AIRIPLANE: The Drama.

June 21, 2012 11:32 AM

Funniest Movie Ever - Or Nail-Biting Drama? (SLYT, 4:09 min)

Arguably the funniest movie ever made, the 1980 classic "Airplane!" is based on the 1957 film "Zero Hour!" The '57 flick was a drama, and now, thanks to some selective and well-timed editing and some very dramatic music, so is "Airplane!"

posted by davidmsc (71 comments total)

Surely, you must be joking.
posted by h0p3y at 11:39 AM on June 21, 2012 [5 favorites]

It's very technically clever, but it's reconstructing a deconstruction, which is sort of pointless.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:41 AM on June 21, 2012 [12 favorites]

Sometimes Shirley can be serious.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:41 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

This trailer was done in a very modern style. You can tell because of the way they gave away the entire plot.
posted by Algebra at 11:41 AM on June 21, 2012 [12 favorites]

It needs to be about half as long and much more tightly edited.

(Algebra -- that's what Ebert sometimes describes as "the Katzenberg school" of trailers.)
posted by lodurr at 11:44 AM on June 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

This trailer was done in a very modern style. You can tell because of the way they gave away the entire plot.

And called it a preview.
posted by OmieWise at 11:45 AM on June 21, 2012

Is this something I'd have to speak Jive to understand?
posted by gauche at 11:46 AM on June 21, 2012 [5 favorites]

Heh, keeping it to one "Roger" was a nice touch.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:48 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's an entirely different movie altogether.
posted by bondcliff at 11:48 AM on June 21, 2012 [16 favorites]

From the wiki link:

Time magazine called [Zero Hour's] script a "bloopy inflation of a 1956 television show"

That's just a hell of a quote that deserves attention drawn to it. Just the words "bloopy Inflation" in fact, is just making my day tons better
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:50 AM on June 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

It's an entirely different movie
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:50 AM on June 21, 2012 [5 favorites]

It's an entirely different movie. And stop calling me Shirley.
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:51 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also sorta previously: Flight Into Danger
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:52 AM on June 21, 2012

It's an entirely different movie, altogether.
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 11:54 AM on June 21, 2012

Part of what makes Airplane work as a movie is that it actually has this serious plot at its core, and all the zaniness springs out of the loopy universe in which that serious plot is taking place. It's a far cry better way to make a funny movie than to take a bunch of stupid jokes and string them together hoping that a plot will emerge, as seems to be the way it's done today with movies that seek to emulate Airplane's model.
posted by hippybear at 11:54 AM on June 21, 2012 [15 favorites]

It's an entirely different movie.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:55 AM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's an entirely different movie.
posted by Algebra at 11:56 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2012 [7 favorites]

It's very technically clever, but it's reconstructing a deconstruction, which is sort of pointless.

It's really the only sensible thing to do, if its done safely. Therapeutically there's no danger involved.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2012 [5 favorites]

Yeah, it was about 3 minutes too long... BUT I did like the bit at the 'climax' of the trailer when they just threw in every actiony bit - didn't someone who actually edits trailers for a living mention that this is their strategy for cutting together trailers for non-action dramas?
posted by muddgirl at 11:58 AM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Mathowie, do you like movies about gladiators?
posted by KokuRyu at 11:59 AM on June 21, 2012 [4 favorites]

I think the "Picked the wrong week to quit drinking" was a nicely subtle hat-tip to the parody.
posted by AndrewKemendo at 11:59 AM on June 21, 2012

What do you make of this post, Johnny?
posted by bondcliff at 12:01 PM on June 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

Surely somebody has made an "inflatable autopilot" sockpuppet.
posted by davejay at 12:03 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dibs on Bloopy Inflation as a band name.
posted by Billiken at 12:07 PM on June 21, 2012

This? Why I can make hat...or a brooch...or a little pterodactyl....
posted by jquinby at 12:07 PM on June 21, 2012 [8 favorites]

Rather than being deliberate carefully constructed piece, I'd like to think that this is just exactly what you are left with, stitched end to end, when you cut out every joke.
posted by anazgnos at 12:14 PM on June 21, 2012 [10 favorites]

I misread the tags as "Airplane! live" and thought we were dealing with a musical. The show-stopper would have to be "Quit Calling Me Shirley."
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 12:15 PM on June 21, 2012

*gasp* - A druh...??
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:20 PM on June 21, 2012

"Part of what makes Airplane work as a movie is that it actually has this serious plot at its core, and all the zaniness springs out of the loopy universe in which that serious plot is taking place. It's a far cry better way to make a funny movie than to take a bunch of stupid jokes and string them together hoping that a plot will emerge"

FINALLY someone has explained why Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are frikkin hilarious, and Spaceballs and Robin Hood, Men in Tights are piles of stinking dung.
posted by Gungho at 12:23 PM on June 21, 2012 [16 favorites]

What would happen if I clicked on this from work?

You can tell me, I'm a doctor.
posted by Infinity_8 at 12:26 PM on June 21, 2012

Airplane or Zero Hour? Ah yes, I remember--I watched Star Wars.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:30 PM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Bloopy inflation! Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
posted by munchingzombie at 12:31 PM on June 21, 2012

I usually like watching these parody trailers that seek to reimagine the tone of a movie using different editing and music choices. But I couldn't buy this Airplane! one as a serious drama because, somehow, even the lighting in that movie is funny.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 12:31 PM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I just wanted to wish everyone in this thread good luck.

We're all counting on you.
posted by flarbuse at 12:40 PM on June 21, 2012 [8 favorites]

Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.
posted by Pendragon at 12:40 PM on June 21, 2012

Oh man I just remembered Leslie Nelson is dead and Julia Haggerty doesn't do movies anymore :(
posted by The Whelk at 12:45 PM on June 21, 2012

Shockingly few of the cast of Airplane! are actually doing anything these days, either because of death or lack of interest, or because they got locked into trying to replicate the success of Airplane! (I'm looking at you, Robert Hays).
posted by hippybear at 12:51 PM on June 21, 2012

Bad news. The thread is getting sillier...
posted by stannate at 1:03 PM on June 21, 2012

The ghost of Stephen Stucker still haunts me, largely because every time I saw Airplane! or Airplane II: The Sequel, everyone I was with couldn't stop telling me how much I reminded them of that guy from the movie.

"I have hair, you know," I sniffed, but Leon was getting larger nonetheless.

Mind you, I preferred the second film, solely because the cabinet marked "DANGER - VACUUM" contained a vacuum, which cracked my 1982 ass up. In fact, I'm snickering about it right now. One day, I'm going to have a door marked "DANGER - VACUUM," and I think you know what I'm going to keep in there. A vacuum. Hee!
posted by sonascope at 1:20 PM on June 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

The Gray zone is for immediate bitching and moaning only. There is no dog-piling in the Green zone.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:21 PM on June 21, 2012

Bad news. The thread is getting sillier...

And Leon is getting LAAAARGER!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:25 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sonscope, what do you have on Stephen Stucker?

" we'll I'm a better dancer and more fun to be with!"
posted by The Whelk at 1:28 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

And that, as much as anything else, led to my drinking problem.
posted by ShutterBun at 1:46 PM on June 21, 2012

On Stucker: No dirt from me, though he did give one of the loopiest, most awkward Donahue appearances of the peak stretch of the Ronald Reagan Memorial AIDS Epidemic™. That's one manic guy. At least there's Donahue to tell him how a properly somber gay ought to act.
posted by sonascope at 1:54 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I remember when she used to sit on my face and wriggle. Happy days.
posted by Decani at 1:57 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Roger.
posted by memebake at 2:03 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

(Thread) Over.
posted by davejay at 2:12 PM on June 21, 2012

Hippybear, Gungho, there must be some kind of award (Academy, Nobel, something) for figuring that out. THAT is important shit!
posted by evilDoug at 2:44 PM on June 21, 2012

Shayna, they bought their usernames. They knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em clash.
posted by vozworth at 3:02 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I am continually amazed at the number of pilots who give a blank look when confronted with a line from that movie.

I mean, learning it should be up there with...landing, ferchrissakes.
posted by Thistledown at 3:10 PM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I am continually amazed at the number of pilots who give a blank look when confronted with a line from that movie.

There's not a single time in the last, oh, 20 years or more that I haven't been sat in a plane at the end of a runway, and recited to myself

"We have clearance, Clarence."
"Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"

...just as they throttle up for takeoff and departure. Every single time, without fail.
posted by jquinby at 3:19 PM on June 21, 2012 [5 favorites]

*peeks back into thread*

I just wanted to wish you good luck.

We're all counting on you.

*leaves thread*
posted by flarbuse at 3:36 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

She-It
Golly!
posted by hal9k at 5:24 PM on June 21, 2012

I say let 'em crash.
posted by dragstroke at 6:55 PM on June 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

"Ronald Reagan Memorial AIDS Epidemic™"

sonascope, I am completely stealing that.
posted by MrBadExample at 7:52 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's an entirely different movie.
posted by RockyChrysler at 8:34 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

FINALLY someone has explained why Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are frikkin hilarious, and Spaceballs and Robin Hood, Men in Tights are piles of stinking dung.

This reminds me to watch Top Secret! again, because I recall half the jokes and that it was frikkin' hiliarious but not what the actual plot was.
posted by George_Spiggott at 9:18 PM on June 21, 2012

what the actual plot was

It's hands-down the best Elvis spy movie set during WWII ever!
posted by hippybear at 1:09 AM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

This has reminded me that I received "Zero Hour!" as a gift last Christmas, which I have still yet to watch. (An error in time management that must be soon rectified.)
posted by paisley sheep at 1:27 AM on June 22, 2012

For the record, "I picked the wrong week to quit drinking" (or was it smoking?) was actually in "Zero Hour."
posted by Brachinus at 3:01 AM on June 22, 2012

I worked in a kitchen once, and they had black and white fluted thermal plastic teapots, and on the wall it said "Black pots for coffee only, No coffee in the white pots" and every single time I read it the voices were there in my head and I smirked. Every. Single. Time.

Also, there is a great bit in Airplane where the guy is directing the plane with the table tennis bats and someone asks him something and he gestures with the bats, well that always cracked me up as a kid, and then I found out the guy was one of the writer/directors and I was happy to know they had the same sense of humour as I did when I was a kid. Thanks Aiplane dudes.
posted by marienbad at 4:34 AM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

...Spaceballs and Robin Hood, Men in Tights are piles of stinking dung

nah, they're just not Blazing Saddles. And really, how could they be?

Went to see Blazing Saddles in a theatre a couple months back. I had forgotten how many times they used the "N"-word. There was a 20-something black guy a few rows up from us, and he got up and walked out just a few minutes in. Honestly, I can't say I blame him. I know it's satire and I think it's valid, but that's gotta be hard.
posted by lodurr at 6:23 AM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Marienbad, you know this isn't about the black pots or the white pots, it's about your failure to commit.
posted by lodurr at 6:23 AM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

Went to see Blazing Saddles in a theatre a couple months back. I had forgotten how many times they used the "N"-word.

I'm conflicted about that. I watched that movie all the time as a kid, whenever they showed it on the local UHF stations. They even showed it at least once "in honor of black history month." N-word intact, though of course swear words were edited out. I'd love to show it to my son one of these days, but he's grown up in a world where that word is NEVER ok.

I suppose I could use it as a teaching thing, showing how only the buffoons ("you know, morons.") use the word and show their racism, but he'd probably still think I was a bad person for enjoying the film.

Mongo confused.
posted by bondcliff at 7:19 AM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

I grew up watching Blazing Saddles on Comedy Central, with all swear words and many of the best scenes deleted (the 'eating beans' scene doesn't make any sense when all the fart sounds are excised). It didn't do me any harm and when I finally saw the full version in college I think I was mature enough to understand that, even when the movie was originally released, the use of the n-word was controversial and used intentionally by the writers.
posted by muddgirl at 7:46 AM on June 22, 2012

the 'eating beans' scene doesn't make any sense when all the fart sounds are excised

It transforms an extended fart joke in a gloriously dada sequence and is my favorite thing about the movie.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:33 AM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think it was somewhere on Metafilter, on the night of Obama's acceptance speech, that someone on MeFi said "I think he said 'The new President is a-nearin'!"

Or perhaps I just like remembering it that way.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:00 AM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ghostride The Whip: I misread the tags as "Airplane! live" and thought we were dealing with a musical. The show-stopper would have to be "Quit Calling Me Shirley."

...rushes to write the script that will be rewritten fourteen times, leaving not a single word in place, but who cares? because I'll still get paid $$$ for a steaming pile of Broadway! Hit! Musical! and for the eventual movie contract starring Shia Labeouf and some younger as-yet-unknown whelp of the Kardashian litter.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:08 PM on June 22, 2012

It's hands-down the best Elvis spy movie set during WWII ever!
posted by hippybear at 9:09 AM on June 22

WHAAAT? How silly can you get?
posted by Decani at 12:20 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

I just want to tell you all good luck. We're all counting on you.
posted by Sutekh at 2:16 AM on July 20, 2012 [1 favorite]