Airplane! (1980)

Second viewing; first seen on an unremembered date, certainly prior to 1987.

Based on the television movie Flight Into Danger (1956), written by Arthur Hailey, by way of its theatrical remake Zero Hour! (1957).

The pilot and most of the passengers and crew of an airplane suffer food poisoning, and the only person who might be able to fly it is a war pilot whose sole flying experience was with one-engine planes.

An analytical study the scope of which is ample, ranging from verbal play in the Marx Brothers' tradition to the semiotically-oriented taking apart of fully cinematic structures. It took guts to make a film like this; its success has made its innovations rather commonplace, yet beyond its groundbreaking role it stands as a solid work, with very smart casting decisions, and overall agreeable comicity. The general reaction of the critics reflects a certain zeitgeist acknowledging the exhaustion of cinematic formulas.

Rating: 73 (up from 66)