# Airplane! vs Zero Hour! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024 "2014-07-25T14:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/21 "2014-07-25T19:39:13Z")
My new orders came through - we ship out tomorrow. We’re bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 0-1800 hours. We’re flying in low from the north, below their radar. When will you be back? I can’t tell you that - it’s classified. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/22 "2014-07-25T19:53:15Z")
> [@Treleaven](#): > > Ted, that was probably the lousiest landing in the history of this airport. But there are some of us here, particularly me, who would like to buy you a drink and shake your hand. > [@Rex Kramer](#): > > Ted, that was probably the lousiest landing in the history of this airport. But there are some of us here, particularly me, who would like to buy you a drink and shake your hand. Some things never change. > [@Treleaven](#): > > I guess I picked the wrong week to give up smoking. > [@Steve McCroskey](#): > > Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. But then, some do! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/23 "2014-07-26T01:08:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > They’re entirely different actors. Surely, you can’t be serious! ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/24 "2014-07-26T02:17:55Z")
Don’t call me Shirley. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/25 "2014-07-26T13:20:21Z")
I found “Zero Hour” online, downloaded, and watched it once. Other than many pop culture references, the ZAZ team didn’t have to work very hard to write the script. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/26 "2014-07-26T17:26:31Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > The singing, guitar playing nun/sick little girl on the way to hospital was from “Airport '75.” And in _Airplane!_ the nun was played by Maureen McGovern, who sang the love themes from _The Poseidon Adventure_ and _The Towering Inferno_. There’s got to be a morning afterrrrrrrr… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/27 "2014-07-26T17:55:04Z")
> [@Number](#): > > And in _Airplane!_ the nun was played by Maureen McGovern, who sang the love themes from _The Poseidon Adventure_ and _The Towering Inferno_. > > There’s got to be a morning afterrrrrrrr… We may never love like this againnnnn… The little girl in “Airport '75” (which came out in '74) was Linda (“The Exorcist”) Blair, the singing nun was Helen Reddy! The little girl in “Airplane!” is Jill (Capt. Stubing’s daughter from “The Love Boat”) Whelan. What a cast! ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/28 "2014-07-26T20:20:15Z")
Though you can barely recognize him, the airplane mechanic (who checked the oil & wiped the windshield during the pre-flight check) was played by Jimmie “Dy-No-Miiite!” Walker from _Good Times_. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/29 "2014-07-26T20:31:30Z")
I love the absurdist dialogue in this movie. Perhaps, my favorite: Steve McCroskey: Johnny, what can you make out of this? [Hands him the weather briefing] Johnny: This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl… ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/30 "2014-07-26T20:56:55Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Zero Hour! was based on the Canadian made-for-TV movie [Flight into Danger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_into_Danger). It was based on a play by John Castle and Arthur Hailey. Hailey also wrote the novel Airport which, when made into a movie, really started off the disaster movie craze of the '70s. > > Fitting subject matter for what Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker wanted to do. Alex Hailey never let a good plot go to waste. He also published this story as runway zero eight. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/31 "2014-07-27T01:26:40Z")
There was a German remake as well, in 1964, called _Flug in Gefahr_. [Really](http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-insane-unknown-backstories-behind-famous-movies_p2/). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024/32 "2014-07-27T14:49:42Z")
> **[4 Eyebrow-Arching Backstories Behind Famous Movies](https://www.cracked.com/blog/4-insane-unknown-backstories-behind-famous-movies?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new%2Barticle&wa_ibsrc=fanpage)** > > A good indicator of the level of artistic integrity that exists in Hollywood is the amount of scripts that get recycled into just completely random movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airplane-vs-zero-hour/694024.md?page=1)