Airplane! was directed and written by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker.  This group was collectively known as ZAZ, they wrote Airplane! while performing together for the Kentucky Fried Theatre.  ZAZ starting with Airplane! created the parody genre of films, films like Naked Gun, Scary Movie and Police Story.

Airplane! (1980)

Airplane! is a spoof of the airport disaster movies, a type of film that was popular in the 70′s.

Ex-fighter pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) scared by war trauma, follows his girlfriend Elaine(Julie Hagerty)-that just dumped him-onto a plane. After dinner, many of the passengers and crew fall ill.  Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen)  realizes that  food poisoning is the cause.  The pilot crew, including Captain Oveur (Peter Graves) and Roger Murdock (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) can’t function anymore. So it’s up to Striker to land the plane with the help of the ground crew Rex Kramer (Robert Stack) and McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges)

Airplane! the fourth highest grossing film of 1980. It’s was different and people flocked to see it. Much of the humor holds after all these years and the movie can still make me laugh. But then I was alive when the movie came out, many of the jokes may fall flat with people younger than me.

“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”

08/10———-Not as funny as I remembered, but it did start a whole new style of movies (parody movies).