AIRPLANE! (1980) Movie Reaction - I Don't Even Know If This Is Allowed on Youtube lol

There's probably 100 jokes you didn't notice or get because they're so specific to the time and place. Nobody born after 1990 would be expected to notice some: - The man that got stuck waiting in the taxi cab was played by Howard Jarvis. Howard Jarvis was a politician in California in the 70's who tried to save money. And now here he is in the movie, sitting in an empty taxi with the meter running up an expensive bill. - Jim's wife who had a second cup of coffee but said "But Jim won't", and then when her husband did take a second cup thought to herself "Jim never has a second cup at home" was reprising her coffee commercial that was popular at the time ("Folger's, so good you'll want a second cup!"). - The tall pilot, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, was one of the most famous basketball players and held the all-time top scoring record for 40 years until just earlier this year (LeBron passed him in Feb 2023). - "Win one for the Zipper". When the doctor was telling Ted the story about George Zip and the music started playing and he said "Win just one for the Zipper", it was a parody of a famous speech by famous American Football coach Knute Rockne made in 1928, and reprised in a movie about Knute Rockne made in 1940. The actor who played Knute later became Governor of California and after that President of the United States, and would occasionally use that line "Win one for the Gipper" during his political campaigns. - The older lady that helped translate "jive" was Barbara Billingsly, who was seen as the most proper, the most "white" woman in America at the time, "America's Mom". Her speaking "jive" was very surprising to audiences who weren't used to black culture in their movies.

I just want to tell you good luck. We're all counting on you.

"Win just one for the Zipper" This was made in 1980... Ronald Reagan was running for President of the U.S. Reagan was famous for his role in the movie, "Knute Rockne: All American" where he played a dying football player at Notre Dame university... named "George Gipp". In fact, Reagan's nickname had become "the Gipper". In the movie, Knute Rockne gives a speech to the team where he essentially says the same thing about "the Gipper". The music in the background during Neilson's speech is the Notre Dame fight song.

Steven Stucker was gay in real life. He used to work with the writers/directors in a comedy stage show as a piano player. Because he would make them laugh so much, they asked him to come up with his own lines.

“I say, let em crash.” I love that bit too

5:40 - That's the joke. The Navy suit doubles as Travolta's Saturday Night Fever outfit. The other joke is that Striker was a pilot in the Air Force but his white suit is a Navy uniform.

As someone who is old enough to have seen this movie in the theater back when it first came out, I can assure you that you probably didn't get more than half of the jokes in it. So many of them require a pretty thorough knowledge of American pop culture from the time (by which I mean as much as 30 years before the movie came out). For instance, the scene with the woman thinking that her husband never has a second cup of coffee at home is obviously (to those who were around to see it) based on a coffee commercial, and the actress is the same actress as was in the commercial. Also, the scene with the doctor telling Ted the story about George Zip is based on an American football movie (starring Ronald Reagan!) in which a player named George Gipp tells his coach as he's dying to ask the team to "win one for the Gipper". The football team was Notre Dame, and the music in the background of that scene is the Notre Dame fight song.

"This is a comedy so maybe they are all going to die." Wow, there is someone out there in the world who has an even darker sense of humor than I do.

"And don't call me 'Shirley'"...

The story behind the movie is great. The directors would record late night movies for inspiration. One night, they ended up recording the movie Zero Hour!, which they used as the model for it. (The hero in it was also named Ted Stryker.) The directors went in and added the various gags. They then cast a lot of actors from movies of that generation like Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen, and Peter Graves to play the more serious roles. This was pretty much the start of Nielsen’s turn to comedy.

"Give me Ham on Rye, hold the mayo" is a cliched deli order... that's what "Ham on five, hold the Mayo" was referencing.

This type of humor wasn’t typical of 1980. It was typical of the specific humor of the writers and directors of this movie. This movie stood out from other comedies of the 80s because it wasn’t typical.

This movie is historically important to me because it was the first movie I ever saw on this brand new invention called a VCR. Starting in early-mid-1980s was first time we could see a movie at home and pause and rewind! Revolutionary. It's a shame younger people get so confused by comedy.

I'm sure someone else has already said it, but a lot of people (including me) thought this movie was a parody of the drama "Airport". In fact, it was a parody of a much earlier movie called "Zero Hour"... it is almost a shot-for shot duplicate of the movie... except for the comedy.

"It's a comedy so maybe they're all going to die" - BEST. CONCLUSION. EVER.

Fun fact: The film is called 'Airplane!' because it's largely set on an aeroplane. Airplane is the American English word for aeroplane. Source: This was revealed to me in a dream.

Ethel Merman was a great singer, as you kinda heard, Amanda. She performed mainly on Broadway, but she also made films. Her best known Broadway show was ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.

When Kate and Leo were dancing in that Titanic movie with their point-of-view shot, this movie popped into my head and I just laughed out loud in the theatre. So did a few other people in the same theatre. 😂😂😂

Excellent reaction and yes, that was basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Also, the patient in the hospital bed who " thinks he's Ethel Merman", is actually Ethel Merman. Do you speak Jive Amanda?

Fun Fact about the Saturday Night Fever spoof: While he was doing Airplane, actor Robert Hays (Ted Striker) was also doing a short lived sitcom called Angie and his Angie Co-Star Donna Pescow was in Saturday Night Fever. There is a sequel to Airplane called Airplane 2 The Sequel which is also worth a look just to see William Shatner steal the show.