Movie Monday: Airplane!

At Laughasaurus, we strive to not only bring the laughs to you, but to bring both different kinds of laughs and the pioneers of those laughs.

"Airplane!" of 1980, starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty and Leslie Nielsen, directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, was, upon its release, a pioneer of a new kind of laugh.

Probably the goofiest of the movies selected for Movie Monday so far, Airplane! earns its wings (ha...ha) through quick and short jokes, one after another.

The movie is chiefly a parody film, and though it was definitely not the first (preceded by Mel Brooks' parodies such as "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles," among others), picking on "Zero Hour!" from 1957 and "Airport 1975" from 1974.

And although the plot of "Airplane!" is not really all that important--since the jokes sustain themselves independently from the plot--I will give a brief synopsis.

The story follows Ted Striker (Robert Hays), a former pilot now afraid to fly. He follows his former lover Elaine (Julie Hagerty), a stewardess, onto a plane. But when most of the passengers and crew fall ill due to food poisoning, Striker must face his fears and pilot the plane to safety.

Despite the unease that accompanies plane crash-type movies, "Airplane!" is so goofy and ridiculous that you forget the association.

Here's a clip from early on (hint: their names are Roger, Victor and Capt. Oveur)



"Airplane!" is filled with this type of joke, including its most famous line, which made the American Film Institutes top 100 movie quotes of all time at #79.

Striker: Surely, you can't be serious.
Dr. Rumack: I am serious...and don't call me "Shirley."


Laughasaurus worthiness:

What makes "Airplane!" worthy of both your time and mine is the range of type of jokes and humor that it throws at you, consistently in its 87 minutes.

There are pun jokes, like the one in the clip above, dirty jokes, racial jokes (mostly in good taste), parody jokes and jokes like this one, that have no real definable genre, but make you laugh regardless.



Some of the jokes are so stupid, yet so aware of being so stupid, that you can't help but laugh at their stupidity...and the genius behind it.