June 27, 1980 (Toronto and Buffalo)
July 2, 1980 (Wide)
Airplane! (alternatively titled Flying High!) is a 1980 American parody film written and directed by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. The film is a parody of the disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour!, from which it borrows the plot and the central characters, as well as many elements from Airport 1975 and other films in the Airport film series. The film is known for its use of surreal humor and its fast-paced slapstick comedy, including visual and verbal puns, gags, and obscure humor.
Airplane! was released by Paramount Pictures and was a critical and financial success, grossing $158 million worldwide against a budget of $3.5 million. The film's creators received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Comedy, and nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and for the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.
In the years since its release, the film's reputation has grown substantially. The film was ranked sixth on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In a 2007 survey by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, it was judged the second greatest comedy film of all time, after Monty Python's Life of Brian. In 2008, it was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time and in 2012 was voted number one in The 50 Funniest Comedies Everpoll. In 2010, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Sound Effects Used
- Benny the Cab Revving
- Sound Ideas, AIRPLANE, PROP - LONG DIVE 02 (used whenever the titular airplane goes into a dive, for comic effect)
- Sound Ideas, BIRDS, JUNGLE - AFTERNOON JUNGLE BIRDS CALLING, ANIMAL
- Sound Ideas, EXPLOSION - HOWITZER SHELL IN AND EXPLODE
- Sound Ideas, Explosions - Explosion . . . heavy with echo 02
- Sound Ideas, FIGHT SCENE - SMALL GROUP FIGHTING: PUNCHES, FALLS, CROWD, HUMAN
- Sound Ideas, THUNDER - BIG THUNDER CLAP AND RUMBLE, WEATHER 04 (heard each time lightning flashes, for a cliched effect)
- Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - BIG WHISTLE ZING OUT (Heard twice during the first flashback scene.)
- Valentino Canary
