Airplane!

The September 2nd screening will take place in the Redstone Theater.

Dirs. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker. 1980, 87 mins. 35mm. With Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lorna Patterson. The directorial debut from the writer-director trio of Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker (The Naked Gun, Top Secret) is a rapid-fire comedy that riffs on the self-serious Airport series as well as Airport author Arthur Hailey’s earlier screenplay for Zero Hour! (1957). Hays plays traumatized, flight-phobic war veteran Ted Striker, whose trip as a passenger on a routine commercial flight goes wrong in every possible way, leaving him as the only person capable of landing the plane (somewhat) safely. No gag or pun is too stupid to pull, no stereotype is too questionable to goose, no impulse is too sophomoric to indulge, and no cameo is too shameless to cast in this surprise smash that remains a comedy touchstone and helped relaunch the career of former middling leading man Nielsen as a deadpan comedic star. Much as Airport catalyzed the disaster movie genre, Airplane! sparked a spoof comedy explosion that Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker—both together and separately—helped perpetuate well into the 21st century through collaborations with kindred spirits the Wayans family (Scary Movie) and Matt Parker and Trey Stone (BASEketball).  

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for MoMI members at the Senior/Student level and above. Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.

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Also at MoMI, see the self-serious disaster melodrama that inspired Airplane! Though it harkened back to hoary storytelling of the pre–New Hollywood mainstream, Airport nevertheless sparked the star-studded disaster blockbuster genre (exemplified in the ensuing years by The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno) that is still going strong today. Screening in 70mm! Get tickets now!