Airplane!

The 1980 directing debut of Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker is built on Zero Hour!, a 1957 picture the three taped off late night television by accident and found perfectly structured. Not homage but a licensed remake: by David Zucker’s account the rights cost about 2,500 dollars. They copied staging and camera angles as well as lines: Ted Stryker becomes Ted Striker, and the fish poisoning comes from there. A working thriller frame therefore sits under the film. When a gag dies, the plot still advances on schedule. Casting was the second decisive call: dramatic actors who had never played comedy, all told to play it straight. Peter Graves called the script the most disgusting thing he had ever read. Nobody on screen knows a joke is happening. Leslie Nielsen is said to have become a comic actor here, but he pushed back, saying he had always been cast against type before and comedy was what he wanted all along. It cost 3.5 million dollars and took 83.5 million in North America, and entered the National Film Registry in 2010. A good fit if the trick you want is a 1957 thriller restaged beat for beat with nobody admitting a joke is happening. Not for you if you need the plane’s danger taken seriously for a moment.