I defy anyone to watch this film on its own terms. You sit down in front of the TV with the best will in the world, and then Crazylegs Hirsch asks the little boy if he's ever been in a cockpit before, and suddenly you're rolling on the floor.
What's amazing is how many of the jokes in *Airplane* work even though they parody specific moments in this movie (which fairly few people had seen).
"How about some coffee, Johnny?" "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking." "He's a menace to himself and everything else in the air!" "Stewardess? I think the man sitting next to me is a doctor." "It's a different kind of flying altogether."
I do wonder why they dropped the Jerry Paris character, who seems like he would have been a rich subject for parody.
What's amazing is how many of the jokes in *Airplane* work even though they parody specific moments in this movie (which fairly few people had seen).
"How about some coffee, Johnny?" "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking." "He's a menace to himself and everything else in the air!" "Stewardess? I think the man sitting next to me is a doctor." "It's a different kind of flying altogether."
I do wonder why they dropped the Jerry Paris character, who seems like he would have been a rich subject for parody.