Airplane!

Sophomoric, pugnacious and relentlessly hilarious, Airplane! is the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof of airplane disaster films, particularly Airport (1970). It is also the film that made heretofore serious thespian Leslie Nielsen one of the most popular slapstick film comedians of the '80s and '90s. The goofy plot centers on the struggle to safely land a jumbo jet after its entire crew is stricken with a case of ptomaine poisoning. The only one who can possibly save them is an alcoholic ex-fighter pilot with a fear of flying. Though his girlfriend, a flight attendant, and a doctor try to help him through his fears, the situation is critical due to increasingly hysterical passengers and the impossibly garbled instructions. Aboard the plane are the usual disaster movie characters (most of them television performers ranging from Barbara Billingsly ("June Cleaver") to Lloyd Bridges to Jimmie Walker.The final credits are among the film's highlights. A silly sequel followed in 1982.