It is my understanding that there are still a few people in the world that haven't seen "Airplane!" yet.
Those people probably are still waiting for electricity, indoor plumbing and all the other great advances in humanity, too.
To see "Airplane!" is to take part in the great move to subvert all self-importance in movies, which this film does with great relish (and plenty of corn).
You get a chance to see such "serious" actors as Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack and Leslie Nielsen subvert themselves and their own personnae into near oblivion thanks to the writing/directing team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. Not to mention visual and verbal send-ups of darn near every movie that ever took place in the air, and a few that didn't, but should have.
Kudos to Leslie Nielsen, who with this movie gave himself the greatest reinvention of any actor this century. At one time, he was the very model of stoic sensibility.
I swear. Seriously.
A looooong time ago.
Ten stars. A laugh riot.
And I STILL think this would make a great in-flight movie.
