Collections already invested in Paramount's fancy, tricked-up "Don't Call Me Shirley" double-DVD edition of Airplane! may find this Blu-ray disc release relatively skimpy as far as special features go, with an eight-minute filmmaker interview featuring creators Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker and a brand-new public Q&A (shot at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood) as the only fresh bonuses. But as a must-have popular it in any format, Airplane! is essential comedy gold, with the premise that crew of a giant airliner is all disabled mid-route by food poisoning, and it falls to PTSD-ridden ex-military pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays), traveling as a passenger, to take over the cockpit, land the mighty aircraft safely, and makeup with his stewardess ex-girlfriend (Julie Hagerty).
On this premise, the triple-headed directing team hangs a whole MAD Magazine runs worth of puns, parodies, contemporary satire (devastating pokes at disco music), elaborate sight gags, absurdity, and surrealism, all the more effective for the team's vow not to hire recognizable comedians but rather use straight-faced, stalwart actors such as Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges delivering the uproarious lines.
Zucker, Zucker, and Abrahams adapted the 1957 flight melodrama Zero Hour!, and when the commentary track reveals they followed it right down to character names and dialogue, one wishes it might have been feasible to include Zero Hour! on the disc in its entirety for comparison's sake. Other revelations from the commentary: Peter Graves was mystified about the project and mainly did it because his wife talked him into it; thus did he score the role of Captain Oveur. Early studios approached desired that Airplane! would be merely a lengthy component sketch-bit in a comedy compilation, perhaps in the style of an encore to the team's previous grab-bag The Kentucky Fried Movie. But the filmmakers insisted upon making this a standalone feature. And no, they claim they still haven't brought themselves to see Paramount's sorry 1982 followup Airplane II: The Sequel, done without them. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (C. Cassady)