Product Description

Parody of airplane disaster films in which a former pilot gets his nerve back when he has to land a plane on which everyone has food poisoning.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: NIELSEN/HAYS/STACK/BRIDGES
Title: AIRPLANE
Street Release Date: 12/13/2005
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1029 in DVD
• Brand: NIELSEN/HAYS/STACK/BRIDGES
• Released on: 2005-12-13
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The quintessential movie spoof that spawned an entire genre of parody films, the original Airplane! still holds up as one of the brightest comedic gems of the '80s, not to mention of cinema itself (it ranked in the top 5 of Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 funniest movies ever made). The humor may be low and obvious at times, but the jokes keep coming at a rapid-fire clip and its targets--primarily the lesser lights of '70s cinema, from disco films to star-studded disaster epics--are more than worthy for send-up. If you've seen even one of the overblown Airport movies then you know the plot: the crew of a filled-to-capacity jetliner is wiped out and it's up to a plucky stewardess and a shell-shocked fighter pilot to land the plane. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty are the heroes who have a history that includes a meet-cute à la Saturday Night Fever, a surf scene right out of From Here to Eternity, a Peace Corps trip to Africa to teach the natives the benefits of Tupperware and basketball, a war-ravaged recovery room with a G.I. who thinks he's Ethel Merman (a hilarious cameo)--and those are just the flashbacks! The jokes gleefully skirt the boundaries of bad taste (pilot Peter Graves to a juvenile cockpit visitor: "Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?"), with the high (low?) point being Hagerty's intimate involvement with the blow-up automatic pilot doll, but they'll have you rolling on the floor. The film launched the careers of collaborators Jim Abrahams (Big Business), David Zucker (Ruthless People), and Jerry Zucker (Ghost), as well as revitalized such B-movie actors as Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen, who built a second career on films like this. A vital part of any video collection. --Mark Englehart

On the DVD
The shenanigans continue through the menus and even the printed matter of this second DVD release. A trivia track and commentary are enjoyable, but pretty superfluous if you watch the branching "extended edition." When a TA logo appears on the screen, you can click to one of many interview segments examining the scene. The key subject matter is how little money was used on the project and the inexperience (for better or for worse) of the three directors ("three bodies, one head"). Most of the cast and crew have fond memories of the quick shoot: Leslie Nielsen tells us how his new career path was a conscience decision, a gentlemanly Peter Graves mentions how grateful--if puzzled--he was at the chance to do comedy, and Robert Hays dishes how his car was put into the film. The directing team gleefully shows all their mistakes. The deleted scenes aren't much, but you'll know when seeing one: the flashing words "Deleted Scene" gawkily flashes at the bottom of the screen. Note: there is no easy way to watch just the new material. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Clever, funny and amusing
This is one hell of a clever and funny parody. I love it. Can't get enough of it and every time I watch it, I get to see new stuff in the movie. If you want a good hard laugh, then this is it. Watch this movie and you'll laugh so hard that tears will come out of your eyes. great one!

The Complete Airplane! Saga Finally Gets Released Together In The USA!
(I should note that this is NOT necessarily a review of the version of Airplane! on this Amazon page. This release [currently unavailable here, sold exclusively at WalMart] and review should give you a heads-up on a possible alternative purchase of these comedy classics. A picture of it's cover is in the Customer Images located on the top left of this page)

This box-set that was released May of '08 could have been alot cooler. This is the first time (at least for Region 1) BOTH Airplane! movies have been released as one product in ONE case as far as I know. However, instead of 2-for-1 sets like Paramount's "Wayne's World" & "Chris Farley" groupings, that were two movies put on one DVD-9 (dual layer-single sided/one movie per layer), all they did with this one was put the original 2000 discs in one dual spindle keepcase with a new cover/slipcase. And it does NOT contain the extras-filled "Don't Call Me Shirley!" edition of the first movie either, just the original bare-bones first release. Extras here are just the original commentary track & trailer for the first film, "Sequel" is nothing but movie. I was hoping for a better presentation, but I bought it mainly for owning Part Two (as I already own the "Shirley" edition). As for picture/audio, it's what you'd expect from an eight year old digital transfer, not as good as "Shirley"'s. So I guess if you don't have any version of Airplane!, this set under $10 is nice & quick, but look for the "Shirley" edition first for an outstanding copy of the original classic.
(RedSabbath Rating:7.5/10)

Airplane! DVD
Such a classic! If you like slapstick, physical humor that makes fun of a whole genre, you can't be without this film. It redefined Leslie Nielsen's career and essential birthed the genre of mockery film-making. It's rather adult but once my son was 17 I just had to share it. It's a bit dated (it helps to have lived through the 70's to get some of th jokes) but it's still a riot.