Airplane movie2/19/2023 ![]() ![]() ''That's just what they're expecting us to do,'' he snarls. Stack, as a hard-hearted fellow down at traffic control, replies angrily to a suggestion that the landingfield lights be turned on. ![]() Nielsen, who does a delightful job as the doctor on board, tells Striker, ''Good luck, we're all counting on you,'' so many times that he's still saying it after the plane is down. Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges, all of them radiating a rib-tickling incompetence. The authority figures of ''Airplane!'' apparently cast for their thatchy hair and late-50's television stardom, include Mr. Behind his desk, the bookshelves are lined with jars of mayonnaise. A doctor at the Mayo Clinic is seen briefly at the beginning of the story. There is a stewardess (Lorna Patterson) who cries, at the height of the panic, ''I've never been so scared - and besides, I'm 26 and I'm not married.'' There is a housewife who confides, seconds later, ''I've never been so scared either - but at least I have a husband.'' There is a he-man Captain (Peter Graves) who heartily asks a little boy, ''Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?'' And there is the obligatory child en route to the Mayo Clinic for a transplant. Since then, Ted has developed what he calls ''my drinking problem.'' Whenever he lifts a glass, he splashes its contents into his left eye.Īlso on board the plane are the usual Noah's Ark disaster movie crew, with a difference. Shamelessly lifting the plot of ''Zero Hour,'' it tells what happens when the passengers on a flight to Chicago are poisoned by their fish dinners, and the plane must be landed by shell-shocked veteran Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who has collected his battle scars in places called Drambuie and Daiquiri. It also has a steadier comic attitude than either of these more chaotic movies, because it's set up primarily as a satirical disaster film. Like ''Love at First Bite'' or ''Animal House,'' ''Airplane!'' has a cheerfully slapdash feeling. As a remedy for the bloated self-importance of too many other current efforts, it's just what the doctor ordered. ''Airplane!'' is more than a pleasant surprise, in the midst of this dim movie season. It's also clever and confident and furiously energetic, and it has the two most sadly neglected selling points any movie could want right now: it's brief (only 88 minutes), and it looks inexpensive (it cost about $3 million) without looking cheap. ![]() At a time when throwaway gags seem like a luxury in any film, ''Airplane!'' has jokes - hilarious jokes -to spare. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |