"Airplane!" has been hailed as one of the funniest movies ever made —usually by anyone who has seen it. Forty-three years after its premiere, it still has audiences rolling with laughter. The brainchild of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (collectively known as ZAZ), the film is a parody of the B-movie "Zero Hour!" where a character really does say, "The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner."
Such is the absurdity of the ZAZ world, which plays its comedy with deadpan seriousness, and why "Airplane!" is so uproarious. The filmmakers (making their debut as directors) cast serious actors — Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen — in prominent roles, and made them say outrageous things, such as "I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue," as if they were in a drama. The film is inspired because the actors are not winking at the audience. Even cameos by everyone from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Barbara Billingsley are hilarious because they are done with a straight face. ZAZ prided their humor on getting audiences to appreciate the deadpan tone. This may be why the film is so quotable, but there are sight gags, and jokes in the background that require repeat viewings to catch.
