Airplane!

"What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?"

1980 1h 28m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🔥

97%

CERTIFIED FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 5,289🍅97%Rotten Tomatoes●78Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 284,843

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An ex-fighter pilot is forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.

“What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?”

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Cast

Robert Hays
Ted Striker
Julie Hagerty
Elaine Dickinson
Leslie Nielsen
Dr. Rumack
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Roger Murdock
Lloyd Bridges
Steve McCroskey
Peter Graves
Capt. Clarence Oveur
Robert Stack
Captain Rex Kramer
Lorna Patterson
Randy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jerry Zucker
Writers: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $83M — a 23.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

46 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Airplane Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jerry Zucker, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Elmer Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Patrick Kennedy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jerry Zucker directs. Joseph F. Biroc behind the camera. Elmer Bernstein scores. Patrick Kennedy cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Grossed $83M — a 23.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
446 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Part of the "Airplane Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Jerry Zucker, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Elmer Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Patrick Kennedy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and Leslie Nielsen carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?".
11IMDB entry: tt0080339 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 29 themes, including "chicago, illinois", "post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)", "airplane", "cataclysm".
13Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc
Original score: Elmer Bernstein
Editing: Patrick Kennedy
Production design: Ward Preston
Costume design: Rosanna Norton
Makeup / hair: Joan Phillips
Sound: David J. Hudson
Stunt coordinator: Conrad E. Palmisano
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,500,000
Box office: $83,453,539
Return: 2384% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Airplane! (1980)
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 78/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 284,843 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award3 wins & 7 nominations total

Part of

Airplane Collection

Get your boarding passes ready, you may not survive the flight but you'll have fun getting there.

Also by

Jerry Zucker

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

schoosskyler2017-11-04
★ 8/10
An American Comedy Classic - Everything about this film screams 'American Cinema Comedy'. A lot of the humor is a precursor to modern american humor, including the terribly cheesy pulp humor. This film is an homage to the comedies that came before it, but is innovative in its combination of wordplay and referential humor. I see vestiges of this film in everything from 'The Hangover' to 'The Office'. If at any point you are watching this and find yourself saying 'This is really stupid', just remember: Relax. It's supposed to be stupid.
CinemaSerf2022-07-09
★ 7/10
Right from the "Jaws" (1975) inspired opening titles, this is a treat of comedy that sends up just about every genre of cinema as poor old "Ted" (Robert Hays) has to stave off an airborne disaster aboard his aircraft. Half the folks travelling have been stricken with food poisoning and when the cockpit it wiped-out, it falls to him to bravely take the joystick and try to land in Chicago. Luckily, his ex-girlfriend "Elaine" (Julie Hagerty) is there, as is the always scene stealing inflatable "Otto" pilot. Lloyd Bridges is entertaining as the air traffic controller as is Robert Stack as the man trying to to talk down the stressed wartime pilot whom he used to command. The visual jokes are occasionally a bit too slapstick, but it's the writing that makes this funny - it is a pun writer's wet dream with plenty of risqué double entendres and literal interpretation of language that creates ample enjoyable ambiguity and humour. Clearance Clarence and Roger, Roger - it's quickly paced and unlike so many comedies from the 1970s really does raise a smile 40-odd years later when political correctness would probably throttle this at birth. Yes, it's a bit puerile but it is still well worth a watch.
drystyx2023-04-18
★ 9/10
Surely, this is hilarious. Surely. A film that never saw the word "Surely" in the same light again. This is a total parody, not just of disaster movies, but of all social mores. The "excuse" for the comedy is a plane where the entire flight crew is too sick to fly, so a nerve racked ex pilot needs to fly the plane. Lots of Monty Python style "unreal" events to make this even funnier, along with the parody of culture, such as the woman who speaks "Jive". You need someone to interpret "Jive" in life or death situations, you know? The people who don't find this funny probably don't even like gladiator movies.