Airplane! Written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David And Jerry Zucker - 10 out of 10

Airplane! Written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David And Jerry Zucker
10 out of 10


Airplane is one of the best comedies ever made, although to prove how different people are, it was nominated for the Stinkers Bad Movie Award, apart from the Golden Globe for Best Comedy and BAFTA for Best Screenplay.

The jokes never stop.
There is an avalanche of dark, slapstick, sometimes absurd humor.

Some of it would not be allowed in a film produced today.
For instance, at one point, there is a line of people all waiting to inflict pain on a hysterical child.

These days, hysterics are the norm, when offspring appear in public and they feel like throwing tantrums.
In my time, they were told to stop.

Now, I see at the club how parents smile proudly at the lung capacity demonstrated by their brats.
If they can break windows with their decibels, so much the better.

Early on, there is an episode reminiscent of Influence, a Magnus Opus by Robert Cialdini.
People dressed as monks ask for donations, after they give passers by flowers.

They intended to use the Reciprocity Principle to make strangers respond to their gift with money.
For dark humor, we have the once reputable pilot who tells his long, exhausting story to unwilling passengers.

One by one, they try to commit suicide, by hanging, hara kiri or finally immolation.
Also funerial, but efficient is the comment made by a talk show host when it looks like Airplane might crash:

'They bought the tickets, they knew the risks...I say let them crash...'

All the movie is flavored, sprinkled with hilarious moments...

Air Israel - which in fact doesn't exist as such, they have El Al - is represented with an airplane with a Jewish Orthodox look:

A beard, some long curls on the side of the aircraft...

Indeed, one of the best comedies ever made!