Airplane! (1980)
…But that’s not important right now.
THE SUMMARY: An ex-fighter pilot chases his departing stewardess girlfriend onto a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, contaminated dinners poison the crew and passengers, and he must rise to the occasion to land the plane, win his girlfriend’s heart again, and indulge in hundreds of puns until the day is saved. Clever? sure. Quotable? Yeah. Something to think about later or watch again? Meh.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER DEREK: A classic satirical comedy from 1980. One of my favorite comedies. Everyone hits it out the park with their roles especially Leslie Neilson and Stephen Stucker. Lots of quotable jokes and the dead pan delivery make this film hilarious.
THE BEST:
The voice of Robert Stack: If a trench coat could talk, it’d be the voice of Robert Stack - the original voice of true crime on Unsolved Mysteries. I still turn it on occasionally, and no, not the vastly inferior Netflix reboot - only the original Robert Stack classics from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Outside of Nickelodeon, it’s probably the most iconic TV programming of my childhood. The voice is deep, it’s stern, and a strange combination of gruff and smooth that makes it perfectly suited for a mystery drama setting.
The only reason any of that is relevant is because Airplane! gives that voice a comedy twist (even though Airplane! was many years before Unsolved Mysteries), and it actually works quite well. Though I suppose this deadpan brand of comedy is bound to work out for Stack - whether he’s describing a triple murder or a dick joke, his delivery is the same.
The jokes that work/the jokes I get: Effectively all of this movie can be summarized ‘you either get it or you don’t.’ This isn’t a philosophical exercise. It’s not a moral dilemma. It’s just an hour and a half of bits and gags, some subtle and indirect, some completely explicit and outrageous. If you enjoy the jokes, you likely enjoy the movie. If you don’t get the jokes, you likely don’t. I am somewhere in the middle. The jokes that land are satisfying, but for every joke I enjoy, there’s another that makes no sense to me. To the list of the top enjoyables:
Otto the autopilot: Cheesy, raunchy, and not even that really that clever, but there’s something about the way his head turns in satisfaction, and of course the cigarette afterward. What can I say? Maybe I’ve heard too many ‘Matt and I’ superchats and I’ve just come around to the humor.
The racial jokes: The ebonics translation bit is hilarious, especially when the old woman serves as translator. The remote African tribe instantly becoming the Harlem Globetrotters upon introduction to the basketball is great too. The broken Spanish signs, the joke about Jewish athleticism, and others - it’s not that they’re so hilarious for their own sake, but they remind me of a time when people could simply laugh at things without ruining each other’s lives over it. The basketball joke isn’t even derogatory! It’s a compliment!
The line to shake the hysterical woman: Certain elements of the absurdity really land for me, like the bit with the line to shake sense into the hysterical woman. Yes, there’s absurd comedy in everybody politely relieving each other of the necessary duty, but there’s truth in it too: hysterical women need to be dealt with. If everybody did their part to shake sense into the hysterical women in their lives, we’d live in a much better society.
Whiskey? Certainly not!: Just like the prior joke, I love this one for the same reasons. The surface-level absurdity of scoffing at alcohol while snorting cocaine is obvious and funny, but there’s a layer of sincere truth here too. We all often scoff at the sins or failings of others, without sufficient introspection to see ourselves doing similar or worse things. And when we do, we look completely silly. Look inward first, and scoff outwardly later.
Pull it out and blow on it.
Get ahold of yourself!
They picked up basketball quickly.
Certainly not!
THE WORST:
The jokes that flop/the jokes I don’t get: Some of these I just do not understand, and some are just lame and don’t work, at least for me.
Why is the pilot a pedophile?: Is that it? The old man just likes little kids, or am I missing something? Yes, I get that everything should be subject to jokes, so I’m not trying to clutch pearls over it, but I just don’t understand what the comedy angle is here, other than it’s outrageous commentary delivered sincerely.
Why is Mrs. Oveur cheating with a horse?: Is this a dick joke? Her husband has a small penis, and so she’s with a horse? Is that it? The YouTube comments say this is one of the best gags in the movie. Apparently I don’t get it.
Why is Kareem hiding his identity?: This one I actually do not understand at all. Why is Kareem pretending not to to be Kareem, and to be a pilot instead? Is it just to set up the kid to rip on Kareem? And if so, is that really that funny? Haha - I get it. Kareem doesn’t hustle on the court. Hilarious.
Was there a lot of evangelizing or other soliciting at the airport back then?: Even though I can appreciate the visual humor of Robert Stack punching randos in the face, this is another gag in which I must be missing a premise. Did people solicit or evangelize at the airport back in the ‘70s and ‘80s? I’m not the most frequent flyer, but I’ve done it plenty, and I’ve never had someone try to bring the word of God to me at the airport.
Joey - do you ever hang around the gymnasium?
There’s juice in the refridgerator.
My name is Roger Murdock - I’m the co-pilot.
We’d like you to have this flower.
THE RATING: 3/5 Wickies. A decent experience of chuckles for 90 minutes, but nothing to reflect upon later. Perfectly enjoyable, but not all that memorable either.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: Clue (1985)
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