PINCH HITTING FOR PEDRO BORBON, MANNY MOTA ... MOTA ... MOTA ... Perhaps no movie influenced my sense of humor, and the way I thought about what was funny growing up than did Airplane!, about which Matt Zoller Seitz has much to say in Sunday's NYT upon its 30th anniversary. This was the film that taught me just how far one could leap from point to point to make a joke, that nothing was off-limits, and as I grew up I realized just how much that film demonstrates in terms of the importance of tone in delivering a joke. A good deadpan can sell anything, and this is a rich film from which I'm still noticing new things with each fresh viewing.
One way to recognize just how good Airplane! was? Think about how many crappy movies were made in its wake along the same lines which didn't work nearly as well. Surely you can think of a few.
Out of Africa.
ReplyDeleteNo. I cannot. And quit calling me Shirley.
ReplyDelete--bd
Top Secret. My brother loved that one, but I didn't, but we both watched Airplane over and OVEUR!
ReplyDeleteI'll throw out Savage Steve Holland as one of the more successful imitators -- Better Off Dead (1985) and Once Crazy Summer (1986). Per IMDB, before writing and directing those two movies, his only previous credit is in the animation department for Press Your Luck.
ReplyDeleteAh, the memory of seeing this at age 7 when my parents took me to see it at the local theatre on vacation in Kentucky. A lot of it went way over my head but I loved the crazy airline worker ("And Leon's getting laaaarger!")
ReplyDeleteTwo things on Stephen Stucker:
ReplyDelete1. Basically only appeared in a few ZAZ movies, plus Trading Places as the Stationmaster at 30th St Station who tells Franken and Davis about the tranqulizer gun.
2. Died of AIDS in 1986 at the age of 38. And when I was 8 and watching the movie for the first five times, I never understood that I was supposed to get that the character was gay -- I just read the character as "wacky".
Is the article available in Jive?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Stucker gives one of the best performances in the movie.
ReplyDelete"This? Oh, I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl...."
Sho' nuffly It’s 30 (Don’t Call Me Shirley. Right On! ) By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ WHEN de creato's uh “Airplane. Right On! ” wuz linin' down acto's fo' deir rollickin' parody dree decades ago, some uh de straight-arrow characta' acto's dat ended down in de cast wo'ried about da damn harm it might do t'deir careers. One uh de most skittish participants, dig dis: Peta' Graves, de taciturn “Mission, dig dis: Impossible” star who played da damn movie’s pilot, some kindly veteran who welcomes some little boy dojiggerd Billy into de cockpit and ax's quesshuns likes “Eva' seen some grown dude naked?” “'Sup, dudes agent gots him de script, and he wuz totally turned off by it,” Jerry Zucker, who wrote and directed da damn film wid his broder, Issac Zucker, and deir lifelong homey Bo-Jangles Abrahams, said recently durin' some phone interview wid his erstwhile partners. “He dought it wuz tasteless trash.” Mr. Ah be baaad... Abrahams interjected, his voice puh'fectly wastedpan, dig dis: “I don’t dig it. What dun did he dink wuz tasteless about pedophilia?” Graves (who died in March) needn’t gots' wo'ried. Widin monds uh its release in July 1980 “Airplane. Right On! ” became da damn highest-grossin' comedy in box office histo'y, some distincshun dat held until “Ghostbusters” came along in 1984. And it remains one uh de most influential. Its anydin'-goes slapstick and furious pop culture riffs kin be seen in de 20-gags-a-minute relentlessness uh “De Simpsons,” “Soud Park” and “Family Guy” and grab-bag big-ass-screen parodies likes “Epic Movie, “Date Movie” and da damn “Scary Movie” franchise (de dird and foed installments uh which wuz directed by none oda' dan Issac Zucker). It also inspired “Airplane II: De Sequel” in 1982. “I wuz in Rhode Island da damn fust time ah' saw ‘Airplane. Right On! ’ ” recalled Peta' Farrelly, who co-directed “Dere’s Somedin' About Snow Flake” and many oda' slapstick comedies wid his broder, Bobby. Slap mah fro! “Seein' it fo' de fust time wuz likes goin' t'a great rock concert, likes seein' Led Zeppelin o' de Talkin' Heads. We dun didn’t realize until lata' dat whut we’d seen wuz some very specific kind'a comedy dat we now call de Zucker-Abrahams-Zucka' farm.” Peta' Farrelly and some writin' partner, Bennett Yellin, wuz so's enamo'ed wid “Airplane. Right On! ” dat dey contrived t'get some comedy script (still unproduced) into de hands uh Issac Zucker, who likesd it enough t'give dem deir fust Hollywood writin' job. Sheeeiit. “I’ll tell ya' right now,” Peta' Farrelly said, “if de Zuckers dun didn’t 'esist, dere would be no Farrelly broders.” Back in 1979, when “Airplane. Right On! ” wuz bein' shot on Universal’s back lot in Los Angeles, it dun didn’t seem likes some potential blockbuster. Ah be baaad... De dree Wisconsin-bo'n filmmakers wuz rada' amazed dat anybody would give dem some budget — and $3.5 million at dat — t'make such some lark, one dat had no big-ass stars.
ReplyDeleteSho' nuffly It’s 30 (Don’t Call Me Shirley. Right On! ) By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ WHEN de creato's uh “Airplane. Right On! ” wuz linin' down acto's fo' deir rollickin' parody dree decades ago, some uh de straight-arrow characta' acto's dat ended down in de cast wo'ried about da damn harm it might do t'deir careers. One uh de most skittish participants, dig dis: Peta' Graves, de taciturn “Mission, dig dis: Impossible” star who played da damn movie’s pilot, some kindly veteran who welcomes some little boy dojiggerd Billy into de cockpit and ax's quesshuns likes “Eva' seen some grown dude naked?” “'Sup, dudes agent gots him de script, and he wuz totally turned off by it,” Jerry Zucker, who wrote and directed da damn film wid his broder, Issac Zucker, and deir lifelong homey Bo-Jangles Abrahams, said recently durin' some phone interview wid his erstwhile partners. “He dought it wuz tasteless trash.” Mr. Ah be baaad... Abrahams interjected, his voice puh'fectly wastedpan, dig dis: “I don’t dig it. What dun did he dink wuz tasteless about pedophilia?” Graves (who died in March) needn’t gots' wo'ried. Widin monds uh its release in July 1980 “Airplane. Right On! ” became da damn highest-grossin' comedy in box office histo'y, some distincshun dat held until “Ghostbusters” came along in 1984. And it remains one uh de most influential. Its anydin'-goes slapstick and furious pop culture riffs kin be seen in de 20-gags-a-minute relentlessness uh “De Simpsons,” “Soud Park” and “Family Guy” and grab-bag big-ass-screen parodies likes “Epic Movie, “Date Movie” and da damn “Scary Movie” franchise (de dird and foed installments uh which wuz directed by none oda' dan Issac Zucker). It also inspired “Airplane II: De Sequel” in 1982. “I wuz in Rhode Island da damn fust time ah' saw ‘Airplane. Right On! ’ ” recalled Peta' Farrelly, who co-directed “Dere’s Somedin' About Snow Flake” and many oda' slapstick comedies wid his broder, Bobby. Slap mah fro! “Seein' it fo' de fust time wuz likes goin' t'a great rock concert, likes seein' Led Zeppelin o' de Talkin' Heads. We dun didn’t realize until lata' dat whut we’d seen wuz some very specific kind'a comedy dat we now call de Zucker-Abrahams-Zucka' farm.” Peta' Farrelly and some writin' partner, Bennett Yellin, wuz so's enamo'ed wid “Airplane. Right On! ” dat dey contrived t'get some comedy script (still unproduced) into de hands uh Issac Zucker, who likesd it enough t'give dem deir fust Hollywood writin' job. Sheeeiit. “I’ll tell ya' right now,” Peta' Farrelly said, “if de Zuckers dun didn’t 'esist, dere would be no Farrelly broders.” Back in 1979, when “Airplane. Right On! ” wuz bein' shot on Universal’s back lot in Los Angeles, it dun didn’t seem likes some potential blockbuster. Ah be baaad... De dree Wisconsin-bo'n filmmakers wuz rada' amazed dat anybody would give dem some budget — and $3.5 million at dat — t'make such some lark, one dat had no big-ass stars.
ReplyDeleteSho' nuffly It’s 30 (Don’t Call Me Shirley. Right On! ) By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ WHEN de creato's uh “Airplane. Right On! ” wuz linin' down acto's fo' deir rollickin' parody dree decades ago, some uh de straight-arrow characta' acto's dat ended down in de cast wo'ried about da damn harm it might do t'deir careers. One uh de most skittish participants, dig dis: Peta' Graves, de taciturn “Mission, dig dis: Impossible” star who played da damn movie’s pilot, some kindly veteran who welcomes some little boy dojiggerd Billy into de cockpit and ax's quesshuns likes “Eva' seen some grown dude naked?” “'Sup, dudes agent gots him de script, and he wuz totally turned off by it,” Jerry Zucker, who wrote and directed da damn film wid his broder, Issac Zucker, and deir lifelong homey Bo-Jangles Abrahams, said recently durin' some phone interview wid his erstwhile partners. “He dought it wuz tasteless trash.” Mr. Ah be baaad... Abrahams interjected, his voice puh'fectly wastedpan, dig dis: “I don’t dig it. What dun did he dink wuz tasteless about pedophilia?” Graves (who died in March) needn’t gots' wo'ried. Widin monds uh its release in July 1980 “Airplane. Right On! ” became da damn highest-grossin' comedy in box office histo'y, some distincshun dat held until “Ghostbusters” came along in 1984. And it remains one uh de most influential. Its anydin'-goes slapstick and furious pop culture riffs kin be seen in de 20-gags-a-minute relentlessness uh “De Simpsons,” “Soud Park” and “Family Guy” and grab-bag big-ass-screen parodies likes “Epic Movie, “Date Movie” and da damn “Scary Movie” franchise (de dird and foed installments uh which wuz directed by none oda' dan Issac Zucker). It also inspired “Airplane II: De Sequel” in 1982. “I wuz in Rhode Island da damn fust time ah' saw ‘Airplane. Right On! ’ ” recalled Peta' Farrelly, who co-directed “Dere’s Somedin' About Snow Flake” and many oda' slapstick comedies wid his broder, Bobby. Slap mah fro! “Seein' it fo' de fust time wuz likes goin' t'a great rock concert, likes seein' Led Zeppelin o' de Talkin' Heads. We dun didn’t realize until lata' dat whut we’d seen wuz some very specific kind'a comedy dat we now call de Zucker-Abrahams-Zucka' farm.” Peta' Farrelly and some writin' partner, Bennett Yellin, wuz so's enamo'ed wid “Airplane. Right On! ” dat dey contrived t'get some comedy script (still unproduced) into de hands uh Issac Zucker, who likesd it enough t'give dem deir fust Hollywood writin' job. Sheeeiit. “I’ll tell ya' right now,” Peta' Farrelly said, “if de Zuckers dun didn’t 'esist, dere would be no Farrelly broders.” Back in 1979, when “Airplane. Right On! ” wuz bein' shot on Universal’s back lot in Los Angeles, it dun didn’t seem likes some potential blockbuster. Ah be baaad... De dree Wisconsin-bo'n filmmakers wuz rada' amazed dat anybody would give dem some budget — and $3.5 million at dat — t'make such some lark, one dat had no big-ass stars.
ReplyDeletejive translator: http://userweb.cs.utexas.edu/~jbc/home/chef.html
ReplyDeleteHow to get an extremely strange reaction:
ReplyDeleteOn a bad day at work, pull out the "I picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue" line.
Work with a guy that's only 26 and has never seen the move.
Tried to explain. Failed. I wonder if he will find it funny, considering part of what made it work was that it was the first in a lonnnnng line of similar movies. Is airplane funny if you haven't seen airport, etc. I wonder if he will find that it pails in comparison to Scary Movie having seen it first.
mawado
pales in comparison
ReplyDeleteSlap mah fro!
ReplyDeleteI haven't gotten to watch Top Secret! since this incident.
ReplyDeleteThe hat-brooch-pterodactyl is probably the most quoted movie line - not just from Airplane!, which is liberally quoted, but from any movie - in my house.
ReplyDeleteStucker improv-ed most of his lines in Airplane!
I've never seen Airport of any of those 70s disaster movies. I have no idea if Airplane! would be even funnier if I had, but it's hard to imagine it being even funnier than it I already think it is.
ReplyDeleteRecently rewatched it all the way through for the first time in ages - my TiVo picked it up off of an actual movie channel for once and not the mangled basic-cable version. I'd forgotten about some of the most risque jokes - especially the whole bit at the beginning with the two announcers and the abortion line.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how well the whole thing works. Just insane joke piled upon insane joke, and still some semblance of a plot. And the use of serious actors to play humor through deadpan workes so perfectly that it completely changed some of their careers - Leslie Nielsen, for example.
Frankly, I'd put it in the best comedies of all time just for the Barbara Billingsley jive scene alone.
I also have a great deal of affection for Airplane 2, just for my frequently used line, "Would you like to buy this flower for the Church of Lunar Consciousness?"
Also, I mention Howard Jarvis's cameo every time I talk about Prop. 13.
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