Airplane! (1980) - Review

Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

Screenplay by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

Starring, Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielson

Screened at Filmhouse, Edinburgh

Stand up comedian Craig Hill was recently invited to the Filmhouse, Edinburgh to curate a selection of films he has decided to screen. Before the screening began Craig let the audience know that he hoped that we agreed that the audience found the film as timeless as he did, and ‘Airplane!’ truly does stand the test of time.

Riffing off the disaster film genre, ‘Airplane!’ follows the simple story of ex pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) as he chases after Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), an air stewardess he shared a strong romantic fling with, who is also about to take flight on a plane destined for doom. What follows is the typical narrative structure found in most disaster films yet the plot in the film in all in service of the comedy.

‘Airplane!’ does pin some of its jokes on tropes found in the disaster genre, especially in many of the side characters, but most jokes come in almost every possible way. There is a joke in almost every single frame, from lines so well written they have become classics, to more subtle touches such as a choir failing to hit its note in the films score.

It truly is a film that demands repeat viewings, despite this being possibly my 10th viewing of the film I still found myself finding another joke that I couldn’t believe I never picked up on before. This is down to the sheer amount of jokes that the film manages to pack into its swift 87 minute runtime, in fact moviemuse.com counted that there was a total 223 jokes made in the film, so even if you feel that one doesn’t land for you, by the time you begin to think about it another two jokes have already happened. This can almost be exhausting if you are someone who the film simply clicks with, as you sometimes wont have a moment to catch your breath but one cannot really fault a film for making you laugh too much.

Who really steals the show here is the late great Leslie Neilson. He delivers every single line from such a straight face, it is no wonder he managed to springboard a late comedy career from this, especially when he is given the most famous line;

“Yes I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley”.

‘Airplane!’ is a comedy that I believe will always stand the test of time, although many may think some jokes do not hold up today, the film is so fast paced and makes the most out of every second that is hard not to just sit back and let the tears of laughter flow.

Rating – 5 Stars