AIRPLANE! Reboot

[Marc]

...and not about the rather contemporary Airport movie craze in the 70s and 80s.

A remake of Spaceballs as a Star Wars parody or Hot Shots! as a Top Gun pardoy would also be pointless by now.

This. Does anyone even remember the wave of disaster movies that was so popular back then?

But some those weren't exactly low budget no-name films either - the Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure are two that come to mind.

Oh and I wonder, while Airplane was a spoof remake, I wonder whether the Airport series of films made throughout the 70s (the first at least was from and Arthur Hailey book) were a factor as well.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

It's been awhile since I listened to the commentary tracks, but on either the Airplane or Kentucky Fried Movie track, ZAZ considered naming the movie Free Popcorn, thinking the trouble it would cause at theaters could be funny.

 

[Christopher]

"Young Frankenstein" was a spoof movie that got remade into a successful Broadway musical.

That's an adaptation rather than a remake. "Remake" implies the same medium. For instance, the Broadway version of The Producers was an adaptation of the original film, and the second film of The Producers was an adaptation of the stage musical, but the second film could also be called a remake of the first film. (Ditto for Little Shop of Horrors or Hairspray.)

Oh and I wonder, while Airplane was a spoof remake, I wonder whether the Airport series of films made throughout the 70s (the first at least was from and Arthur Hailey book) were a factor as well.

Definitely -- that's the trend/subgenre that Airplane! was lampooning. And Zero Hour!, the film of which Airplane! was a remake, was written by Hailey.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

What are some of the original cast doing these days? A few have died (Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Stephen Stucker, I think Robert Stack as well), I saw Julie Hagerty on SVU a few years ago, but I don't remember Robert Hays doing much acting recently...

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ He never did any acting.

They should do a movie called Airplane! The Remake! and have a bunch of TV stars from ten years ago spend two hours arguing about the difference between a reboot and a remake and whether any of them are worthy of replacing guys like Leslie Nielsen and Peter Graves.

 

[Captaindemotion]

The problem is that not one of the recent bunch of spoofs - Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans - had as many laugh-out-loud jokes or as much wit in their entire combined running time than you had in any two minutes of Airplane.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

The problem is that not one of the recent bunch of spoofs - Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans - had as many laugh-out-loud jokes or as much wit in their entire combined running time than you had in any two minutes of Airplane.

Well Airplane (and Top Secret, my favorite) were made as if they were regular movies with a real (if ridiculous at times) story. One story. The newer movies, even setting aside the quality of their jokes, seem more interested in going for references to popular things even if it doesn't really fit the movie.

I agree with what Christopher said earlier about why Police Squad works so much better than the Naked Gun films. For me the great run was Airplane - Police Squad - Top Secret.

Edited to add: On the commentary track for Airplane, ZAZ discuss which of the cast got what the movie was and who didn't. Unfortunately at this point I don't recall any specifics, but there's no way you could make such a movie now with cast members not really understanding the nature of the film.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ That's right. In Airplane and its ilk, the Zuckers just kept throwing joke after joke at the viewer, all of which worked within the context of the movie. The modern-day equivalents just keep throwing in reference after reference to other contemporary movies. Which is about 0.5% as funny, if I'm generous.

 

[JarodRussell]

^ That's right. In Airplane and its ilk, the Zuckers just kept throwing joke after joke at the viewer, all of which worked within the context of the movie. The modern-day equivalents just keep throwing in reference after reference to other contemporary movies. Which is about 0.5% as funny, if I'm generous.

And they're also not really good at that, with bad timing, bad punchlines, etc...

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Indeed.

 

[Owain Taggart]

^ That's right. In Airplane and its ilk, the Zuckers just kept throwing joke after joke at the viewer, all of which worked within the context of the movie. The modern-day equivalents just keep throwing in reference after reference to other contemporary movies. Which is about 0.5% as funny, if I'm generous.

And they're also not really good at that, with bad timing, bad punchlines, etc...

Yeah, and it's also why they'll never be considered timeless, as the references will quickly be out of date and the movie won't hold up. They surely don't hold up even now!

 

[Alrik]

...and not about the rather contemporary Airport movie craze in the 70s and 80s.

A remake of Spaceballs as a Star Wars parody or Hot Shots! as a Top Gun pardoy would also be pointless by now.

This. Does anyone even remember the wave of disaster movies that was so popular back then?

But some those weren't exactly low budget no-name films either - the Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure are two that come to mind.

Don't forget 1974's Oscar winning Earthquake. It starred Charton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, and Walter Mathau...just to name a few.

 

[Marc]

This. Does anyone even remember the wave of disaster movies that was so popular back then?

But some those weren't exactly low budget no-name films either - the Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure are two that come to mind.

Don't forget 1974's Oscar winning Earthquake. It starred Charton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, and Walter Mathau...just to name a few.

Hadn't heard of Earthquake. Also wasn't George Kennedy also in Airport?

But overall if Hollywood is to believed, the 1970s wheren't a good time to be in tall buildings, on the ground in California?, in the skies or at sea (though iirc Poseidon Adventure was set in the 50s).

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ No, I don't think that's right. Pretty sure it was set when it was made, ie in the 1970s.

Also, Leslie Nielsen was the captain in Poseidon, which is how he got cast in Airplane.

 

[Alrik]

[
Hadn't heard of Earthquake. Also wasn't George Kennedy also in Airport?

But overall if Hollywood is to believed, the 1970s wheren't a good time to be in tall buildings, on the ground in California?, in the skies or at sea (though iirc Poseidon Adventure was set in the 50s).

Yeah. I remember the hype made that Earthquake was being presented in "Sensurround".

Yes, George Kennedy was in Airport, Airport '75, Airport '77, and The Concorde-Airport '79.

BTW, The Poseidon Adventure was set in modern day, however, keep in mind that modern day was 1972.