Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! (alternatively titled Flying High!) is a 1980 American satirical disaster film written and directed by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, and produced by Jon Davison. It stars Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty and features Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lorna Patterson. The film is a parody of the disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film "Zero Hour!", from which it borrows the plot and the central characters, as well as many elements from "Airport 1975" and other films in the "Airport" film series. The film is known for its
Airplane! "Airplane!" as number ten on its list of the 100 funniest American films. In the same year, readers of "Total Film" voted it the second greatest comedy film of all time. It also came second in the British 50 Greatest Comedy Films poll on Channel 4, beaten by "Monty Python's The Life of Brian". "Entertainment Weekly" voted the film the "Funniest movie on video" in their list of the 100 funniest movies on video. Several 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