I loved Airplane! when I first saw it in 1980! It was silly and snarky and uproariously funny. I have watched Airplane! several times over the decades and it still makes me laugh.
The film directors, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, who brought Airplane to the silver screen, deliver an uproarious account of the making of their ground-breaking film, which, in the words of Abrahams, elevated “stupidity to an art form.”
This clever book, like Airplane! and many other ZAZ productions, is multilayered and full of surprises. The authors tell how they created the sketch comedy group Kentucky Fried Theater in Wisconsin before moving the operation to Los Angeles and gaining a wide following. They also write about their beginnings in filmmaking, including their relationship with director John Landis.
Surely You Can’t Be Serious features numerous photographs, stills from Airplane!, published reviews, and comments from David Letterman, the creators of South Park, and other comedians and actors who react to the massive significance of Airplane! I forgot about the role the strait-laced and largely forgotten airline drama Zero Hour! had on the structure and spoofs of Airplane!
Even more astounding was how the young, virtually unknown trio of would-be directors and screenwriters convinced actors like Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges to keep playing it straight while uttering their ridiculous lines. The authors recount tales of their adventures with Paramount Studios, how Airplane! changed the public perception of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the lasting fondness for the film’s stars, particularly their longtime colleague Stephen Stucker.
I really appreciated the detailed backstory of ZAZ’s journey from Milwaukee to Hollywood and the process of getting Airplane! to Paramount and in theaters despite many problems. If you’re a fan of Airplane! you’ll enjoy the backstory of how the iconic movie got made. Highly recommended! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION — 1
The premiere — 3
“Get me Rex Kramer!” — 5
Kentucky Fried Theater — 18
Bob and Julie — 36
Madison — 50
Leslie. — 58
Dial-A-Fart — 66
Hollywood — 76
Stucker — 90
The Tonight Show — 112
Zero Hour! — 123
Landis — 132
Kentucky Fried Movie — 148
Beaver’s Mom — 158
The movie business — 169
Back to the drawing board — 178
The studios — 190
Michael Eisner — 198
Paramount — 213
Howard — 238
Kareem — 246
Culver City Studios — 259
There are no rules — 283
Postproduction — 303
Success at last — 321
EPILOGUE — 338
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 344
Still fun to watch after 40-plus years. Some years back, TCM or another channel was airing “Zero Hour”—and by complete coincidence we happened to have it on in the background. After a few minutes, I was saying, “Wait—this is like the dialog from ‘Airplane’ only played straight.” Then the hero’s wife said, “I had…the fish!” and I knew where ZAZ got their inspiration.
Deb, ZAZ were inspired, but getting Hollywood to buy into their vision of comedy was a struggle!
I saw ZERO HOUR at the movies back in 1957, and, by an eerie coincidence, watched it again just last week!
Dan, serendipity strikes when movies are involved! You would love SURELY YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS with all of its twists and turns. It’s amazing AIRPLANE! got made at all!
I read Arthur Hailey’s FLIGHT INTO DANGER (in the paperback retitled RUNWAY ZERO-EIGHT) and saw ZERO HOUR both long before I saw AIRPLANE!; they made me appreciate the film even more. I may have to watch AIRPLANE! again later this afternoon.
Jerry, AIRPLANE! rocked my world back in 1980. So clever, so different!
And Flight into Danger began as a tv script. Hailey got a lot of frequent-flier points out of that property even before AIRPLANE! and sequels…I assume you’ve seen Kentucky Fried Movie…
Todd, I’m familiar with FLIGHT INTO DANGER and KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE. I’m always surprised to learn how movies come about…so much confusion!
I have a DVD of it and I have it saved on the DVR. A classic.
And don’t call me Shirley!
Jeff, I have AIRPLANE! on DVD, too. But, AIRPLANE! shows up on cable TV from time to time.
David Zucker is going to speak/be interviewed at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books on Nov. 3rd.
As you know, Airplane has lots of devoted fans. This should be VERY well-attended.
Beth, if I was in Wisconsin on November 3rd I’d go see David Zucker and hear what he has to say. Brilliant guy!
And let’s not forget how the movie totally changed the trajectory of Leslie Nielsen’s career. By 1980, he was basically just a second-tier leading man whose best days were behind him—but with “Airplane”, a whole new avenue of comedy opened for him and kept him busy right up to his death. In fact, whenever I catch him in one of his straight roles from the 1960s or 70s, I keep waiting for the “and don’t call me Shirley” moment.
Deb, you’re right. Leslie Nielsen’s career really took off with the NAKED GUN franchise! Nielsen’s deadpan delivery makes me laugh every time!
A widely retold version of the below had Bridges asking “Where is the joke?” in several scenes, and Stack replying, “We are the joke.”
DAVID ZUCKER
Lloyd Bridges was trying to make sense out of his dialogue, and that was a big mistake. He wanted to change it. But fortunately, Robert Stack was there, and Stack said, “Lloyd, just keep talking. They’re not looking at us.” You know, spears are going in the wall, watermelons are crashing down. “Just keep talking.” And I think he got it after a while.
JERRY ZUCKER
Leslie Nielsen later said, “I would have paid them to do this.” I mean, he just loved it. And he’s such a comedian. Peter Graves thought it was the most disgusting script he’d ever read, but for some reason his family really liked it. And he was just in for a penny, in for a pound. And Stack would always say, “I get it. We’re the stooges.” You know, HE was the joke. They all had different reactions to it, but in the end, when they saw the movie, that’s when they really got it.
Todd, the cast of AIRPLANE! amazes me each time I watch the movie!
I like this type of comedy much more than the Mel Brooks’ brand!
Bob, I agree with you. I’ve never been a Mel Brooks fan.
You know, I see a fair amount of kinship between the ZAZ and Brooks films. But Brooks has released an even more uneven set…I remain amused that Brooks chose to remake Fred Allen’s and Jack Benny’s best films…and those were among Brooks’s better efforts (Allen’s IT’S IN THE BAG and Brooks’s THE TWELVE CHAIRS…and Benny and Brooks’s TO BE OR NOT TO BE).
Todd, I have some of those Benny and Brooks old TV DVDs around here someplace…