Review of Airplane! (1980) by Dawdlingpoet — 21 Nov 2021

This film is a bit of a classic, well known for being quite over the top but in a comic sort of a way - from the very start, it has the visual look and feel (music and visually speaking, with large, blocky text appearing boldly on screen) of an impending disaster film - indeed it could be thought of as a satire on disaster films but most certainly a comedy based one. It features very wacky, somewhat eccentric comedy and its certainly one of my favourite comedy films. The comedy is so random at times, I can't help but laugh at it - Its one of quite a few films that I've seen on more than one ocassion, mostly I just stick to watching new films but when my TiVo box recorded this film as I'd stated that I like Leslie Neilson films, I decided to keep the recording and watch it again - I think I saw it some years back. I try my best not to be too biased - it takes quite a lot to not have any criticisms at all or to give a film a full 5 star rating.

From early on, I noticed there were some potentially offensive stereotypes - I knew it was a little cliched, after all it dates back to 1980 but there was one scene featuring a couple of presumably African Americans talking in a somewhat strong dialect, with subtitles providing an upper class/aristocratic version of what they were saying, which I didn't find one of the more amusing moments, as I, personally, could understand most of what was being said and it felt perhaps a little too sneary. There are also moments features women which some may find somewhat distasteful, although I wasn't too bothered about them personally. The air stewardesses are portrayed as dolly birds - pretty much all of the characters are made fun of in one way or another, so we're encouraged to laugh at them, more than with them and in a sense that made it seem somewhat less offensive in the few moments that were a little close to the bone perhaps. It is very much an absurdist style film - perhaps slightly like Sacha Baron Cohen's films, also featuring very exaggerated comic people, although with his films he tends to mock people who perhaps don't seem to be best keen on it, shall we say. Its also somewhat like the Police Academy films, in terms of the slapstick comedy used, although I personally find it funnier than most of the Police Academy films.

The comedy is present both in terms of the sometimes witty dialogue and its also conveyed via some surreal visual elements. There is also narration present at times and it varies from time to time, in terms of which character is voicing the narration. Cast wise, the film stars Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey (the head of air control), Robert Hayes as Ted Striker and, of course, Leslie Nielson as Dr. Rumack. Leslie is at his quick witted best, although he seems a little more straight faced compared to other actors who have acted in similar films (for example Jim Carrey or maybe Adam Sandler). The fact that he appears so serious when dealing with frankly ludicrously surreal scenarios seemed to make it more funny. Other cast members present include Peter Graves as Captain Clarence Oveur, a very laidback, professional seeming pilot and Julie Heggerty as Elaine Dickinson. Content wise, this film features partial nudity, sex references and implied sex scenes, plus a character who asks sexually suggestive questions to a young boy (presumably a paedophile?), which some may find offensive. There is (mostly comedic styled) violence, nothing especially graphic but it does include various characters attempting suicide to get out of a certain apparently intolerable situation and there are some fist fight type scenes, although there is nothing particularly graphic or overly bloody shown. There are also drug references and a scene featuring someone snorting illegal drugs. There are some mild profanities uttered but no especially graphic language as such. The film was originally given a 15 rating due to the content but I believe it now carries a 12a rating.

Music wise, I felt that, at times, the incidental music was a bit too loud, in that it made it a bit difficult to fully follow the dialogue on screen at the time. It does feature quite a heavy use of tense sounding instrumental incidental music (try saying instrumental incidental multiple times in a row(!!) at times, which I found to be a bit distracting at times.

All in all, I still enjoyed watching this film again overall but I concede that it has some elements which will put off some people, or otherwise that it won't suit everyone. It is quite witty in parts but other parts I felt were perhaps poorly judged, certainly by todays standards anyway. To be fair, its certainly not a film that takes itself too seriously, or even seriously at all I suppose - as a parody of disaster films, it does well, poking fun at some of the relevant cliches and I liked the mix of dialogue based comedy and visual comedy but it won't appeal to everyone, hence my overall rating.