...so it's impossible to forget Airplane! and watch Zero Hour!. Nevertheless, the lampooning that Zero Hour! received at the hands of Airplane! is not undeserved. Zero Hour! starts with some very bad flying sequences, supposed to be Dana Andrews', aka Stryker's, last war experience. But it really sets the tone for the whole movie - that it's not going to be very good. The director must have decided that it wasn't that important since it's just the lead in for the film but you never get a second chance to make a first impression, as they say. In this case the first impression is about right.
Zero Hour! involves a former RCAF pilot from WWII who has been afraid to accept responsibility since his last big decision as a leader in the war resulted in a mistake that cost the lives of six of his men. Since then Stryker's life has been a string of jobs and a wife who, after 10 years of sharing his misery without really understanding it, has had enough and is about to leave him. That's about the first five minutes. It's downhill from here.
Stryker rushes to get on the flight with his wife and kid. Of course something goes wrong and deadly fishes cause the flight crew to pass out and it's up to Stryker to save the day...and his marriage.
Anyway, my main beef with this movie is the over acting. Every line is charged with emotion. When the wife comes into the cockpit and sees her hubby in the pilot's seat she says 'Ted, what are you doing? You can't fly the plane!' Duh, if you look around the pilots are missing. Maybe you should just get over your bitterness, dear. Dana gives a good reply though, faithfully recreated in Airplane!. For some reason the Strykers both have to be reminded that their son's life hangs in the balance. Oh and all the others in the back might like to go on living too. I guess they don't matter. Just save Joey. He's kind of annoying but okay, whatever.
Anyway, there's several parts that are ridiculous. The bitter exchanges between Treleaven and Stryker. The hyper-efficient...airport manager, I guess he is. Treleaven out dancing while he's wearing his pilot's uniform. At least Airplane! had the sense to have Kramer at home where he'd just put on his uniform out of habit. And they weren't even trying.
Jamming on the brakes when you have a lot of runway left to roll-out, the random slamming forward and left of the control column for no reason (also faithfully recreated in Airplane!), yanking the goofy looking 'emergency brake' knob so hard he almost pulled the whole panel loose, the ridiculously huge cockpit, the jumping instrument needles, even when the real pilots are flying, the over emotional delivery of almost every line - it's all just a bit too goofy for me.
There's a reason why practically nobody's seen this movie since 1957 and a reason why Airplane! slammed it mercilessly. It deserves the obscurity it gets and is deserves the beating Airplane! gives it IMO. Like it or not Zero Hour! and Airplane! are inextricably linked. Watching Zero Hour! followed by Airplane! is such a hilarious experience, it's impossible to take Zero Hour! seriously.
5/10 and I think I'm being generous.
Zero Hour! involves a former RCAF pilot from WWII who has been afraid to accept responsibility since his last big decision as a leader in the war resulted in a mistake that cost the lives of six of his men. Since then Stryker's life has been a string of jobs and a wife who, after 10 years of sharing his misery without really understanding it, has had enough and is about to leave him. That's about the first five minutes. It's downhill from here.
Stryker rushes to get on the flight with his wife and kid. Of course something goes wrong and deadly fishes cause the flight crew to pass out and it's up to Stryker to save the day...and his marriage.
Anyway, my main beef with this movie is the over acting. Every line is charged with emotion. When the wife comes into the cockpit and sees her hubby in the pilot's seat she says 'Ted, what are you doing? You can't fly the plane!' Duh, if you look around the pilots are missing. Maybe you should just get over your bitterness, dear. Dana gives a good reply though, faithfully recreated in Airplane!. For some reason the Strykers both have to be reminded that their son's life hangs in the balance. Oh and all the others in the back might like to go on living too. I guess they don't matter. Just save Joey. He's kind of annoying but okay, whatever.
Anyway, there's several parts that are ridiculous. The bitter exchanges between Treleaven and Stryker. The hyper-efficient...airport manager, I guess he is. Treleaven out dancing while he's wearing his pilot's uniform. At least Airplane! had the sense to have Kramer at home where he'd just put on his uniform out of habit. And they weren't even trying.
Jamming on the brakes when you have a lot of runway left to roll-out, the random slamming forward and left of the control column for no reason (also faithfully recreated in Airplane!), yanking the goofy looking 'emergency brake' knob so hard he almost pulled the whole panel loose, the ridiculously huge cockpit, the jumping instrument needles, even when the real pilots are flying, the over emotional delivery of almost every line - it's all just a bit too goofy for me.
There's a reason why practically nobody's seen this movie since 1957 and a reason why Airplane! slammed it mercilessly. It deserves the obscurity it gets and is deserves the beating Airplane! gives it IMO. Like it or not Zero Hour! and Airplane! are inextricably linked. Watching Zero Hour! followed by Airplane! is such a hilarious experience, it's impossible to take Zero Hour! seriously.
5/10 and I think I'm being generous.