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Airplane!
An ex-fighter pilot is forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.
1980 · Directed by Jim Abrahams · 88 min · Comedy · Screenplay in the scene database · 17 frames
Tagline
What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?
Plot
Ex-fighter pilot Ted Striker is a traumatized war veteran turned taxi driver. Because of his pathological fear of flying and subsequent "drinking problem"—he splashes beverages anywhere but into his mouth—Ted has been unable to hold a responsible job. His wartime girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson, now a flight attendant, breaks off her relationship with him before boarding her rostered flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. Ted, having gotten home early enough to see her break-up note and catch her at the airport, abandons his taxi to buy a ticket on the same flight to try to win her back.
Once on board, however, Elaine continues to reject him. Ted tells the story of how they met to several other passengers, inadvertently driving them to suicide due to boredom as he windily reminisces. The pilots, including first officer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, entertain a child in the cockpit.
After the in-flight meal is served (a choice of either steak or fish), the entire flight crew and several passengers fall ill. Passenger Dr. Rumack discovers that the fish served during meal service has caused food poisoning. With the flight crew incapacitated, Elaine contacts the Chicago control tower for help and is instructed by tower supervisor Steve McCroskey to activate the plane's autopilot, a large inflatable dummy pilot dubbed "Otto", which will get them to Chicago, but cannot land the plane. Elaine reinflates the inflatable dummy and sits next to it while ATC gives instructions.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker
- Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc
- Edited by: Patrick Kennedy
- Music: Elmer Bernstein
- Production design: Ward Preston
- Produced by: Jon Davison
Cast
- Robert Hays as Ted Striker
- Julie Hagerty as Elaine Dickinson
- Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Roger Murdock
- Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey
- Peter Graves as Capt. Clarence Oveur
- Robert Stack as Captain Rex Kramer
- Lorna Patterson as Randy
- Jill Whelan as Lisa Davis
- Ann Nelson as Hanging Lady
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Paramount Pictures, Howard W. Koch Productions
- Budget: $3,500,000
- Box office: $83,453,539
- Themes: chicago, illinois, post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), airplane, cataclysm, nun, guitar, alcohol, stewardess, taxi driver, passenger
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