Airplane! (1980)

Directors:

Jim Abrahams
David Zucker

Writers:

Jim Abrahams (written by) &
David Zucker (written by) ...

Release Date:

2 July 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

You've read the ad, now see the movie!

Plot:

An airplane crew takes ill. Surely the only person capable of landing the plane is an ex-pilot afraid to fly. But don't call him Shirley.

Plot Keywords:

Airplane | Pilot | Food Poisoning | Airport | Basketball

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	...	Roger Murdock (as Kareem Abdul-Jabaar)
Lloyd Bridges	...	McCroskey
Peter Graves	...	Captain Oveur
Julie Hagerty	...	Elaine
Robert Hays	...	Ted Striker
Leslie Nielsen	...	Dr. Rumack
Lorna Patterson	...	Randy
Robert Stack	...	Rex Kramer
Stephen Stucker	...	Johnny
Otto	...	Himself
Jim Abrahams	...	Religious Zealot #6
Frank Ashmore	...	Victor Basta
Jonathan Banks	...	Gunderson
Craig Berenson	...	Paul Carey
Barbara Billingsley	...	Jive Lady

Also Known As:

Flying High! (New Zealand: English title) (Philippines: English title)
Flying High (Australia)
Kentucky Fried Airplane (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Spain:13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:15 | UK:15 | UK:PG (2001 re-rating) | USA:PG (Certificate #25740) | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Finland:K-12 | Iceland:L | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 (video rating) | Norway:12 (original rating) | UK:A (original rating) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

According to the soundtrack album cover (Regency Records, 1980), Johnny's last name is Hinshaw. This can actually be heard clearly in the movie, when McCroskey is speaking to the reporters and tells "Hinshaw" to take over. Johnny then steps in and describes the "pretty white airplane" to the press.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Dr. Rumak is treating the sick female passenger, he is removing eggs from her mouth. In one shot where he removes and egg, cracks it and a little bird flies away, the woman is startled and in her half-open mouth you can clearly see that an egg is already there, making it obvious that she was releasing the same egg time and again; equally obviously, then, the doctor was picking up additional eggs from underneath the tray table.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Male announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a red zone.
Female announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a red zone.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The IT Crowd: Yesterday's Jam (#1.1)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Respect

"I am serious... and don't call me Shirley."

In a tense moment where Ted Striker (Robert Hays) needs to land an airplane where the pilots (Peter Graves and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) have fallen sick, and several passengers need to get off the airplane for various reasons, all Striker can think to himself (with an echo in his mind, of course) is "I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Hello?... hello... hello... Echo... echo... echo... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota..." That pretty much sums up the seriousness of Airplane!, the lampoon of the 1970s Airport movies, and pretty much every other disaster movie pumped out by Hollywood. The same guys who pieced together the Naked Gun movies write and direct this silly movie. Most of the jokes need to be seen to be properly experienced, the first rate actors are what brings the laughs. Robert Stack plays it straight, over-the-top straight, as a problem solver for the airline who happens to wear 2 pairs of sunglasses at all times. Stack's comedic timing and deadpan delivery bring out some of the biggest laughs of the film. Lloyd Bridges is the over-worked, over-stressed traffic controller who has picked the wrong week to stop drinking, smoking, and sniffing glue. And Leslie Neilson plays a doctor who has an acute sense for the obvious, surely one who could save the passengers and airline crew if they land safely, just don't call him Shirley. A few cheap laughs, a few misses, but over all, a pretty funny movie. If you like The Naked Gun, you'll like Airplane!