It's a film review, but that's not important right now (Airplane! (DVD))

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	Airplane! (DVD)
Date:	13/11/06 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, broad range of humour, Leslie Neilson's comedy debut

Disadvantages: Might be too childish for some people's taste

(Film only review)

Introduction
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Disaster strikes a flight as the crew and some of the passengers are struck with food poisoning. Can failed pilot Ted Striker land the plane? Or will the audience laugh themselves to death first?

The Cast
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The cast of Airplane is a strange one. To some degree, the cast is unimportant, because it’s the humour that counts. On the other hand, the casting is critical, as the key to much of the humour lies in the deadpan delivery of the actors. Thankfully, the cast is excellent, delivering their lines as though they are in a serious drama. They approach the film with real zest and enthusiasm, not afraid to make themselves look silly, or lampoon their previous roles. Robert Hays as Striker, the love-sick ex-pilot and Julie Hagerty as the aid stewardess and Striker’s ex-girlfriend are excellent as the key players, but it’s really the actors in smaller roles who appear to be having the most fun. Lloyd Bridges, for example, is hilarious as the substance addicted head of air traffic control (“looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking…”). However, the standout performance has to be that of Leslie Nielson as Dr Rumack. We’ve become so used now to Nielson’s character that it’s hard to believe that, before Airplane, he was known as a straight actor. Neilson nails the humour spot on, intoning ludicrous lines with a deadly serious nature that makes it sound like the whole future of humanity depends on what he has to say!

The Film
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Obviously, even if you’ve never seen it (if not, why not?!), it will be fairly obvious by now that Airplane! is not a serious film. In fact, it’s a gloriously stupid, some might even say childish film, that proudly wears its silliness for all to see.

However, don’t mix silliness up with pathetic and stupid, as the humour is very broad ranging. It takes in slapstick (turbulence causes the air stewardess to slap a custard pie in a passenger’s face), visual gags (“smoking or non-smoking” ticket), verbal humour (“it’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now”) and film spoofs (Airplane! features probably the best ever skit on Saturday Night Fever). True, not all of the humour will be appeal to everyone, but that’s the beauty of the film: there are so many different types of jokes that it’s highly unlikely you’ll find nothing to laugh at.

Equally, most of the jokes are very short – there are no complicated set-ups leading to the pay-off, it’s all quick-fire humour, so if you don’t like the joke that’s currently on screen, you only have to wait a couple of seconds for another one. True, the scatter gun approach to the humour does mean that not everything works, but the hit-miss ratio is consistently high in favour of the laughs throughout the film’s running time.

Another advantage to the high quantity of jokes is that it’s actually a film that stands up to repeated viewing. The first time you watch it, you’ll get the obvious gags and the silly stuff (like Otto the randy autopilot). After that, you’ll learn to watch (and listen to) what’s happening in the background and pick up yet more gags. It’s a film you can watch time and time again and still spot something new (or notice something you’d forgotten.) each time. It’s one of those films that no matter how many times you watch it, there will still be something to make you laugh out loud.

As mentioned above, the reason much of the humour works is because the cast and crew take it so deadly seriously – which leads to the incongruity of a “serious” plot and situation, combined with the inspired lunacy you see unrolling before you on-screen. Somehow, this contradiction makes it even funnier.

The film is also very short – this might sound a little glib, but it’s actually quite important. No matter how funny it is, such silliness has its limitations and could become tiresome in an over-extended film. The producers (the famous trio of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker) recognise this and the film has a short 88 minute running time. This means all the jokes are compressed, so you never have the chance to get bored. In fact, the producers took a ruthless approach to editing this film – anything which didn’t get a laugh in test screenings was chopped from the final version!

As a result, it’s actually difficult much to find much to criticise this film for. As I’ve said, some of the jokes don’t work, but it doesn’t matter, because they don’t last long. Equally if you like serious dramas, then steer well clear of Airplane! If you don’t get this style of stupid humour then you will think it is childish and pathetic. And that would be a fair criticism, as some of it is However, some of the humour is also quite sly and clever. When even the notoriously snobby American Film Institute acknowledges the film as one of the greatest of all time, you know it must be worth watching!

Conclusion
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This is a “disaster movie” film that really should have been a disaster. Written and directed by people with no real film experience, starring a low name cast with little or no comedy experience. However, thanks to the enthusiasm of the cast, the sheer volume of the gags and the extreme silliness of the whole thing, it’s one of the best comedies ever. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you can overcome any prejudices you might have over the silly nature of the jokes, I think most people will find something to laugh at!


See this if you liked…
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Naked Gun
Police Squad

Basic Information
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Airplane
1980
Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Abrahams
Running time: approx. 88 minutes
Cert: PG

Trivia
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The film and some of the dialogue was actually lifted directly from a real TV movie – Flight into Danger, written by Arthur Hailey. Both movies include the immortal line “The survival of everyone on board depends on just one thing: finding someone on board who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner.”

Summary: A truly hilarious comedy you can watch time and time again