Airplane! (1980) | The Cutting Room

The masterstroke was casting deadly serious, square-jawed dramatic actors, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and having them deliver the silliest jokes ever written with total sincerity. It rebuilt Nielsen's entire career.

Airplane! (1980) was lifted almost line for line from a forgotten 1950s disaster movie, then crammed with so many gags per minute you miss half of them laughing at the rest. Luke, Westy and Matt trace how the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker team assembled it, the writing, the highlights and the legacy, then rate it out of 10. And don't call them Shirley.

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