Login
All right, this is what happened:
Mel Brooks, after a wild night somewhere, was walking home when he got assaulted by three men who are now recognized worldwide as ZAZ. They announced that they are the new kids in town and he, Mr. Brooks, should either leave town quickly or stop making parodies. Unfortunately, this shook up Mr. Brooks so much that he failed to make another hit and as for ZAZ, their first hit... was their only hit and started a rather painful legacy. (look at the spoof titles of the last 5 years and you will understand)
You see, this is a TCM-Halloween case right here. The former may have invented the modern-slasher genre and and may have laid down the blueprints but the latter took it to great heights, thus becoming the poster-film of the said genre. Same case here: After the success of Blazing Saddles, it was clear to everyone that Mel Brooks wouldn't stop and he dominated the 70's... but unfortunately, modern-parody / spoof, to me, lived and died in the 70's with a few last shots from the 80's and virtually none from 90's to current date. Airplane! made a much bigger impact and has almost become the true definition of the spoof film and hey! who can blame them?
All right, the jokes are quite-original, although some are repetitive, but it's the interesting supporting characters and inventive dialogues that really steals the film. I really liked Lorna Patterson as Randy and Julie Hagerty as Elaine. They both provided good performances and made their characters very interesting and fun to watch. But of course, the lion's share goes to Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack and Lloyd Bridges as Steve McCroskey. Both are unmatched and unparalleled in their roles. Their performances, line-delivery and screen presence make up 95% of the film's backbone. Airplane, just like any-other spoof film, also offers surrealism and I'm gonna signal out one: The last half of Rex Kramer's introduction. Man, that's surrealism at its best!
So all in all, Airplane! is a satisfying movie and offers good entertainment but I enjoy Mr. Brooks's movies more...
7.9/10
