Looks like we picked the wrong week to quit quoting 'Airplane!'
In 1980, you didn't need a marquee to tell you where "Airplane!" was playing — you could hear the laughter from the parking lot. It was a cultural phenomenon and one of the most transformational comedies in film history. Nobody had seen anything like it. It had so many rapid-fire jokes. And many of them are still quoted to this day (for some people, a bit too often).
Remembering the reaction at a test screening, David Zucker writes, "Sometimes, as a result of the reactions, we had to extend a shot to accommodate the laughs so the audience could hear the next line. When Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar, who played co-pilot Roger Murdoch] is done shoving the little boy and lets go of his shirt, we hold on Joey's shocked expression for a long time. That's because the laugh lasted that long."
The writing and directing team behind the film — David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker — have a new book of oral history: "Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!" And they spoke with Morning Edition host A Martinez about the classic film.
JIM ABRAHAMS
Recently I was at a party and this little boy came up to me – like, eight or ten years old — and he actually quoted a few lines from "Airplane!" and said how much he enjoyed it. I'm not sure he understood the lines that he quoted. And I said, "Well, how is it that you got to see 'Airplane!'?" And he said, "Well, my grandfather made me watch it."
