This past weekend I watching Airplane which came out in 1980. I had never seen this film before, but I had certainly heard about it. I knew the film used a bit of absurd humor, but I had no idea what I was in for.
Airplane circles around the story of a man, Ted Striker, who is in love with a flight attendant, Elaine Dickinson. He follows her onto a plane after she ends their relationship and wild events ensue. Specifically, the pilots become ill and Striker (having been a pilot in the war) has to land the plane safely.
I really enjoyed this movie. I felt, even though the humor was somewhat immature, it takes very intelligent writers to come up with the content of the film.
In the year 2010 (30 years later) people still reference this film as being one of the best comedies made. It certainly has stood up over the years and is a cultural staple of the decade.
Since the movie was made in 1980, as I watched I felt it had a lot of influence from the 70s. One movie that was parodied (Saturday Night Fever) was a famous movie from the 70s and a large section of the movie took place in that time. I felt the styles of clothes and hair were also very 70s throughout the film. This is most likely due to the fact that the decade had just changed and the culture was still very similar to the 70s.
For people who like and can appreciate this type of silly humor I would certainly recommend Airplane. I was laughing the whole time and had an overall happy feeling once the movie ended. It won't change your life or leave you thinking, but it will stick with you in a positive way that exemplifies a filming style unique to the 80s.
This trailer pretty much sums up the absurdity of the film and prepares views for what they are about to experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaXvFT_UyI8
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