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July 6, 2014 9:49 PM Subscribe
The Dissolve's Movie of the Week discussion series (previously 1 2 3 4 ) takes Airplane! for a spin:
I like that they compare Airplane's riffing on Zero Hour with Groucho in Animal Crackers having his strange interlude. Both are references I've only learned about recently.
posted by JHarris at 10:09 PM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 10:09 PM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
The second link has a reluctant distancing from Stephen Stucker's campy Johnny, saying the bit hasn't "aged well", but there's determined pushback in comments (yes, the comments are much more than tolerable), pointing out that the role resembles a comic concept termed the Third Lead:
The discussion of the "third lead" in comedy from a GQ directors' roundtable describes Stucker's role perfectly:
John Landis: What I loved about The Hangover is that Zach's character is obviously mentally ill. I loved that he roofied them and they sort of get over it. They're not mad at him. It reminded me of John Belushi in Animal House. All he does is destroy everything—but he's lovable! It's like Cookie Monster or Harpo Marx. I mean what the fuck's with Harpo Marx? He's the weirdest character ever. What's he going to do with those women when he catches them?
Judd Apatow: He's gonna gently make love to them.
Adam McKay: That's the Third Lead, which is the best comic position you can have. Todd used Ferrell like that in Old School. We had it with Steve Carell in Anchorman. It's the guy who gets to break all the rules. He has no story responsibility. He just gets to fuck shit up.
(If you click through to read the comment, there is an Easter Egg of sorts for you to find.)
I thought this was a very interesting observation, as to me he represents a kind of farcical Greek chorus, and generally I think that camp has a place in our culture even when it is (as in here, the Producers, or Blazing Saddles) the object of humor rather than unintentionally revealing or undermining of mainstream culture. I'm also currently watching S2 of United States of Tara in which there is a sort of dialog between a flamboyant gay high-schooler (played, I think, by Michael J. Willett) and the much more reserved Marshall character played by Keir Gilchrist.
Still, I wonder if we've crossed a line where this kind of character is viewed a bit like Mickey Rooney's yellowface in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
posted by dhartung at 10:40 PM on July 6, 2014 [12 favorites]
The discussion of the "third lead" in comedy from a GQ directors' roundtable describes Stucker's role perfectly:
John Landis: What I loved about The Hangover is that Zach's character is obviously mentally ill. I loved that he roofied them and they sort of get over it. They're not mad at him. It reminded me of John Belushi in Animal House. All he does is destroy everything—but he's lovable! It's like Cookie Monster or Harpo Marx. I mean what the fuck's with Harpo Marx? He's the weirdest character ever. What's he going to do with those women when he catches them?
Judd Apatow: He's gonna gently make love to them.
Adam McKay: That's the Third Lead, which is the best comic position you can have. Todd used Ferrell like that in Old School. We had it with Steve Carell in Anchorman. It's the guy who gets to break all the rules. He has no story responsibility. He just gets to fuck shit up.
(If you click through to read the comment, there is an Easter Egg of sorts for you to find.)
I thought this was a very interesting observation, as to me he represents a kind of farcical Greek chorus, and generally I think that camp has a place in our culture even when it is (as in here, the Producers, or Blazing Saddles) the object of humor rather than unintentionally revealing or undermining of mainstream culture. I'm also currently watching S2 of United States of Tara in which there is a sort of dialog between a flamboyant gay high-schooler (played, I think, by Michael J. Willett) and the much more reserved Marshall character played by Keir Gilchrist.
Still, I wonder if we've crossed a line where this kind of character is viewed a bit like Mickey Rooney's yellowface in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
posted by dhartung at 10:40 PM on July 6, 2014 [12 favorites]
This series of articles reminded me how much this movie's dialogue and plot has entered my everyday lexicon. "Made me want to hang myself like the lady in 'Airplane'" is my go-to description of being trapped by someone telling a long, excruciatingly boring story and "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue" is how I tend to describe being overwhelmed at work.
The second article rightly points out what made "Airplane" work compared to many of it's far inferior imitators like "Date Movie" or "Scary Movie". Those movies seem to follow the mantra that being able to recognize a cultural reference is in and of itself hysterical and many of the jokes in those films are nothing more than "Look at us pointing out this thing from this other movie. Hysterical, huh?", "Airplane" understood the joke being funny is far more important than the reference.
posted by The Gooch at 10:54 PM on July 6, 2014 [10 favorites]
The second article rightly points out what made "Airplane" work compared to many of it's far inferior imitators like "Date Movie" or "Scary Movie". Those movies seem to follow the mantra that being able to recognize a cultural reference is in and of itself hysterical and many of the jokes in those films are nothing more than "Look at us pointing out this thing from this other movie. Hysterical, huh?", "Airplane" understood the joke being funny is far more important than the reference.
posted by The Gooch at 10:54 PM on July 6, 2014 [10 favorites]
There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:54 PM on July 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:54 PM on July 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
I've seen this movie a million times, though not recently. It never occurred to me that Johnny was gay, or that they were poking fun at gay people, or anything of the sort. I found him hilarious because of how quick and punny and absurd he was. I'll have to watch it again to see what I think of that part of it.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:21 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by persona au gratin at 12:21 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
I think it actually is funnier if you know, say, the coffee commercial being referenced. But I still found it funny never having heard of Zero Hour! There's just so much to the humor and so many jokes.
posted by persona au gratin at 12:23 AM on July 7, 2014
posted by persona au gratin at 12:23 AM on July 7, 2014
Nice post. So many lines from this movie and many of their follow-up movies are part of my everyday vocabulary.
posted by snwod at 12:23 AM on July 7, 2014
posted by snwod at 12:23 AM on July 7, 2014
There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of this thread. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to moderate a website?
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:49 AM on July 7, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:49 AM on July 7, 2014 [6 favorites]
Johnny? He's as camp as a row of tents! Blindingly obvious even then, surely ...
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:53 AM on July 7, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:53 AM on July 7, 2014 [7 favorites]
You ever seen a grown man naked?
posted by Pendragon at 12:54 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 12:54 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
generally I think that camp has a place in our culture even when it is (as in here, the Producers, or Blazing Saddles) the object of humor rather than unintentionally revealing or undermining of mainstream culture.
With the caveat that I haven't watched it recently, I did watch Airplane & Airplane II at least five times each in the 1990s, as a teenager. At the time, I was pretty sensitive to camp protrayals being possibly homophobic - I was really uncomfortable with Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole, as I didn't realize that it was humour from within; it felt like a lisping stereotype.
And I adored Johnny. I never thought his character was the object of humour, but the subject, the spreader of Dadaist absurdity -- and he was totally aspirational for me. I wanted to be Johnny.
Maybe I liked him because I'd also been raised on John Inman's character in Are You Being Served, who had clearly been intended to be the object of fun but for me was more the subject of sympathy and the character I liked most as a person (I wanted to be his friend when I was 10 or 12).
Why did I like these characters, but react badly to Buddy Cole? Maybe because they weren't sharp or satirical, but more absurd - but also because (they seemed to me) to be knowing - especially Johnny. Johnny seemed like a fool with some of the power of the classic fool. (I definitely picked up on the idea that they were meant to be gay, especially Mr Humphries - that was part of his coolness and subversion of the extreme heteronormativity of the rest of the show).
posted by jb at 2:04 AM on July 7, 2014 [15 favorites]
With the caveat that I haven't watched it recently, I did watch Airplane & Airplane II at least five times each in the 1990s, as a teenager. At the time, I was pretty sensitive to camp protrayals being possibly homophobic - I was really uncomfortable with Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole, as I didn't realize that it was humour from within; it felt like a lisping stereotype.
And I adored Johnny. I never thought his character was the object of humour, but the subject, the spreader of Dadaist absurdity -- and he was totally aspirational for me. I wanted to be Johnny.
Maybe I liked him because I'd also been raised on John Inman's character in Are You Being Served, who had clearly been intended to be the object of fun but for me was more the subject of sympathy and the character I liked most as a person (I wanted to be his friend when I was 10 or 12).
Why did I like these characters, but react badly to Buddy Cole? Maybe because they weren't sharp or satirical, but more absurd - but also because (they seemed to me) to be knowing - especially Johnny. Johnny seemed like a fool with some of the power of the classic fool. (I definitely picked up on the idea that they were meant to be gay, especially Mr Humphries - that was part of his coolness and subversion of the extreme heteronormativity of the rest of the show).
posted by jb at 2:04 AM on July 7, 2014 [15 favorites]
Weird. I could remember Johnny the character and many of his lines, but visually all I had until I google imaged him was Kenneth from 30 Rock.
posted by mannequito at 2:28 AM on July 7, 2014
posted by mannequito at 2:28 AM on July 7, 2014
Johnny=Paul Lynde
posted by Fupped Duck at 2:33 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Fupped Duck at 2:33 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
Love the movie to death, and the Johnny character was hilarious. It didn't matter that he was camping it up like a beast. Not only is there a place for that which has absolutely nothing to do with homophobia and stereotyping, the "third lead" point is sound. Johnny was the guy who knew that all this cod-drama was just silly, and not to be taken seriously, Shirley. And the audience loved him for it. He was with us, winking at us constantly. The tower? The tower? Rapunzel! Rapunzel!
posted by Decani at 2:49 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Decani at 2:49 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Johnny--what can you make of this?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:38 AM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:38 AM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
This series of articles reminded me how much this movie's dialogue and plot has entered my everyday lexicon. "Made me want to hang myself like the lady in 'Airplane'" is my go-to description of being trapped by someone telling a long, excruciatingly boring story
Yeah. Mine is 'I'm the person whose stories make people set themselves on fire to escape, like that dude in "Airplane"'.
I'm so very, very sorry.
posted by you must supply a verb at 4:13 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah. Mine is 'I'm the person whose stories make people set themselves on fire to escape, like that dude in "Airplane"'.
I'm so very, very sorry.
posted by you must supply a verb at 4:13 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Why, I can make a hat, or a broach, or a pterodactyl...
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:28 AM on July 7, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:28 AM on July 7, 2014 [8 favorites]
And Leon's getting larger!
posted by prodigalsun at 4:32 AM on July 7, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by prodigalsun at 4:32 AM on July 7, 2014 [11 favorites]
I just recently watched Zero Hour for the first time, having seen Airplane dozens of times. It's quite amazing just how many lines were lifted directly from the original.
There have been comparison videos made before with the two side-by-side (or one after the other) but even those don't catch all of the quoted lines. I'd say a good 25% of the dialogue is word-for-word the same.
posted by ShutterBun at 4:37 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
There have been comparison videos made before with the two side-by-side (or one after the other) but even those don't catch all of the quoted lines. I'd say a good 25% of the dialogue is word-for-word the same.
posted by ShutterBun at 4:37 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
To be fair to Johnny, though I think the role has aged much better than "The French Mistake" in Blazing Saddles, mainly because he's so central to the movie, and as others have pointed out he is never an object of ridicule- he is a creator of ridicule.
In a movie that uses the n- word repeatedly and unapologetically, I think "The French Mistake" is the bit that has aged the most, and with the least grace. I still think it is hilarious, especially because Dom DeLuise sells it completely, but it is very much of a certain time when you could portray people as gay (as opposed to hinting), but they still had to be objects of fun.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:40 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
In a movie that uses the n- word repeatedly and unapologetically, I think "The French Mistake" is the bit that has aged the most, and with the least grace. I still think it is hilarious, especially because Dom DeLuise sells it completely, but it is very much of a certain time when you could portray people as gay (as opposed to hinting), but they still had to be objects of fun.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:40 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think Stucker's Johnny ages very well by comparison to the neverending fag joke with the dark punchline of the Ronald Reagan Memorial AIDS Epidemic that was the fucking eighties. He's the only one in the film who isn't either clueless or hapless and seems to be on the outside of it all, looking in and cracking wise.
posted by sonascope at 4:55 AM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by sonascope at 4:55 AM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
Here's a copy of the Zero Hour! script, with the lines that appear in Airplane! in bold.
Including, my favorite:
DR. BAIRD: I think you ought to know what our chances are. The life of everybody aboard depends on just one thing: Finding someone back there who not only can fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner.
posted by damayanti at 5:16 AM on July 7, 2014 [13 favorites]
Including, my favorite:
DR. BAIRD: I think you ought to know what our chances are. The life of everybody aboard depends on just one thing: Finding someone back there who not only can fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner.
posted by damayanti at 5:16 AM on July 7, 2014 [13 favorites]
Any time I accidentally walk into the wrong conference room and interrupt a meeting: "I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."
posted by buriednexttoyou at 5:40 AM on July 7, 2014 [17 favorites]
posted by buriednexttoyou at 5:40 AM on July 7, 2014 [17 favorites]
Much of Airplane!’s genius comes from it being this close to what it’s sending up.
That also worked quite well for one of the best comic films ever, Dr. Strangelove.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:57 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
That also worked quite well for one of the best comic films ever, Dr. Strangelove.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:57 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
I have a poor memory for movies and pop culture, meaning that most referential humor goes right over my head and seems merely absurdity. Which I enjoy quite a bit, but I agree with the first article that the enjoyment of dada absurdism is different than the enjoyment of referential jokes.
posted by rebent at 6:16 AM on July 7, 2014
posted by rebent at 6:16 AM on July 7, 2014
On the subject of it being this close to what it's sending up...
I first saw Airplane! when I was 3 or 4, my parents figured this was a pretty silly movie and there was no need to change the channel. However, I quickly became convinced that it was a serious film and everyone was going to die and they were all eating poison food and THEY WERE ALL GONNA DIE and I was horrified. I lost it and they changed the channel.
I saw it again later in life and I think it's hilarious. God only knows what pre-schooler me was thinking.
posted by davros42 at 6:22 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I first saw Airplane! when I was 3 or 4, my parents figured this was a pretty silly movie and there was no need to change the channel. However, I quickly became convinced that it was a serious film and everyone was going to die and they were all eating poison food and THEY WERE ALL GONNA DIE and I was horrified. I lost it and they changed the channel.
I saw it again later in life and I think it's hilarious. God only knows what pre-schooler me was thinking.
posted by davros42 at 6:22 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
In making the film, ZAZ had to fend off attempts to make the stars sell the comedy, including one studio that saw it as the perfect vehicle for Dom DeLuise and Harvey Korman.
Oh. My. God.
posted by bondcliff at 6:23 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Oh. My. God.
posted by bondcliff at 6:23 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think you ought to know what our chances are. The sanity of everybody logged in to the site depends on just one thing: Finding someone who not only can write this post, but who didn't have fish for dinner.
posted by pjern at 6:32 AM on July 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by pjern at 6:32 AM on July 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
What Airplane! gets right that its imitators get wrong
Also, this blows my mind:
posted by Etrigan at 6:36 AM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
That’s why Airplane! is still funny today even if you miss the references; more often than not, they’re the setup, not the punchline.Boom. There you go. That coffee commercial? Even if you have no idea what's happening there, it doesn't matter, because the funny part is that she's thinking Maybe he's just an asshole.
Also, this blows my mind:
I’d also like to single out Robert Hays—who got the film’s starring role role over a young David Letterman...Totally different movie if Letterman gets that gig, and not for the better.
posted by Etrigan at 6:36 AM on July 7, 2014 [5 favorites]
The sanity of everybody logged in to the site depends on just one thing: Finding someone who not only can write this post, but who didn't have fish for dinner.
I had lasagna.
Also: It's an entirely different kind of flying altogether.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:52 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
I had lasagna.
Also: It's an entirely different kind of flying altogether.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:52 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
Airplane has always been one of my favorite comedies, and every movie which reaches for zany comedy makes me weep for what it isn't. Unlike the reviewers, I generally enjoyed the Naked Gun and Hot Shot movies quite a bit (though, the Naked Gun series is uneven). Everything else, the Date Movie line of weak attempts and the Scary Movie franchise, are generally just disappointment after disappointment.
posted by Atreides at 6:57 AM on July 7, 2014
posted by Atreides at 6:57 AM on July 7, 2014
They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash.
posted by mosk at 6:57 AM on July 7, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by mosk at 6:57 AM on July 7, 2014 [7 favorites]
Totally different movie if Letterman gets that gig, and not for the better.
"Hey, would you like to buy a monkey?"
posted by mikelieman at 6:58 AM on July 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
"Hey, would you like to buy a monkey?"
posted by mikelieman at 6:58 AM on July 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
I took my father to see Airplane! in the theater in 1980- he had been an airport cop for years. He was obviously having a great time, until the scene where they show the clip of the inflight movie. I heard a splash, and looked over to see that he'd dropped his drink, convulsing in laughter. It turned out that he was dating a woman at the time part whose job it was was to screen inflight movies for objectionable content.
His exact quote to me, when he recovered enough to talk: "Don't you dare tell Anne about this. She's going to piss herself when I bring her tomorrow!"
He did, and she very nearly did. I was sitting two rows back to watch the fun.
posted by pjern at 7:08 AM on July 7, 2014 [10 favorites]
His exact quote to me, when he recovered enough to talk: "Don't you dare tell Anne about this. She's going to piss herself when I bring her tomorrow!"
He did, and she very nearly did. I was sitting two rows back to watch the fun.
posted by pjern at 7:08 AM on July 7, 2014 [10 favorites]
Airplane! is so great. As a bit of trivia it's nice to see a young Jonathan Banks in a minor role.
posted by Bistle at 7:08 AM on July 7, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by Bistle at 7:08 AM on July 7, 2014 [6 favorites]
What perfect timing for this post! Airplane is one of my favorite movies; I saw it in the theater back in 1979 and just watched it last week with my girlfriend and her kids. The kids (who hadn't seen it before) enjoyed it, and her teenaged daughter realized that she had seen most of the movie by looking up the various one-liners on YouTube over the years.
I remember that the second cup of coffee line was from an ad, but had forgotten which brand until I read the article. I also remember the "serious" actors from their standard roles, such as Robert Stack as Elliot Ness and Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson (not that Mike Nelson). A couple of years later John Waters took the same idea and put his own spin on it. And I saw a number of the disaster movies that it borrowed from as well as actually reading the book Airport (although I never realized just how many times Arthur Hailey reworked the same material). So all those references still seem fresh to me. And I still can't hear the names Clarence, Victor, or Roger without thinking of the cockpit scene. Not to mention all the little details that many people probably miss, such as Captain Oveur shifting the plane into gear to take off and the sound of a propeller plane (straight out of a WWII film) whenever they show an exterior shot of the jetliner.
It has always amazed me how many of the one-liners from that film have remained catchphrases over the years. Despite the fact that the average mefite was too young to have seen the movie when it first came out (much less the earlier works it was spoofing), I can think of a couple of lines from the film that show up here on a regular basis.
posted by TedW at 7:17 AM on July 7, 2014
I remember that the second cup of coffee line was from an ad, but had forgotten which brand until I read the article. I also remember the "serious" actors from their standard roles, such as Robert Stack as Elliot Ness and Lloyd Bridges as Mike Nelson (not that Mike Nelson). A couple of years later John Waters took the same idea and put his own spin on it. And I saw a number of the disaster movies that it borrowed from as well as actually reading the book Airport (although I never realized just how many times Arthur Hailey reworked the same material). So all those references still seem fresh to me. And I still can't hear the names Clarence, Victor, or Roger without thinking of the cockpit scene. Not to mention all the little details that many people probably miss, such as Captain Oveur shifting the plane into gear to take off and the sound of a propeller plane (straight out of a WWII film) whenever they show an exterior shot of the jetliner.
It has always amazed me how many of the one-liners from that film have remained catchphrases over the years. Despite the fact that the average mefite was too young to have seen the movie when it first came out (much less the earlier works it was spoofing), I can think of a couple of lines from the film that show up here on a regular basis.
posted by TedW at 7:17 AM on July 7, 2014
Another classic scene: I can't tell you that; it's classified.
posted by TedW at 7:20 AM on July 7, 2014
posted by TedW at 7:20 AM on July 7, 2014
Johnny is never the butt of any jokes and at no point do any of the Manly Men feel the need to put him in his place, he even shoots them down a number of down " Johnny how about a coffee! Sure I'd love one.)
posted by The Whelk at 7:21 AM on July 7, 2014 [13 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:21 AM on July 7, 2014 [13 favorites]
A common catch phrase around the office is the "Good luck and we're all counting on you". Usually after some piece of code has successfully deployed, or a software update finishes rollout.
My wife had not seen Airplane! when we started dating. I quickly fixed that. It was a good test of her sense of humor actually.
Also I don't think we've ever been in an airport in our entire relationship where I didn't start doing the White Zone/Red Zone bit line by line. (I'm sure she has come close to murdering me during one of those episodes)
posted by Twain Device at 7:33 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
My wife had not seen Airplane! when we started dating. I quickly fixed that. It was a good test of her sense of humor actually.
Also I don't think we've ever been in an airport in our entire relationship where I didn't start doing the White Zone/Red Zone bit line by line. (I'm sure she has come close to murdering me during one of those episodes)
posted by Twain Device at 7:33 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
From an earlier thread, my argument for why Airplane! is the best movie trailer ever.
Still, I wonder if we've crossed a line where this kind of character is viewed a bit like Mickey Rooney's yellowface
I'm not sure that really works, since Stucker was openly gay?
I think Stucker's Johnny ages very well by comparison to the neverending fag joke with the dark punchline of the Ronald Reagan Memorial AIDS Epidemic that was the fucking eighties.
Before his death, Stucker was one of the first actors to publicly disclose they had AIDS.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:35 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Still, I wonder if we've crossed a line where this kind of character is viewed a bit like Mickey Rooney's yellowface
I'm not sure that really works, since Stucker was openly gay?
I think Stucker's Johnny ages very well by comparison to the neverending fag joke with the dark punchline of the Ronald Reagan Memorial AIDS Epidemic that was the fucking eighties.
Before his death, Stucker was one of the first actors to publicly disclose they had AIDS.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:35 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
At least twice within the last year, comment threads on my friends' Facebook posts have spontaneously turned into the White Zone/Red Zone dialogue.
"Listen, Betty, don't start up with your "white zone" shit again."
posted by dnash at 7:36 AM on July 7, 2014 [7 favorites]
"Listen, Betty, don't start up with your "white zone" shit again."
posted by dnash at 7:36 AM on July 7, 2014 [7 favorites]
I know this movie so well that I laugh at the beginning of each joke rather than the end. And no matter how many times I see it, I still can't turn the channel when I happen to stumble across it again.
posted by malocchio at 9:16 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by malocchio at 9:16 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
If anyone at Netflix has a good sense of humor, they would update the algorithm to suggest gladiator movies to whomever likes Airplane!
posted by dr_dank at 9:23 AM on July 7, 2014 [14 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 9:23 AM on July 7, 2014 [14 favorites]
"I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate..."
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 9:42 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 9:42 AM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
The second link has a reluctant distancing from Stephen Stucker's campy Johnny, saying the bit hasn't "aged well"...
Oh Metafilter... By the third comment? Really?
Oh and: Johnny is awesome.
(First the Earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat and so they all died and turned into oil...)
posted by Fists O'Fury at 10:52 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
Oh Metafilter... By the third comment? Really?
Oh and: Johnny is awesome.
(First the Earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat and so they all died and turned into oil...)
posted by Fists O'Fury at 10:52 AM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
Johnny--what can you make of this?
This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl...
posted by kirkaracha at 10:52 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Much of Airplane!’s genius comes from it being this close to what it’s sending up.That also worked quite well for one of the best comic films ever, Dr. Strangelove.
I'd add both Hot Fuzz and Galaxy Quest to that list.
posted by Zozo at 11:05 AM on July 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
I've been watching Police Squad!, which was made by the same people, lately. Leslie Nielsen's character has had a few times so far where he's said things that were gay to other male characters. They're funny lines, but they don't feel like we're laughing at him for saying something gay -- the character he's talking to could be a woman and it would work just as well. I keep cringing, waiting for him to say something dated and offensive -- I'm watching with my kids so I'm on high alert -- but so far it's all been fine.
We've been binge watching so I can't find them all, but here's one bit with him fondly remembering his old male lover.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:33 AM on July 7, 2014
We've been binge watching so I can't find them all, but here's one bit with him fondly remembering his old male lover.
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:33 AM on July 7, 2014
If a Venn diagram was made of the sets "People who love Airplane!" and "People who hate Dr. Strangelove," would I be the only person in the intersection?
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:35 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 11:35 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
In retrospect, I think Johnny was my first gay role model. I was only 8 when I saw it and I'm not sure I suspected that I might be gay, but I did pick up on the fact that his gayness (or at least his flamboyance) gave him license to drop in random bits of hilarity that had nothing to do with the plot or the situation. He was above it all, nothing phased him, and I got the feeling no one messed with him because they were afraid of what he might say to them.
posted by treepour at 11:58 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by treepour at 11:58 AM on July 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Johnny is the Marx brother of Airplane. He's a mix of and homage to both Groucho and Harpo. And if his mannerisms are coded gay, well that's not the joke. And I think being the gay Marx brother would be a damn fine thing to be.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:24 PM on July 7, 2014
posted by lumpenprole at 12:24 PM on July 7, 2014
Another example of Comedy + Time = Absurdity is in A Hard Day's Night, now celebrating its 50th anniversary. All the references to Paul's grandfather being a "very clean" man had always struck me as hilariously absurd -- who would ever say that about someone they had just met?
A few years ago I learned the truth ... and I think it's actually less funny knowing that actor Wilfred Brambell's previous part was playing a dirty old man.
But it's a great movie, regardless.
posted by pmurray63 at 6:14 PM on July 7, 2014
A few years ago I learned the truth ... and I think it's actually less funny knowing that actor Wilfred Brambell's previous part was playing a dirty old man.
But it's a great movie, regardless.
posted by pmurray63 at 6:14 PM on July 7, 2014
This line from the article made me lol:
Elaine lapses into a purple monologue about times past, which quickly slips in a detail about her sitting on Ted’s face—and she makes the comment without changing tone, as if this was a standard element of a melancholy lover’s lament.
A lot of the humor in Airplane was gags that kids loved (the shit's gonna hit the fan), but so much of it was adult humor that had young me wide-eyed and transfixed, knowing it was funny because it was so naughty.
posted by triggerfinger at 6:38 PM on July 7, 2014
Elaine lapses into a purple monologue about times past, which quickly slips in a detail about her sitting on Ted’s face—and she makes the comment without changing tone, as if this was a standard element of a melancholy lover’s lament.
A lot of the humor in Airplane was gags that kids loved (the shit's gonna hit the fan), but so much of it was adult humor that had young me wide-eyed and transfixed, knowing it was funny because it was so naughty.
posted by triggerfinger at 6:38 PM on July 7, 2014
Also, being so young when it came out, I remember fully accepting some things I saw as true without questioning them and it wasn't until I was a little older until I thought "WAIT A SEC...". Like that airplanes had inflatable autopilots. Or (from Dragnet) that Pagan was an acronym for People Against Goodness And Normalcy.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:00 PM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by triggerfinger at 7:00 PM on July 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
On my first date with my boyfriend, Airplane! somehow came up in conversation. We both love that movie, and we spent about half the evening quoting lines back and forth. : )
posted by SisterHavana at 7:52 PM on July 7, 2014
posted by SisterHavana at 7:52 PM on July 7, 2014
I've been watching Police Squad!
The ZAZ commentary tracks are really, really fun because it's mostly everyone laughing at the jokes.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:26 PM on July 7, 2014
The ZAZ commentary tracks are really, really fun because it's mostly everyone laughing at the jokes.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:26 PM on July 7, 2014
The funny thing about Johnny was that virtually every single person I know who saw that film told me that they immediately thought of me when they saw Johnny, which was interesting, because my faggotry was not yet a matter of public record, and I didn't even realize he was gay until years later (I also didn't think Pete Shelley's "Homosapien" had a queer subtext that wasn't so sub, so I'm a bit thick).
I still don't read him as sissy gay, or femme gay, or stereotypical gay as much as a gay guy with a surrealist view of the world who didn't give a fuck about presentation and appealing to the tired old gender rules, which, of course, I was, too.
Makes for a nice memory, though.
Near the end of my school career, in the tiny public school where I'd been sent after failing my way through the same grade three times, on one of those nice days when the small group of teachers decided we needed a break, our principal drove over to Erol's Video and came back with a video tape in a big red box, rolled the TV into the largest classroom, and called a comedy day, which is something you can do when you've got a school with thirty-seven students.
We pulled down the blinds, pulled chairs in from the other classrooms to get the entire thirty-seven students in the class body into the room, and Mr. Olcott cued up Airplane!.
Man, how we laughed, even though we'd all seen it. Those of us nerdy enough to know the best jokes shouted them out, and we giggled and stomped and had a very, very good comedy day.
When Johnny would appear, though, every face would turn to me, eyebrows raised.
"What?"
"C'mon, Joe. I mean, C'MAAAAAN."
"What?"
"Totally you. That guy is totally you. You're totally, like, in this movie," said my last-ever girlfriend.
"I," I said, with a hint of bluster overlaid with a smidge of splutter, "am not bald, and that guy is definitively bald. That guy is bald, bald, bald--bald as a ping-pong ball."
"He's still, like, totally you," said the young lady, who was currently sporting turquoise hair colored with imitation imitation off-brand artificial juice mix, a question mark written on her forehead in permanent marker in lieu of Squeaky Fromme's swastika, and the self-chosen temporary title of "Ratshit," and she smirked, adding, "just balder."
Then, of course, Johnny did or said something hilarious, and I shrugged and embraced the comparison.
Man, I wish I was that funny. That guy is hilarious.
"Just watch the movie, Ratshit."
"Sure thing, Johnny."
"Bald," I hissed.
posted by sonascope at 7:10 AM on July 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
I still don't read him as sissy gay, or femme gay, or stereotypical gay as much as a gay guy with a surrealist view of the world who didn't give a fuck about presentation and appealing to the tired old gender rules, which, of course, I was, too.
Makes for a nice memory, though.
Near the end of my school career, in the tiny public school where I'd been sent after failing my way through the same grade three times, on one of those nice days when the small group of teachers decided we needed a break, our principal drove over to Erol's Video and came back with a video tape in a big red box, rolled the TV into the largest classroom, and called a comedy day, which is something you can do when you've got a school with thirty-seven students.
We pulled down the blinds, pulled chairs in from the other classrooms to get the entire thirty-seven students in the class body into the room, and Mr. Olcott cued up Airplane!.
Man, how we laughed, even though we'd all seen it. Those of us nerdy enough to know the best jokes shouted them out, and we giggled and stomped and had a very, very good comedy day.
When Johnny would appear, though, every face would turn to me, eyebrows raised.
"What?"
"C'mon, Joe. I mean, C'MAAAAAN."
"What?"
"Totally you. That guy is totally you. You're totally, like, in this movie," said my last-ever girlfriend.
"I," I said, with a hint of bluster overlaid with a smidge of splutter, "am not bald, and that guy is definitively bald. That guy is bald, bald, bald--bald as a ping-pong ball."
"He's still, like, totally you," said the young lady, who was currently sporting turquoise hair colored with imitation imitation off-brand artificial juice mix, a question mark written on her forehead in permanent marker in lieu of Squeaky Fromme's swastika, and the self-chosen temporary title of "Ratshit," and she smirked, adding, "just balder."
Then, of course, Johnny did or said something hilarious, and I shrugged and embraced the comparison.
Man, I wish I was that funny. That guy is hilarious.
"Just watch the movie, Ratshit."
"Sure thing, Johnny."
"Bald," I hissed.
posted by sonascope at 7:10 AM on July 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
How Silly Can You Get? The Tumultuous Making Of ‘Top Secret!’
posted by Room 641-A at 9:49 AM on July 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
Jim Abrahams: There’s a scene on a beach in ‘Airplane!’ where Bob and Julie got wiped out by a wave. In reviews for ‘Airplane!,’ people said, “Wow, wasn’t that a clever spoof of the scene from ‘Here to Eternity.’ Well, we had never seen ‘From Here to Eternity.’ We had no idea that it was a spoof, we just thought it would be funny for a couple to get wiped out by a wave while they’re kissing on the beach. But that got us thinking that if you’re doing a spoof from a scene from a movie, it has to work regardless or not whether or not you get the reference.Wow, other than the Folger's joke that seemed like one of the most obvious spoofs in the movie!
posted by Room 641-A at 9:49 AM on July 8, 2014 [5 favorites]
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posted by bird internet at 9:54 PM on July 6, 2014