Airplane! (1980) Cert PG. Director - Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker. Writer - .Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker Starring - Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges & Leslie Nielsen.

Premise - When the cabin crew and half the passengers of a jumbo jet are stricken with food poisoning, only ex-fighter pilot Robert Hays can save the day. And have a few laughs along the way. Officially the funniest film ever made (according to the Statto Motion Picture Academy). Airplane! is a non-stop barrage of sight gags and clever spoofs that always leaves you breathless (from laughing) and satisfied. So many lines from this film have become the stuff of comedy legend. "Don't call me Shirley!", “"uess I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.", "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" and "Excuse me stewardess. I speak jive!", are just a sample of the white-hot script dreamt up by this writing team. A writing team who went on from this film to give us the Naked Gun movies and others of it's ilk. One of the reasons that this movie is so damn funny is the use of normally straight actors in comic roles. Who needs the over the top performance of say Jim Carrey, when you could have Peter Graves and Robert Stack delivering some blisteringly dead pan comic lines. I should also be remembered that at the time Leslie Nielsen was almost exclusively a straight actor. Now when you think Leslie Nielsen, you immediately think of detective Frank Drebin from Police Squad. Although Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty kind of disappeared into b-movie obscurity, their contribution shouldn't be overlooked. Their performances are at the very heart of the film and the film wouldn't have worked half as well if they didn't produce the goods. The direction from the Zuckers and Abraham's' is also an important factor. A lot of the films laughs come from sight gags such as when Lloyd Bridges says that the s**t's gonna hit the fan. Behind him an actual steamy one hits a fan. It's testament to their good work that so many of these gags are pulled of with spot on comic timing. There is no question in my mind that Airplane! is the funniest film ever made. It's amazing that this film, now 21 years old, still makes me laugh as hard as it did the first time I seen it. I wonder of some of today's hit comedies will be doing the same 21 years from now?