50 Fun Facts About Airplane!

Which Lakers star plays co-pilot Roger Murdock in Airplane!, a part meant for baseball's Pete Rose?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar drops the pilot act when a boy says his dad thinks he doesn't work hard enough on defence. Casting an athlete copied the 1957 original, which put a football star in the cockpit.

In Airplane!, Leslie Nielsen's doctor says he is serious, then adds "and don't call me" which name?

Shirley is his comeback to "Surely you can't be serious", an exchange ranked 79th on the AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie quotes. Nielsen never expected it to become his trademark.

Which future late-night host screen-tested for the lead role of Ted Striker in Airplane!?

David Letterman kept telling the directors he couldn't act, and after the screen test one of them agreed. They later pranked him by playing the audition on his own talk show.

In Airplane!, which in-flight dinner choice gives both pilots and many passengers food poisoning?

Fish is the dish that fells everyone who picks it over the steak. The idea was lifted from the 1957 thriller the film copies, where grilled halibut does the damage.

In Airplane!, what name does the inflatable dummy autopilot go by when it takes the controls?

Otto is even billed in the cast list as playing himself. He can keep the jet in the air but cannot land it, which is why a terrified passenger has to.

In Airplane!, the captain asks young cockpit visitor Joey if he likes movies about which heroes?

Gladiators is one of several wildly inappropriate questions the captain puts to the boy. Another is whether he has ever been in a Turkish prison.

In Airplane!, Steve McCroskey picks the wrong week to quit smoking, drinking, amphetamines and what?

Sniffing glue is the last and wildest of his confessions. The first, about smoking, was a perfectly serious line in the 1957 drama that the comedy copies.

In Airplane!, which Bee Gees hit plays in Ted Striker's Saturday Night Fever-style disco flashback?

Stayin' Alive soundtracks a routine the two leads practised until it was perfect. The 2012 comedy Ted later recreated the whole flashback.

Which film series, based on TV's Police Squad!, made Airplane! actor Leslie Nielsen a comedy lead?

The Naked Gun revived Frank Drebin, the detective Nielsen first played on television in a series cancelled after only six episodes. Critic Roger Ebert called him "the Olivier of spoofs".

In Airplane!, what does washed-up pilot Ted Striker's so-called "drinking problem" turn out to be?

He misses his mouth, splashing each drink anywhere but into it. The gag comes with a fear of flying that has kept the former fighter pilot from holding a responsible job.

In Airplane!, which city is the stricken flight bound for when Ted Striker takes the controls?

Chicago is the destination, and one tagline ran with it: the plane is going there, the pilot is going to New York and the passengers are going to pieces.

Which job does war veteran Ted Striker walk out on at the start of Airplane! to follow Elaine?

Taxi driver Ted leaves a passenger in the cab with the meter running for the entire film. The fare is played by Howard Jarvis, a campaigner famous in California for his tax-cutting Proposition 13.

Which 1957 thriller did Airplane! copy so closely that its writers bought the remake rights first?

Zero Hour! was taped by accident while the writers recorded late-night television to find adverts to spoof. One of them later called it the serious version of their own film.

Which star of the ABC sitcom Angie won the Airplane! lead role of reluctant pilot Ted Striker?

Robert Hays played an airline pilot again decades later in Sharknado 2: The Second One. In between, he voiced Iron Man in a 1990s animated series.

Which newcomer beat Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Long to the Airplane! role of Elaine Dickinson?

Julie Hagerty had filmed a small part in All That Jazz, but it was cut, so this became her screen debut. The directors told her and her co-star to play every line straight.

Which Sea Hunt star took the Airplane! role of tower boss Steve McCroskey on his children's advice?

Lloyd Bridges was recruited for his straight-arrow screen image, and the film also spoofs his earlier television role as an airport manager. The part reinvented him as a comic actor.

In Airplane!, which Untouchables star plays Rex Kramer, Ted Striker's former commanding officer?

Robert Stack first played the part differently from what the directors wanted, so they showed him John Byner's impression of him. He ended up doing an impression of the impression.

Which Mission: Impossible star rejected Airplane! as tasteless before agreeing to play the captain?

Peter Graves, brother of actor James Arness, had played mainly serious roles in the 1970s, which is exactly why the directors wanted him. He returned for the sequel.

Which Leave It to Beaver mother plays the Airplane! passenger who offers to translate jive?

Barbara Billingsley had been largely absent from the screen for 17 years. She said the brief cameo brought her as much publicity as her famous sitcom and revived her career.

Which Broadway legend's last film role was an Airplane! soldier who believes he is her?

Ethel Merman leaps out of bed singing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as orderlies rush to sedate her. Variety reckoned she had starred in more hit Broadway musicals than any other performer.

In Airplane!, Ted and Elaine's romantic beach scene echoes a famous one in which 1953 war romance?

From Here to Eternity is the obvious model, yet all three directors swear they had never seen it when they shot their version. Most of the script's borrowing came from a single 1957 thriller instead.

Which TV show tested the Airplane! finale and ruled a talked-down novice landing plausible?

MythBusters had to use a NASA flight simulator, since they could not afford to test the idea in a real airliner. The hosts also noted that modern autopilots can land a plane by themselves.

Which director cast Leslie Nielsen as Dracula after seeing Airplane! years after its release?

Mel Brooks had put off Dracula: Dead and Loving It for a long time because he could not find the right Count. Once he caught up with the comedy, he knew he had his man.

Where is the shuttle bound in Airplane II: The Sequel, made without the original directors?

The Moon has been colonised in the sequel's near future, and the shuttle Mayflower One is rushed into service. The makers of the first film had no involvement and said on its DVD commentary that they had never seen it.

Which Star Trek actor joins the cast of Airplane II: The Sequel as base commander Buck Murdock?

William Shatner used the part to mock the cavalier, almost superhuman persona of Captain Kirk. The same year he became a television lead again in the police series T. J. Hooker.

Which 1990 supernatural romance did Airplane! co-director Jerry Zucker later make on his own?

Ghost, with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, became the highest-grossing film of 1990, a sharp turn away from spoofs. It also earned a Best Picture nomination.

Which mismatched noise does the jet make all through Airplane!, as a running background joke?

Propeller engines are heard because the directors wanted an old prop plane and the studio insisted on a modern jet. The droning soundtrack was the compromise.

Which title did Airplane! take abroad after Universal complained it was too like its Airport films?

Flying High! was agreed after an arbitration board reviewed the complaint. The 1982 follow-up was likewise sold as Flying High II in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

In which US state did the Airplane! creators found their Kentucky Fried Theater troupe as students?

Wisconsin was home: the three knew one another as children in Shorewood and opened the theatre in 1971 while at university in Madison.

In Airplane!, which singer of the disaster-film theme "The Morning After" plays the nun?

Maureen McGovern also sang the theme to Angie, the sitcom that made the film's leading man famous. The directors first wanted Helen Reddy, who had played the nun being spoofed in Airport 1975.

Which composer of The Magnificent Seven was asked to give Airplane! a corny, overdone B-movie score?

Elmer Bernstein understood the joke at once and laughed all the way through an early cut. He also scored comedies such as Animal House, Stripes and Trading Places.

Which US institution chose Airplane! for preservation in its National Film Registry?

The Library of Congress adds films it judges culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. Its registry essay calls the comedy a last hurrah for traditional vaudeville humour.

Which British comedy beat Airplane! to first place in Channel 4's poll of the greatest comedy films?

Life of Brian, the Monty Python satire, took first place and left the spoof second. Readers of Total Film magazine had ranked the spoof second as well.

Which surname does the captain have in Airplane!, turning every radio sign-off into a pun?

Oveur shares the cockpit with crewmates called Roger and Victor, so every exchange collapses: "We have clearance, Clarence." "Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"

Which future Breaking Bad actor appears in Airplane! in a small early role as Gunderson?

Jonathan Banks became famous decades later as the fixer Mike Ehrmantraut, a role he carried into Better Call Saul. In the same year as his small part he also appeared in Stir Crazy.

Which horror star rejected Leslie Nielsen's Airplane! role for Spielberg's 1941, to his regret?

Christopher Lee, who had appeared in Airport '77, called the decision a big mistake. Dom DeLuise, Vincent Price and Jack Webb also said no before the part was finally cast.

Which prank gadget did Leslie Nielsen use between takes to keep his Airplane! co-stars off balance?

A fart machine was his favourite prank, and a co-star said he played it like a maestro. His gravestone carries the epitaph "Let 'er rip".

Before Airplane!, Leslie Nielsen played it straight as the space commander in which 1956 film?

Forbidden Planet brought him a long contract with MGM and was an instant success. He denied the later comedy was against type, saying he had always been cast against type before.

Which old-fashioned look did the Airplane! directors want for the film before Paramount refused?

Black and white was vetoed: the studio insisted on colour and, in exchange, let the trio cast serious actors rather than comedy performers.

Which 1984 spy spoof, Val Kilmer's film debut, did the Airplane! trio direct next for cinemas?

Top Secret! mixed Cold War spy thrillers with Elvis Presley musicals. Kilmer plays an American rock star who is drawn into the resistance while touring East Germany.

Which fictional airline runs the flight in Airplane!, using jets painted in real TWA colours?

Trans American borrowed the livery of a real Boeing 707, shot alongside a scale model. The closing shot of the plane taking off again actually shows a different jet, a 727.

The bickering "white zone" announcers in Airplane! were the real voices of which city's airport?

Los Angeles airport's announcements were recorded by a real married couple, hired after voice actors failed to sound authentic. Some of their squabble was lifted from the novel Airport.

Which singer from a famous 1960s pop duo plays the bomber in Airplane II: The Sequel?

Sonny Bono plays a passenger who buys his time bomb in an airport gift shop. Six years later the former partner of Cher became mayor of Palm Springs.

Which Dumb and Dumber director got his first Hollywood writing job from Airplane!'s David Zucker?

Peter Farrelly compared first seeing the film to a great rock concert, and said that without the Zuckers there would be no Farrelly brothers.

Which Paramount president and future Disney chief gave the unsold Airplane! script its green light?

Michael Eisner approved it on a modest $3.5 million budget, reassured when veteran producer Howard W. Koch volunteered to come aboard. The film made that money back within days.

Which Airport novelist also co-wrote the 1957 thriller that Airplane! copies almost line for line?

Arthur Hailey first told the story in a 1956 Canadian television play, Flight into Danger. So one writer supplied both the spoof's plot and the disaster series it mocks.

In which Canadian city did Airplane! open first, in just seven cinemas, before its wide release?

Toronto saw the film five days before it spread to 705 cinemas across the United States and Canada. It then earned back its whole budget in its first five days of wide release.

Roughly how much did the Airplane! writers pay for remake rights to the 1957 thriller they spoofed?

About $2,500 bought the rights from Warner Bros. and Paramount. The trio feared their script borrowed too much to count as parody, so they played safe and paid.

David Leisure, a Hare Krishna in Airplane!, later won fame as which lying pitchman of 1980s TV ads?

Joe Isuzu went to Leisure because the ad agency believed he could "lie like a pro". He put the earlier bit part down to his willingness to shave his head, though he had roomed with the film's star in college.

In Airplane!, Johnny tells a reporter that the white plane with red stripes looks like a big what?

Tylenol is his verdict, after he lists the curtains in the windows and the wheels. Johnny was played by Stephen Stucker, a scene-stealing member of the directors' own stage troupe.