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! films based on the six-episode television series "Police Squad!", in which he also starred and which was created and produced by the Abrahams–Zucker–Zucker team behind "Airplane". This also led to his casting, many years later, in Mel Brooks' "". Brooks had wanted to make that film for a long time, but put it off because, as he said, "I just could not find the right Dracula." Brooks said he had never seen "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