YMMV / Zero Hour! (1957)

• Ho Yay: Probably unintentional, but there's a brief moment where hunky, square-jawed Captain Wilson gives Stryker a meaningful look and then turns and walks away, almost as if he means for Stryker to join him somewhere more private. Stryker waits a moment and then follows him.
• Narm: Retroactively applied; much of the dialogue that was later reused in Airplane! becomes absolutely hilarious to anyone watching this film after they have seen that one, as they imagine the punchlines and gags that were built off them.
  • The infamous line "We have to find somebody who can not only land this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner" is, as ZAZ noticed when they first saw the film playing on late-night television in The '70s, quite ludicrous even at face value.
  • Although most of the performances are relatively restrained and quite straitlaced, it's very difficult to take Sterling Hayden as Captain Treleaven or Geoffrey Toone as Dr. Baird at all seriously with their ridiculously melodramatic and over-the-top delivery.
• Parody Displacement: After Airplane! came out, it's nearly impossible to take Zero Hour! as a drama film. Even Warner Home Video marketed the DVD as part of their "Cult Camp Classic" line of films.
• Retroactive Recognition: Sterling Hayden playing Captain Martin Treleaven will probably make modern audiences think of Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper.

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