Taking the disaster movies of the 1970s as their starting point, the writing-directing team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker invented a gag reel around the story of former pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) who boards a commercial plane hoping to win back his stewardess girlfriend (Julie Hagerty). When all three pilots get sick over bad fish, it’s up to Striker to land the plane. Most of the jokes are groan-worthy, and some are downright racist. If you’re queasy about the subtitled “jive,” wait until you get to the flashback of Striker teaching basketball in Africa. Even the stuff that works is of the obvious variety. When Striker requests a smoking seat from the ticket agent, he’s handed paperwork that is literally smoldering. Still, Airplane! is a treasured commodity in many homes, and I won’t begrudge those who get a kick out of the who’s-on-first interplay between the three pilots (“Roger, Roger. What’s our vector, Victor?”) Compared to the violent and barf-laden movie spoofs of the 2000s, that’s sophisticated stuff.
