Parody movies are tough to execute. They need to be funny with lots of nods to the source material and jokes at their own expense. But, they must have a kernel of intelligence to avoid becoming too absurd to the point of ludicrousness. One of the movies that surely fits that bill is Airplane!.
The parody about a man who is afraid of flying and must land a plane safely when the pilot becomes ill was written and directed by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams. The ensemble cast is led by Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, and Robert Stack, among others.
The two Zuckers and Abraham wrote the movie while they were performing with the Kentucky Fried Theatre group. As part of their search for material, they would record late night TV looking for bits from commercials. One night they recorded the 1957 movie Zero Hour! about a commercial flight that must do an early landing in heavy fog when several people get food poisoning. Using that movie as a template, Abraham and the Zuckers wrote their initial draft of the parody Airplane! in 1975.
The trio, however, acknowledged that they did not have enough understanding of the filmmaking process to properly write a script. To avoid being sued for copyright, given how closely Airplane! followed Zero Hour!, they obtained the rights from Warner Bros. and Paramount. But once the script was completed they struggled to sell it.
Director John Landis encouraged them to write a movie based on their sketch comedy, which became The Kentucky Fried Movie. When that went into production, they had their first experience on a movie set and learned the ropes of the industry. They also discovered that getting a movie to be what they wanted, the trio had to direct it themselves.
The script for Airplane! caught the attention of Michael Eisner at Paramount and he contacted Abraham and the Zuckers to make the film. From the start, Paramount made a few important changes, first making the movie in color rather than in black and white as it was originally planned. Paramount also wanted it to be set in a jet airliner instead of a propeller plane so that it would add to the appeal for modern viewers. The Zuckers and Abraham suggested casting serious actors rather than comedians to fit the desired tone.
Airplane! was filmed from late June through late August in 1979 with the trio taking their place behind the camera as they had wanted. It was released throughout the U.S. and Canada in July 1980, grossing $6 million in the first week. It went on to make $83 million in those countries and became the fourth highest grossing movie of 1980. It was definitely funny to viewers and not a crash landing.
