Airplane! 1980 Film | Calm Bedtime Reading For Sleep
Drift off with a calm bedtime reading about the 1980 film Airplane!, designed to support sleep and ease insomnia through gentle, unhurried storytelling. This calm bedtime reading helps quiet the mind at night, offering a peaceful way to relax into sleep if insomnia or restless nights tend to keep you awake, while Benjamin softly explores the background, humor, and cultural impact of the film in a soothing, steady cadence. In this episode, you can learn something new while unwinding, with no whispering or special techniques, just calm, educational reading meant to slow your thoughts. This episode is ideal for easing stress, reducing anxiety, and creating a comforting bedtime routine during restless nights. Press play, get comfortable, and let the gentle facts carry you toward rest. Happy sleeping!
Transcript
Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,
Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.
I'm your host,
Benjamin Boster,
And today's episode is about the movie Airplane.
Airplane,
Alternatively titled Flying High,
Is a 1980 American disaster parody slapstick comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker in their directional debut,
And produced by John Davison.
It stars Robert Hayes and Julie Haggerty,
And features Leslie Nielsen,
Robert Stack,
Lloyd Bridges,
Peter Graves,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
And Lorna Patterson.
It is a parody of the disaster film genre,
Particularly the 1957 Paramount film Zero Hour,
From which it borrows the plot,
Central characters,
And some dialogue.
It also draws many elements from Airport 1975 and other films in the Airport series.
It is known for using surreal humor and fast-paced slapstick comedy,
Including visual and verbal puns,
Gags,
Running jokes,
And satirical sharp overtones.
Released by Paramount Pictures,
It was a critical and commercial success,
Grossing $171 million worldwide against a budget of $3.
5 million.
The creators received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Comedy,
And nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture,
Musical,
Or Comedy,
And for the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.
Since its release,
The film's reputation has grown substantially,
And Airplane is now considered one of the greatest comedy films ever made,
Inspiring numerous references,
Homages,
And further parodies in popular culture.
It ranked 6th on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
In a 2007 survey by Channel 4 and the United Kingdom,
It was judged the second greatest comedy of all time,
Behind Monty Python's Life of Brian.
In 2008,
It was selected by Empire Magazine as one of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time,
And in 2012 was voted No.
1 on the 50 Funniest Comedies Ever poll.
In 2010,
It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally,
Historically,
Or aesthetically significant.
Ex-fighter pilot Ted Stryker is a traumatized war veteran turned taxi driver.
Because of his pathological fear of flying and subsequent drinking problem,
He splashes beverages anywhere but into his mouth.
Ted has been unable to hold a responsible job.
His wartime girlfriend,
Elaine Dickinson,
Now a flight attendant,
Breaks off her relationship with him before boarding her rostered flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Ted abandons his taxi and buys a ticket on the same flight to try to win her back.
Once on board,
However,
Elaine continues to reject him.
After the in-flight meal is served,
The entire flight crew and several passengers fall ill.
Passenger Dr.
Rumack discovers that the fish served during meal service has caused food poisoning.
With the flight crew incapacitated,
Elaine contacts the Chicago control tower for help and is instructed by tower supervisor Steve McCroskey to activate the plane's autopilot,
A large,
Inflatable dummy pilot dubbed Auto,
Which will get them to Chicago but cannot land the plane.
Elaine and Rumack convince Ted to take the controls.
When Steve learns Ted is piloting,
He contacts Ted's former commanding officer,
Rex Kramer,
Now serving as a commercial pilot,
To help talk Ted through the landing procedure.
Ted becomes uneasy when Kramer starts giving orders,
And he briefly breaks down amid more wartime flashbacks.
Elaine and Rumack both bolster Ted's confidence,
And he manages to once again take the controls.
As a plane near Chicago,
The weather worsens,
Complicating the landing.
With Elaine's help as co-pilot and Rex's guidance from the tower,
Ted is able to land the plane safely despite the landing gear shearing off,
And the passengers suffer only minor injuries.
Rescue vehicles arrive to help unload the plane.
Impressed by Ted's courage,
Elaine embraces and kisses him,
Rekindling their relationship.
Auto restarts the plane and takes off as a female companion inflates beside him.
Lorna Patterson as Randy Robert Stack as Captain Rex Kramer Steven Stucker as Air Traffic Controller Johnny Henshaw Jacobs Frank Ashmore as Flight Engineer Victor Basta Jonathan Banks as Gunderson Craig Berenson as Paul Carey Barbara Billingsley as Jive Lady Lee Bryant as Mrs.
Hammond Nicholas Pryor as Jim Hammond Joyce Boulifant as Mrs.
Davis Maureen McGovern as Nun Kenneth Tobey as Air Controller Neubauer Marcy Goldman as Mrs.
Gilleen Barbara Stewart as Mrs.
Kramer Ross Harris as Joey Hammond Norman Alexander Gibbs as First Jive Dude Hal White as Second Jive Dude David Hollander as Young Boy with Coffee Michelle Stacey as Young Girl with Coffee David Leisure as First Krishna Jason Wingreen as Dr.
Brody Jill Wellen as Lisa Davis Ethel Merman as Lt.
Hurwitz Lee Terry as Mrs.
Linda O'Vere Jimmy Walker as Windshield Wiperman James Hong as Japanese General Howard Jarvis as Man in Taxi Michelle Lawrence as Newscaster Herb Voland as Air Controller Macias Otto as himself Jerry Zucker,
Jim Abrahams,
And David Zucker,
Collectively known as Zucker,
Abrahams,
And Zucker,
Or Zazz,
Wrote Airplane while they were performing with the Kentucky Fright Theater,
A theater group they had founded in 1971.
To obtain material for comedy routines,
They routinely recorded late-night television and reviewed the tapes later primarily to pull the commercials,
A process Abrahams compared to signing for fish.
During one such taping process,
They unintentionally recorded the 1957 film Zero Hour,
And while scanning the commercials,
Found it to be a perfectly classically structured film,
According to Jerry Zucker.
Abrahams later described Zero Hour as the serious version of Airplane.
It was the first film script they wrote,
Completed around 1975,
And was originally called The Late Show.
The script originally stayed close to the dialogue and plot of Zero Hour,
As Zazz thought they did not have a sufficient understanding of film at the time to structure a proper script.
Zazz's script borrowed so much from Zero Hour that they believed they needed to negotiate the rights to create the remake of the film and ensure they remain within the allowance for parody within copyright law.
They were able to obtain the rights from Warner Brothers and Paramount for about $2,
500 at the time.
The original script contained spoofs of television commercials,
But people who proofread it advised them to shorten the commercials,
And they eventually removed them.
When their script was finished,
They were unable to sell it.
While failing to sell the script,
The trio met director John Landis,
Who encouraged them to write a film based on their theater sketches.
They managed to put The Kentucky Fried Movie into production in the late 1970s.
David Zucker said it was the first time we had ever been on a movie set.
We learned a lot.
We learned that if you really wanted a movie to come out the way you wanted it to,
You had to direct.
So on the next movie,
Airplane,
We insisted on directing.
Eventually,
The Airplane script found its way to Paramount through Michael Eisner,
Who had learned of the script via Susan Berwald,
Another script writer with United Artists,
And had Jeffrey Katzenberg track down and meet with Zsasz to discuss details.
Avco Embassy Pictures also expressed interest in producing the film,
But Zsasz decided to go with Paramount.
Paramount insisted the film be shot in color rather than black and white,
As Zsasz wanted,
And to be set aboard a jet airliner rather than propeller plane to better identify with modern filmgoers.
In exchange,
Paramount acquiesced to Zsasz's desire to cast serious actors for the film rather than comedy performers.
Principal photography began on June 20,
1979,
And wrapped on August 31,
With the bulk of filming having been done in August.
Jerry Zucker stood beside the camera during shooting,
While David Zucker and Jim Abrahams watched the video feed to see how the film would look.
They conferred after each take.
David Zucker explained that the trick was to cast actors like Robert Stack,
Leslie Nielsen,
Peter Graves,
And Lloyd Bridges.
These were people who up to that time had never done comedy.
We thought they were much funnier than the comedians of that time were.
David Zucker felt Stack was the most important actor to be cast,
Since he was the linchpin of the film's plot.
Stack initially played his role in a way that was different from what the directors had in mind.
They showed him a tape of impressionist John Biner impersonating Robert Stack.
According to the producers,
Stack was doing an impression of John Biner doing an impression of Stack.
Stack was not initially interested in the part,
But Zaz persuaded him.
Bridges' children advised him to take the part.
Graves rejected the script at first,
Considering it tasteless.
For the role of Dr.
Rumack,
Zaz initially suggested Dom DeLuise,
Christopher Lee,
Vincent Price,
And Jack Webb,
All of whom turned it down before they considered Nielsen,
Who was just a fish in water in his role,
According to Jerry Zucker.
Nielsen's career to this point had consisted mostly of serious leading roles,
But he had wanted to work in comedy and had been looking for a film to help in the transition.
He was considered a closet comedian on set,
Pranking his fellow actors between shots,
But immediately adopted his somber,
Serious persona when performing as Rumack.
During filming,
Nielsen used a device that made farting noises to keep the cast off-balance.
Hayes said that Nielsen played that thing like a maestro.
Christopher Lee would later acknowledge that turning down the role to star in the film 1941 was a huge mistake.
The role of Ted Stryker was written for David Letterman,
Who had auditioned for a news anchorman role in Kentucky Fried Movie.
Letterman did a screen test in 1979 that Zaz liked,
And they wanted him to do a second audition,
But Letterman did not want to pursue the role and was not selected.
Chevy Chase,
Barry Manilow,
Bill Murray,
And Fred Willard were also considered for the role.
Caitlyn Jenner also read for the part.
Instead,
Zaz opted for Robert Hayes,
Co-star of ABC situation comedy Angie.
Elaine's part was auditioned for by Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Long,
But eventually went to Julie Haggerty.
The directors advised the pair to play their roles straight.
Hayes and Haggerty developed an on-screen chemistry that worked in the film's favor.
They spent time to practice and perfect the bar dance routine set to Stayin' Alive,
Among other scenes.
For the Red Zone-White Zone send-up of curbside terminal announcements,
In which public address announcers Betty and Vernon argue over the Red and White Zones,
Zaz went through the usual process of auditioning professional voice actors,
But failed to find ones who could provide the desired authenticity.
Instead,
The filmmakers ultimately sought out and hired the real-life married couple who had recorded the announcement tapes,
Which were then being used at Los Angeles International Airport.
Zaz lifted some of their dialogue directly from the 1968 novel Airport,
Written by Arthur Haley,
Who had also written Zero Hour's script.
David Zucker said the couple got a kick out of it.
The role of the Hare Krishna in the airport went to a college roommate of Hayes's,
Newcomer David Leisure,
Due to Leisure's willingness to shave his head for the bit part.
It would be several more years before Leisure landed his breaking role as Joe Isuzu.
Baseball player Pete Rose was originally considered for the role of Roger Murdoch.
Zaz got businessman and Republican politician Howard Jarvis to make a cameo appearance.
Jarvis,
Who was well-known in California at the time for getting his tax policy Proposition 13 passed in 1978,
Plays the patient passenger who gets into Ted Stryker's cab at the start of the film.
He then spends the entire movie sitting in an empty cab with the meter running.
He also has the final line,
Which he says after the end credits.
He looks at his watch and says,
Well,
I'll give him another 20 minutes,
But that's it.
A joke being that Jarvis was wasting money while being known for his stance on fiscal responsibility and limited spending.
The film's score was composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein,
Who had provided soundtracks for classical films like The Ten Commandments.
The Magnificent Seven.
To Kill a Mockingbird.
And The Great Escape.
And performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony.
Zaz told Bernstein they did not want an epic score like his past works,
But a B-movie level score,
Overdone and corny.
According to Zaz,
Bernstein completely understood what they were trying to do,
Had laughed throughout a previous cut of the film,
And wrote a fantastic score.
In 1980,
An LP soundtrack for the film was released by Regency Records,
Which includes dialogue and song from the film.
Narrated by Shadoo Stephens,
It features only one score track,
The love theme from Airplane,
Composed by Bernstein.
The soundtrack was altered for the European Flying High release,
With several featured tracks swapped for pieces original to the LP.
In April 2009,
La La Land Records announced it would release the first official soundtrack album for Airplane,
Containing Bernstein's complete score.
The soundtrack was released digitally on February 19,
2013,
By Paramount Music.
Prior to the film's release,
The directors were apprehensive following a mediocre audience response at a pre-screening,
But the film earned its entire budget of about $3.
5 million in its first five days of wide release.
Airplane opened on June 27,
1980 in seven theaters in Toronto,
Grossing $83,
058 in its opening weekend.
It also opened in two theaters in Buffalo,
Grossing $14,
000 in its first week.
The film then expanded on Wednesday,
July 2nd to 705 theaters in the United States and Canada,
Grossing $6,
052,
514 in its first five days of wide release,
Finishing second for the weekend with a gross of $4,
540,
000.
Overall,
It grossed $83 million at the U.
S.
And Canadian box office and returned $40 million in rentals,
Making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1980.
Worldwide,
The film earned $130 million in its initial release,
And by 2002 it had made $171 million.
Airplane emerged in 1980 as a sharply perceptive parody of the big-budget disaster films that dominated Hollywood during the 1970s and introduced a much-needed deflating assessment of the tendency of theatrical film producers to push successful formulaic movie conventions beyond the point of logic.
Library of Congress Airplane received universal acclaim from critics and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1980.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes,
97% of 73 critics' reviews are positive,
With an average rating of 8.
5 out of 10.
The website's consensus reads,
Though unabashedly juvenile and silly,
Airplane is nevertheless an uproarious,
Spoofy comedy full of quotable lines and slapstick gags that endure to this day.
Metacritic,
Which uses a weighted average,
Assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100,
Based on 18 critics,
Indicating generally favorable reviews.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote,
Airplane is sophomoric,
Obvious,
Predictable,
Corny,
And quite often very funny.
And the reason it's funny is frequently because it's sophomoric,
Predictable,
Corny,
Etc.
Janet Maslin of the New York Times wrote,
Airplane is more than a pleasant surprise,
As a remedy for the bloated self-importance of too many other current efforts.
It's just what the doctor ordered.
In 2008,
Airplane was selected by Empire magazine as one of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
It was also placed on a similar list,
The best 1,
000 movies ever made by the New York Times.
In November 2015,
The film ranked fourth in the Writers Guild of America's list of 101 funniest screenplays.
MaximOnline.
Com named the Airplane crash in Airplane as number four on its list of most horrific movie plane crashes.
Leslie Nelson's response to Hayes' Surely You Can't Be Serious line,
I am serious,
And don't call me Shirley,
Was 79th on AFI's list of the best 100 movie quotes.
In 2000,
The American Film Institute listed Airplane as number 10 on its list of the 100 funniest American films.
In the same year,
Total Film Readers voted it the second greatest comedy film of all time.
It was also second in the British 50 Greatest Comedy Films poll on Channel 4,
Beaten by Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Entertainment Weekly voted the film the funniest movie on video,
In their list of the 100 funniest movies on video.
A number of actors were cast to spoof their established images.
Prior to their roles in Airplane,
Nielsen,
Stack,
And Bridges were known for portraying adventurous,
No-nonsense tough-guy characters.
Stack's role as the captain who loses his nerve in one of the earliest airline disaster films,
The High and the Mighty,
1954,
Is spoofed in Airplane.
As is Lloyd Bridges' 1970-1971 television role as airport manager Jim Conrad in San Francisco International Airport.
Peter Graves was in the made-for-television film S.
S.
T.
Death Flight,
In which an S.
S.
T.
Was unable to land owing to an emergency.
Nielsen enjoyed a major career boost subsequent to Airplane's release.
The film marked a significant change in his film persona towards deadpan comedy,
Notably in the three Naked Gun films,
The Naked Gun from The Files of Police Squad,
1988,
The Naked Gun Two and a Half,
The Smell of Fear,
1991,
And Naked Gun 33 and a Third,
The Final Insult,
1994.
The films were based on the six-episode television series Police Squad,
Which starred Nielsen and was created and produced by Zucker Abraham Zucker.
This also led to his casting many years later in Mel Brooks' Dracula,
Dead and Loving It.
Brooks had wanted to make the film for a long time,
But put it off because,
As he said,
I just could not find the right Dracula.
According to Brooks,
He did not see Airplane until years after its release.
When he did,
He knew Nielsen would be right for the part.
When it was suggested that his role in Airplane was against type,
Nielsen protested that he had always been cast against type before and that comedy was what he always really wanted to do.
Peter Farrelly said of the film,
I was in Rhode Island the first time I saw Airplane.
Seeing it for the first time was like going to a great rock concert,
Like seeing Led Zeppelin or the Talking Heads.
We didn't realize until later that what we'd seen was a very specific kind of comedy that we now called the Zucker Abraham Zucker School.
Farrelly,
Along with his writing partner Bennett Yellen,
Sent a comedy script to David Zucker,
Who in return gave them their first Hollywood writing job.
Farrelly said,
I'll tell you right now,
If the Zuckers didn't exist,
There would be no Farrelly Brothers.
On the Family Guy episode,
Prick Up Your Ears Stewie is told to calm down by a line of characters holding various weapons,
Mimicking a scene from the movie.
In the episode Airport 07,
Hugh Hefner gives Quagmire a motivation speech while playing the Notre Dame Victory March,
Another reference.
The Mythbusters TV show episode Airplane Hour reenacted the climax of the film to see if an inexperienced pilot could land a plane with only a call from air traffic control.
The Mythbusters had to use a simulation to test the myth,
But concluded that the scene was plausible.
They did,
However,
Mention that most planes today have an autopilot to land the plane safely.
5.0 (24)
Recent Reviews
Beth
January 17, 2026
Its a funny movie if you like slapstick comedy of course. Thanks for doing a bedtime story about it Benjamin! 😻😻
Kyrill
January 10, 2026
Great. Almost fell asleep. Going to watch this movie soon again
Sandy
January 8, 2026
Airplane! was me and my dad's favorite movie. He and I would quote it all the time. "Don't call me Shirley!" Thank you for reading that.