Aviation In Film History: Airplane! (1980)

David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker  - the ZAZ team - wrote and directed this hilarious Paramount Pictures spoof of the disaster genre.  The year of its release, Airplane! soon became the third highest grossing comedy at the box office up to that date. Today, the film continues to climb high on several "best comedy" lists. It is 87 minutes of slapstick demanding careful attention through bouts of laughter and projectile popcorn. Full appreciation will require at least two additional viewings.

Airplane has a wonderful cast of characters; however, its stars, Robert Hays and Julie Haggerty, met with limited success in their subsequent film careers. That was not the case for three established actors, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, and Robert Stack, who were acting in their first comedy roles. Nielsen's performance established him as a leading comedian, a role he later said he had always dreamed about. Bridges and Stack also saw a significant shift toward comedy in their future film appearances.

Aside from its place in film history as superb entertainment, Airplane! has influenced a new generation of comedy writers and directors. The best example of this impact is the team of Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the duo behind Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998) and and many other laugh-makers.

Here's a taste of the madness: