Micron
15-11-2006, 10:41 PM
David Letterman apparently screen-tested for the role of Ted Striker.
Lloyd Bridges' "McCroskey" character is a direct spoof of his own "Jim Conrad" character from "San Francisco International Airport" (1970)
Much of the plot of "Airplane!" is taken directly from the 1954 movie "Zero Hour", even down to some of the dialogue! The filmmakers got the idea after seeing an ad for the film on TV when they were taping commercials to parody. They saw the movie as a way to wrap the commercials around as if it were a parody of the late shows on television, but when presenting the idea to a producer, he suggested just parodying the movie itself. Source: Commentary on the "Airplane!" DVD.
Singer Maureen McGovern, famous for her hit "The Morning After" from "The Poseidon Adventure," appeared in "Airplane;" not as the singing flight attendant, but rather as the nun.
The lady in the movie that "paints" her face with lipstick due to the turbulence of the plane is really one of the director's moms. In fact, he has included her in all of his movies. In The Naked Gun, she was the villain's secretary who wore the watch, grabbed the gun from her dusk and tried to kill Pap Smear. She also appeared in his movie "Ghost" as a bank teller.
The actor seen washing the windows of the plane and taking Capt. Over's credit card payment is none other than Jimmy "Dyn-o-mite!" Walker.
The rather large pair that come into view during a scene where the plane's passengers are panicking belong to Kitten Natividad, best known for her roles in the 1970s sexploitation movies of Russ Meyer, like "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens."
Towards the end, the jet knocks down a radio tower for "WZAZ - Where disco lives forever!" That was a refrence to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, who are frequently called in the industry "ZAZ".
Ethel Merman's cameo as "Lieutenant Hurwitz" was her last screen role.
Jill Whelan plays the sick girl, who was more well known as Gavin MacLeod's daughter on "Love Boat". Her mother was played by Joyce Bulifant, who played Gavin MacLeod's wife in "The Mary Tyler More Show".
William Tregoe, who played the commentator in the "Point/Counterpoint" segment played the exact same role in an earlier ZAZ movie, "Kentucky Fried Movie".
The name of the Robert Stack character in Airplane (Rex Kramer) is also the name of the "Danger Seeker" in Kentucky Fried Movie.
The Siamese twins Stan & Terry were named after the Zucker brother's lawyers.
Air Mexico was the only airline company to purchase the rights for AIRPLANE to be shown as an inflight movie. [Thanks to Mike Martin]
ZAZ wanted the plane to be propellor driven, but Paramount wanted the plane to be a modern jet. The compromise was to use a modern jet for the plane, but all of the sounds were those of a propellor airplane.
A repainted TWA Boeing 707 was used for the exterior shots.
The inflatable autopilot, "Otto," was used only for this film and is now in Jerry Zucker's private collection.
One or both of the Zucker brothers can be seen directing the plane on the runway.
One of the Hare Krishna characters was played by David Leisure. He became more famous later on in the 1980's as the car salesman "Joe Isuzu".
Arthur Hailey, who wrote "Airport" and "Zero Hour" was given writing credit.
The original script for "Airplane" was originally written in 1974 as part of "Kentucky Fried Movie", but was expanded into a full movie.
An often-missed joke in the film occurs in the scene where a lackey from the airport is sent to pick up Ted Stryker. Ted Stryker comes downstairs (oblivious to the mauling his pet dog is dealing out). We clearly see him straightening his tie in the mirror. There's a brief cut to show the dog-attack before we cut back to Ted Stryker's image in the mirror. The joke is that what *should* be his reflection steps out of the mirror into the hallway. Ingenious visual humour. Watch the scene in question and you'll get a much clearer impression of what I'm trying to describe.
The sentence "I just want to wish you both good luck, we're all counting on you", as repeatedly spoken by Leslie Nielsen in "Airplane", is also featured in "Scary Movie 3" in which Nielsen plays the president of the USA.
George Zipp (the Zipper) is based on george Gipp (the Gipper) who was an outstanding football player for Nortre dame in the 20's and was later portrayed by Ronald Reagan
When the movie is shown on TV there is of course some footage removed to make the FCC happy, but unlike most movies this one has added footage that you can only see when shown on TV. The only one I know shows the pilot calling out the engines as he starts them and then as the engines start they make a piston engine sound, Apparently, this footage was cut from the original movie, but was added to the broadcast verson to get the running time back up. By the way, you will not find this footage on the DVD.
Julie Bulifant (the mother of the sick girl) appeared on an episode of Three's Company. She was the wife of Lloyd Cross (Dick Sergeant's character) who was having an affair with Chrissy Snow.
In some parts of the world, the film is known under the title 'Flying High'.
Ironically, the theme for "Love Boat" was sung as Stryker jumped the wall and had a "Love Boat" actress in the movie!
Lloyd Bridges' "McCroskey" character is a direct spoof of his own "Jim Conrad" character from "San Francisco International Airport" (1970)
Much of the plot of "Airplane!" is taken directly from the 1954 movie "Zero Hour", even down to some of the dialogue! The filmmakers got the idea after seeing an ad for the film on TV when they were taping commercials to parody. They saw the movie as a way to wrap the commercials around as if it were a parody of the late shows on television, but when presenting the idea to a producer, he suggested just parodying the movie itself. Source: Commentary on the "Airplane!" DVD.
Singer Maureen McGovern, famous for her hit "The Morning After" from "The Poseidon Adventure," appeared in "Airplane;" not as the singing flight attendant, but rather as the nun.
The lady in the movie that "paints" her face with lipstick due to the turbulence of the plane is really one of the director's moms. In fact, he has included her in all of his movies. In The Naked Gun, she was the villain's secretary who wore the watch, grabbed the gun from her dusk and tried to kill Pap Smear. She also appeared in his movie "Ghost" as a bank teller.
The actor seen washing the windows of the plane and taking Capt. Over's credit card payment is none other than Jimmy "Dyn-o-mite!" Walker.
The rather large pair that come into view during a scene where the plane's passengers are panicking belong to Kitten Natividad, best known for her roles in the 1970s sexploitation movies of Russ Meyer, like "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens."
Towards the end, the jet knocks down a radio tower for "WZAZ - Where disco lives forever!" That was a refrence to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, who are frequently called in the industry "ZAZ".
Ethel Merman's cameo as "Lieutenant Hurwitz" was her last screen role.
Jill Whelan plays the sick girl, who was more well known as Gavin MacLeod's daughter on "Love Boat". Her mother was played by Joyce Bulifant, who played Gavin MacLeod's wife in "The Mary Tyler More Show".
William Tregoe, who played the commentator in the "Point/Counterpoint" segment played the exact same role in an earlier ZAZ movie, "Kentucky Fried Movie".
The name of the Robert Stack character in Airplane (Rex Kramer) is also the name of the "Danger Seeker" in Kentucky Fried Movie.
The Siamese twins Stan & Terry were named after the Zucker brother's lawyers.
Air Mexico was the only airline company to purchase the rights for AIRPLANE to be shown as an inflight movie. [Thanks to Mike Martin]
ZAZ wanted the plane to be propellor driven, but Paramount wanted the plane to be a modern jet. The compromise was to use a modern jet for the plane, but all of the sounds were those of a propellor airplane.
A repainted TWA Boeing 707 was used for the exterior shots.
The inflatable autopilot, "Otto," was used only for this film and is now in Jerry Zucker's private collection.
One or both of the Zucker brothers can be seen directing the plane on the runway.
One of the Hare Krishna characters was played by David Leisure. He became more famous later on in the 1980's as the car salesman "Joe Isuzu".
Arthur Hailey, who wrote "Airport" and "Zero Hour" was given writing credit.
The original script for "Airplane" was originally written in 1974 as part of "Kentucky Fried Movie", but was expanded into a full movie.
An often-missed joke in the film occurs in the scene where a lackey from the airport is sent to pick up Ted Stryker. Ted Stryker comes downstairs (oblivious to the mauling his pet dog is dealing out). We clearly see him straightening his tie in the mirror. There's a brief cut to show the dog-attack before we cut back to Ted Stryker's image in the mirror. The joke is that what *should* be his reflection steps out of the mirror into the hallway. Ingenious visual humour. Watch the scene in question and you'll get a much clearer impression of what I'm trying to describe.
The sentence "I just want to wish you both good luck, we're all counting on you", as repeatedly spoken by Leslie Nielsen in "Airplane", is also featured in "Scary Movie 3" in which Nielsen plays the president of the USA.
George Zipp (the Zipper) is based on george Gipp (the Gipper) who was an outstanding football player for Nortre dame in the 20's and was later portrayed by Ronald Reagan
When the movie is shown on TV there is of course some footage removed to make the FCC happy, but unlike most movies this one has added footage that you can only see when shown on TV. The only one I know shows the pilot calling out the engines as he starts them and then as the engines start they make a piston engine sound, Apparently, this footage was cut from the original movie, but was added to the broadcast verson to get the running time back up. By the way, you will not find this footage on the DVD.
Julie Bulifant (the mother of the sick girl) appeared on an episode of Three's Company. She was the wife of Lloyd Cross (Dick Sergeant's character) who was having an affair with Chrissy Snow.
In some parts of the world, the film is known under the title 'Flying High'.
Ironically, the theme for "Love Boat" was sung as Stryker jumped the wall and had a "Love Boat" actress in the movie!