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Airplane! Blu-ray Review

“Airplane!” is a comedy classic. 

Judging by the plot one might think “Airplane!” is a drama as it revolves around a war vet/pilot with PTSD who hops on a plane to win back his former life (a flight attendant named Elaine) only to find himself having to land the plane after the pilots fall ill from bad fish. However, it’s anything but a drama as it’s one of the most hilarious cinematic comedies (especially in the past 40 years).

Since its release in 1980, “Airplane!” has become one of the most celebrated parody movies and for good reason. After all, how often do you see a spoof that becomes more popular than the movies it spoofed (in the case of this movie “Zero Hour!” and the “Airport” franchise)? 

Directed by Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker, “Airplane!” has everything you could want from a comedy film. It’s endlessly quotable, there’s a gag-a-second (in the foreground and background), great jokes and wordplay, plenty of memorable sight gags (ala drink face splashing and a jumbo jet crashing through a glass window), delightfully goofy sound effects, gut bustingly funny raunchy moments and even parodies of other films like “Jaws” and “Saturday Night Fever.” Sure, there’s some not so PC stuff here, but they don’t detract from a comedy that has stood the test of time.

The cast deserves a lot of credit here as this is the type of movie that is extremely hard to pull off. We’ve all seen so many spoof movies that fall completely flat. Everyone in the cast is completely game here though such as Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, a brilliantly stoned faced Leslie Nielsen and, of course, Otto the inflatable pilot

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How does it look? “Airplane!” has been remastered from a 4K transfer and this is truly the best the film has ever looked. The image clarity is pristine.

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? A quality 5.1 track.

Extras:
* Isolated score
* “Filmmaker Focus: Writers/directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker On Airplane!”- New interviews with the 3 directors who talk about the comedy, the plot, and stories from the production. This extra runs nearly 9 minutes.
* A 35 minute 2020 Q&A from the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood with Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker in celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary. A lot more expansive than the above interviews.
* An archival commentary by Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker and producer Jon Davison.

July 22, 2020 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Airplane! Blu-ray Review, Airplane!: Paramount Presents Blu-ray Review, Airport Movie, Comedy Movie, Leslie Nielsen, Parody Movie, Spoof