Airplane!

Airplane! (1980)

Timing: 1:28 (88 min)

7.31/10
4998

7.414/10
54607

7.7/10
286000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 73

Actors and characters

Release date

1980-06-27

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Howard W. Koch Productions

Genre

Comedy

Budget

$3 500 000

Revenue

$83 453 539

Website

Director

Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker

Actors

Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Lorna Patterson, Jill Whelan, Ann Nelson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams

Producer

Jon Davison, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker

Operator

Joseph F. Biroc

Composer

Elmer Bernstein

Artist

Audition

Joel Thurm

Editing

Patrick Kennedy
All team (96)

• The scene depicting an argument between employees making announcements in the airport building featured actual announcers from Los Angeles International Airport.
• The only airline that purchased the film for in-flight entertainment was Mexican airline Aeromexico.
• Leslie Nielsen's (1926-2010) role as the doctor in "Airplane!" was his first comedic role. He later said he was very happy when he was offered the part, as he feared he was reaching an age where he could only be counted on for "old man" roles on screen. The studio wanted Dom DeLuise (1933-2009) for the role of the doctor, but directors Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams insisted on their choice. Filming in this movie opened a new chapter in Nielsen's acting career. He began to play in comedies, particularly in other films by the Zucker and Abrahams directors.
• The actors improvised the street slang conversation between the two Black passengers from beginning to end, as the rest of the cast and crew simply did not know the slang of "the Black neighborhoods."
• A parody of Hall Bartlett's drama "Zero Hour!" (1957).
• The model of the airplane used in the film is now located in a museum in Las Colinas, a district of the city of Irving in the state of Texas.
• Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty rehearsed the dance they perform to The Bee Gees' song Stayin' alive (1977) for a whole month.
• A newspaper published a photograph of a boy with the caption "A child locked in a refrigerator ate his own leg." This is a photograph of Billy Koch, who was the grandson of film producer Howard W. Koch. The grandfather once called the boy and asked him to bring him the photograph. Billy only learned what it was needed for when the film was released.
• The mandatory copyright notice at the end of the film concludes with the phrase "Something like that."
• A DVD of the film states in one section that the abortion debate between the announcers in the airport building was taken from a "cheap novel." In reality, it was taken from the 1968 novel *Airport* by American writer Arthur Hailey (1920-2004), based on which George Seaton filmed a movie of the same name in 1970.
• The air traffic controllers are playing the game *Basketball* (1978) on an Atari 2600 video game console.
• The film's action takes place mainly inside a jet airplane, however, the sound of propellers can be heard in the passenger cabin. Studio executives insisted on using a jet passenger plane in the script.
• Julie Hagerty's debut role.
• The interior of the dispatch tower was filmed at the Combat Control Center for ballistic missiles, built in 1954 to protect the United States from attack by the USSR. At the time, it was the largest computer system in the world. It weighed 6,000 tons and occupied an entire floor of a fortified bomb shelter. When the system was removed from active duty, its components were put up for sale. They were mainly bought by film companies, who were attracted by the equipment, which was futuristic for its time, despite being released in the 1950s.
• In the Italian release, the slang conversation between the Black actors was dubbed into the Neapolitan dialect. In the German release, it was dubbed into the Bavarian dialect (with subtitles in standard German).
• The Boeing 707 used in the film is a repainted aircraft from the American airline TWA.
• Filming took just over a month.
• Initially, Marci Goldman was considered for the role of Mrs. Hammond, but she eventually played Mrs. Jelline.
• In the final credits, expressions like "The guy who was responsible for a lot of things" appear before the names of the crew members.
• Sigourney Weaver auditioned for the role of Elaine Dickinson.
• Christopher Lee turned down the role of Dr. Rumack. He called it "a big mistake" in his autobiography.
• Bill Murray and Chevy Chase were considered for the role of Ted Striker.
• In the scene where a sick woman's husband gives her oxygen, a bearded man is visible in the background. The script called for the beard to be blown off by the wind, but the adhesive proved too strong. The man is seen "making faces" in the hope that the beard will come loose.
• Teenage girls fighting in the bar were played by men.
• Directors Jerry Zucker and David Zucker made a cameo appearance in the film. They play ground crew workers who direct a plane on the taxiway straight towards the airport building.
• While telling an elderly woman on the adjacent seat about how he met Elaine, Stryker says he served in the Air Force. However, the flashback shows him in a Navy uniform.
• Robert Hayes and Julie Hagerty rehearsed the dance they perform to The Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive" (1977) for a whole month.
• Leslie Nielsen’s (1926-2010) role as the doctor in “Airplane!” was his first comedic role. He later said he was very happy when he was offered the role, as he feared he was reaching an age where he could only be counted on for “old man” roles on screen. The studio wanted Dom DeLuise (1933-2009) for the role of the doctor, but directors Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams insisted on their choice. Filming in this movie opened a new chapter in Nielsen’s acting career. He began to play in comedies, particularly in other films by the Zucker and Abrahams directors.
• The actors improvised the street slang conversation between the two Black passengers from beginning to end, as the rest of the cast and crew simply didn't know the slang of the 'Black neighborhoods'.
• A parody of Hall Bartlett's drama “Zero Hour!” (1957).
• The newspaper featured a photo of a boy with the caption “Child locked in refrigerator ate his own leg.” This was a photograph of Billy Koch, who was the grandson of the film’s producer, Howard W. Koch. His grandfather once called the boy and asked him to bring him the photograph. Billy only found out what it was needed for when the film was released.
• The mandatory copyright notice at the end of the film concludes with the phrase “Something like that.”
• The DVD of the film states in one section that the argument about abortion taking place between the announcers in the airport building is taken from a “cheap novel.” In reality, it is taken from the novel “Airport” (1968) by American author Arthur Hailey (1920-2004), based on which George Seaton made a film of the same name in 1970.
• Air traffic controllers are playing the game "Basketball" (1978) on the Atari 2600 video game console.
• The Boeing 707 used in the film was a repainted aircraft from the American airline TWA.
• In the end credits, before the names of the crew members, there are phrases like "The guy who was responsible for a lot of things."
• Christopher Lee turned down the role of Dr. Rumack. He called it "a big mistake" in his autobiography.
• In the scene where the sick woman's husband gives her oxygen, a bearded man is visible in the background. The script called for the beard to be blown off by the wind, but the glue was too strong. You can see the man "making faces" hoping the beard will come loose.