Zero Hour!

I have no excuse for not watching this sooner.  You see, I’m a huge Airplane! fan.  I’ve seen it 30-40 (maybe more) times over the past three decades.  When I was a kid, I knew it only as a funny movie, perhaps a parody of all those Airport movies I’d never seen.  Eventually I learned that it was a parody of this film, but even then I assumed it was only an inspiration, a jumping off point.  Oh no.  Almost everything in Zero Hour! is referenced in some way in its spoof.  The plot is almost entirely the same (the largest differences being in the Ellen/Elaine character).  Many of the lines (“Sluggish, like a wet sponge”) and even whole passages of dialogue are lifted from it.  Shots and musical cues are duplicated.  Even things like Joey’s outfit and the casting of a pro athlete in the co-pilot role are here.  I’m sure almost everyone else who watched it in the past 30 years did so only because of the connection, and even at the time I doubt many people were familiar with it.

That is all to say, it is impossible for me to judge this movie as anything but the blueprint for one of my favorite comedies.  In that capacity, it’s absolutely hilarious.  Every few seconds I was reminded of another terrific gag.  But I can try to comment on the film on its own terms.  Noir fans might be thrilled to see Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell and Sterling Hayden in the lead roles, but only Hayden brings anything interesting to it.  The plot is… gripping, I guess?  It’s hard to say when you’re so familiar with it.  There’s some terrible use of stock footage, but otherwise it seems reasonably well put together.  Oh, I give up.  You owe it to yourself to see this if you love Airplane!, and if for some ungodly reason you’ve never seen Airplane!, watch this first.  I have to imagine it can only make both films better.  Rating: Fair (but a laugh riot)

IMDb