“Airplane!”

Otto the Autopilot, Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays in “Airplane!” (Paramount, 1980)

“Airplane!” (Paramount, 1980). Completely juvenile and completely awesome. This satire on the “Airport” disaster film series along with many other things from the 1970s couldn’t be any funnier. Robert Hays plays Ted, a war vet who is trying to get back together with his girlfriend Elaine, played by Julie Hagerty. Ted used to be an ace pilot, but hasn’t been able to get on an airplane since the war. In order to win back Elaine, he books a flight on the fated jumbo jet where Elaine is working as a flight attendant. When food poisoning wipes out all of three of the pilots and many of the passengers, it’s up to Ted to land the plane. With all of the standard disaster movie passengers, every cliche in the book, and hilarious deadpan performances by Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack, this is one fun and funny movie. Written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. “I haven’t felt this awful since we saw that Ronald Reagan film.”