Classic Movie Pick: The absurdist humor of “Airplane!” makes for one of the funniest movies ever made

After watching this week’s classic pic, you will probably never want to fly again. Not for fear of crashing, but because no flight will ever seem as funny. This week’s pic is one of the all-time funniest movies ever made. I’m talking about “Airplane!”, which hit the big screen in 1980.

The film is a masterful parody of disaster films, with its rapid-fire jokes, deadpanned delivery, and countless memorable lines and scenes. The film was the creation of comedy team and native Wisconsinites David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker. 

“Airplane!” follows Ted Striker, played by Robert Hays, a World War II pilot still battling his wartime demons. Striker boards a flight in an effort to win back his flight attendant girlfriend Elaine, played by Julie Haggerty. Bad food causes many passengers to get sick, including the pilots. Striker is forced to try to land the plane and save the day in hilarious fashion. I always assumed the film was a parody of the movie “Airport”, but recently on “Nite Lite”, David Zucker was my guest and told me that it was an almost shot for shot parody of the 1957 action film “Zero Hour!” 

The plot where people get food poisoning is the same; there is also the same dialogue at times, and the characters in “Airplane!” are inspired almost directly from “Zero Hour!”. The Zucker Brothers and Abrahams also put an exclamation point after their title for “Airplane!” – just like in “Zero Hour!”. The main difference is that “Airplane!” is one of the funniest movies ever made and, according to more than one source, is the world champion when it comes to most jokes per minute, averaging three every 60 seconds.  

I also asked Zucker about the cast, which is as random and outrageous as the film itself. In addition to Hayes and Haggerty, it’s really the Doctor played by Leslie Nielson who steals the show, delivering some of the film’s funniest lines. Nielsen became a household name following this film.

The film has an ensemble that includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Lorna Patterson, Barbara Billingsley and Lloyd Bridges. The cast would’ve looked a little different if David Letterman and Sigourney Weaver had successful auditions. Paramount Studios suggested Dom DeLuise for the role that eventually went to Nielsen, and Barry Manilow for the role that went to Robert Stack. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays one of the pilots, but that role was actually written for Pete Rose, who was unavailable thanks to baseball season, depriving moviegoers from seeing his famous bangs on the big screen.

In my interview with Zucker, the director said that Peter Graves initially thought the script was trash, adding that Graves had only read his lines where he asks a young boy if he’s “ever been to a Turkish prison? or seen a grown man naked?” Graves eventually saw the humor in the role. “Airplane!” also marked the final film roll for Ethel Merman. And if something actually had happened to the pretend airplane during filming, Robert Hayes probably could’ve saved the day, as he is an actual licensed pilot.

I mentioned earlier that the filmmaking team of Zucker. Zucker and Abrahams are native Wisconsinites, but more specifically, they are native Shorewood-ians – if that’s not a word, it should be. The trio met at Shorewood High School in the 1960s, then all attended the UW-Madison, where they founded the Kentucky Fried Theater. After graduating, they took their talents and Kentucky Fried Theater Company to Los Angeles and continued creating their offbeat comedy, eventually teaming up with up-and-coming director John Landis to make “Kentucky Fried Movie”.

The film was just successful enough to give the trio another crack at the big time, and they delivered with “Airplane!” The film’s success set the Zuckers and Abrahams on the fast track to fame with their own brand of comedy. They followed up their “Airplane!” success with “The Naked Gun” franchise and the hilarious “Top-Secret”. Each member of ZAZ, as they are often referred to, went on to have individual success as well. Jerry Zucker directed the film “Ghost”, David Zucker directed two of the “Scary Movie” films, and Jim Abrahams directed the hilarious “Hot Shots”.

So, sit back and check out the work of three of not only the funniest Wisconsinites ever, but the most talented filmmakers ever. “Airplane!” is this week’s Classic Pic. 

Editor’s note: For more movie and entertainment talk, join Pete Schwaba weeknights from 6-8 p.m. for “Nite Lite” here on the Civic Media radio network.