words "prize" and "money" (hey, I'm not proud, OK?), and the other is because since I wrote an op on classic comedy films, jess0910 and myself have been firing Airplane quotes back and forward at one another as if our lives depended on it. Just don't call me Shirley.

Airplane is the first of the (many) spoof films to come from the warped and demented minds of Jim Abrahams and Jerry & David Zucker, who would go on to be known collectively as, surprisingly enough, "the men who brought you Airplane!". Perhaps better known these days as being the men behind the "Police Squad!" series and the spin off "The Naked Gun" films, these three men would go on to show a consistent talent for spoofery, one-liners and sight gags that initially died out with silent films, but when brought up to date have the viewer howling with laughter, whether they want to or not. But I digress......

PLOT
Yeah, right, as if there is one! Airplane is just a downright piss-take of 70s disaster movies, and the "Airport" series in particular. The plot revolves around Ted Striker (Robert Hays), a burned-out WWII pilot whose relationship with stewardess Elaine (Julie Haggerty) has went up a certain creek without a paddle. While trying to win her back, Striker finds himself piloting a disaster-stricken airliner to safety while assisted (or not) by his former commander Rex Kramer (Robert Stack) from the ground. And, erm, that's it. Other films to be annihilated include Saturday Night Fever, 10, Bridge On The River Kwai........

CAST
The cast in this film are just brilliant, there's no other way to describe it. I think the best way I can put it is that before this film, none of the main cast were comedy performers, they were all serious actors - and that's the reason the comedy works. Everyone plays everything so straight and seriously that the sheer absurdity and downright stupidity of the film takes on a whole extra dimension. It's just plain DAFT. Robert Hays and Julie Haggerty do a great job of somehow managing to keep a straight face, and even though they are excellent, they pale in comparison to the REAL stars of the film...

Leslie Nielsen -
This is the film that made his career. His portrayal of the unflappable Doctor Rumack was basically Frank Drebin from Police Squad! on an aeroplane. Helped by the fact that nearly all of the film's best lines belonged to him, Nielsen would never look back after this, although he would later admit to being eternally cursed to have strangers walk up to him in the street saying "Don't call me Shirley" or "Just want to tell you both good luck, we're all counting on you!". Genius.

Robert Stack -
What pretty much amounts to an extended cameo here, Stack played Rex Kramer in Airplane! and basically took the p*** out of himself as Elliot Ness in the TV version of The Untouchables. Acting all hard on the exterior while plainly not having a clue, Stack is the perfect foil to Hays and Nielsen here. The film wouldn't be the same without him.

Lloyd Bridges -
Another serious actor roped into a comedy role here, Bridges plays the drug-addled controller McCroskey. No words I type can do justice to him here, you have to see the film to get the gist of the character. With every new setback comes a relapse into another forgotten vice for McCroskey, culminating in him hanging upside-down from the ceiling while tripping on amphetamines. Told you that you needed to see it.....

Stephen Stucker -
The star of the show, and the unsung hero of the piece as the completely insane Johnny. Utterly bonkers and totally irrelevant, Johnny is the most brazenly daft character in the film. Again, I can't do him justice, but suffice to say that madness and mayhem follow where he walks.....

There are also a few notable cameos in the film, including basketball star Kareem Abdul Jabber as the copilot, Peter Graves as the strangely-fixated Captain Oveur, Ethel Merman as a shell-shocked soldier (honest) and even Abrahams, Zucker and Zucker (sounds like a dodgy law firm) in minor parts.

HUMOUR:
Daft. Stupid. Bonkers. Insane. Need I say more?

Oh alright then.

Basically, if you don't like sight gags, slapstick, one-liners or plain old stereotype-bashing, then swerve this. It manages to mock and satirise almost any social group you can think of, without being nasty or offensive in any way. Put another way, you should only watch this if you can laugh at yourself. This film also contains more quotable one-liners than any other film in history - which I'm not going to repeat here.

Well, maybe just a few......

McCROSKEY (hands Johnny a sheet of paper): Whaddya make of this, Johnny?
JOHNNY: Ooh, I could make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl.....

McCROSKEY: Looks like I picked the wrong day quit sniffing glue!

STRIKER: It's a good thing he doesn't know how much I hate his guts!
ELAINE (on radio) It's a good thing you don't know how much he hates your guts!

MCCROSKEY: Alright men, let's go to the tower!
JOHNNY: The tower? RAPUNZEL! RAPUNZEL!

CAPTAIN OVEUR: Say Joey, you ever seen a grown man naked?

ELAINE (over tannoy): Oh, and is there anybody on board who can fly a plane?

DOCTOR RUMACK: There's a problem up front in the cockpit.
STRIKER: The cockpit? What is it?
DOCTOR RUMACK: It's the room up front where the pilot sits, but that's not important right now.

ELAINE: Well, we had two choices for dinner; steak, or fish.
DOCTOR RUMACK: Ah, that's right - I had the lasagne.

CAPTAIN OVEUR: Joey, you ever been in a Turkish prison?

The list is endless.

PLUSSES:
Too many to mention.

MINUSES:
None. Unless you're not a fan of "stupid" humour or spoofs, this film will have you hurting yourself laughing in so many places that you won't know when to stop.

OVERALL:
Airplane is the original and best of the Abrahams/Zucker spoof movies. While later efforts such as The Naked Gun series would run it close, Airplane is still the best spoof movie ever made. Hilarious all the way through, Airplane! made the career of Leslie Nielsen, changed the career of Lloyd Bridges, and carved out a whole new genre in Hollywood movies. Even though it's now 21 years old, it has withstood the test of time well, and stands up to contemporary comedies so well as to still positively outshine them. go hire it out and watch it again - you deserve to.

~~~~~~~~~

Airplane! DVD £18.99 from Amazon.co.uk
Airplane! VHS video £5.99 from Amazon.co.uk

Thanks to the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) for some of the cast info I used in this opinion.