History Film / Airplane

** The technician [[RuleOfFunny changing the oil under the airplane's hood]], then falls off the ladder trying to pop it shut, as the pilots are discussing the weather in the cockpit. Then we have Oveur being handed the bill for the repairs and him paying it on the spot. For those too young to remember, the payment transaction plays out exactly the way a full-service gas station transaction would have played out at the time, with the attendant handing the old-style [[https://www.business.com/articles/what-are-credit-card-imprinters/ credit card imprinter]] to the driver through the window (this was before magnetic stripes and swiping your card were possible).

The plot: Ted Striker (Stryker in ''Zero Hour!''), an ex-military pilot, has to get over his personal traumas to pilot a commercial plane after the crew is stricken by food poisoning, and reconcile with his estranged girlfriend at the same time. HilarityEnsues. Take that basic plot, and have a silly joke every three seconds. In fact, that is partly what makes the film work: [[RapidFireComedy if a joke falls flat, move on to the next one]]. Of course, [[DontExplainTheJoke further analysis of the jokes will just hurt the humor of it all]]. Just see the film for yourself. Along the way, it [[GenreKiller singlehandedly destroyed]] the DisasterMovie as a serious genre for over a decade.

-->'''Jive Dude:''' I say hey, sky -- subba say I wan' see -- pray to J I did the same-ol', same-ol'! \\

** "I haven't seen anything like this [all the passengers getting violently ill] since the Anita Bryant concert" [[note]] Anita Bryant was a singer who made headlines in the late 1970s for her crusade against gay rights.[[/note]]

* InnerMonologue: "Pinch hitting for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Borb%C3%B3n Pedro Borbón]] -- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manny_Mota Manny Mota]]!" Also, "Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home." Later mocked when Ted realizes how echo-y his own monologue sounds.

in 2023 a book of the making of the movie was released, titled ''Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!''

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Ted Striker says that he was in the Air Force, but the flashback in the Magumba bar in Drambuie has him wearing a US Navy dress uniform (and soldiers aren't supposed to wear their dress uniforms in bars anyway). Of course, had he been wearing the dark blue USAF dress uniform, the subsequent ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' joke [[RuleOfFunny wouldn't have worked.]] He later shows up in an Army hospital, although that could've been justified if he was in WWII, in which he would've been part of the US Army Air Corps, but he's too young[[note]]''Zero Hour!'', the movie that ''Airplane!'' is a parody of, was made in the 1950s, and the Ted in that movie did explicitly serve as a pilot in WWII[[/note]], and they didn't have disco back then...

** Bernice, the seven-year-old girl who likes her coffee (and her men) black and Milton Ettenhenim ("But my friends call me 'Bubbles'."), the eight-year-old boy wearing a conservative coat and tie, were meant to have a number of scenes together, where they would discuss their respective occupations (a teacher in the New York School District and a lobbyist for the Small Businessmen's Association) and strike up a relationship.

** Bernice, the seven-year-old girl who likes her coffee (and her men) black and Milton Ettenhenim ("But my friends call me 'Bubbles'".), the eight-year-old boy wearing a conservative coat and tie, were meant to have a number of scenes together, where they would discuss their repsective occupations (a teacher in the New York School District and a lobbyist for the Small Businessmens' Association) and strike up a relationship.