# The comedy Airplane! was released 30 years ago! Surely you can't be serious! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249 "2010-07-10T21:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/261 "2017-10-05T23:01:26Z")
That reminds me of the Police Squad episode where Drebin and Sally Decker are firing at one another from behind barriers. The camera pans out and they’re only like 10 feet apart! ������ ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/262 "2017-10-06T00:21:33Z")
First movie I ever saw because I loved the trailer. I’ve never laughed so hard, before or since, at a movie. My favorite bit: taking off the sunglasses to see another pair underneath. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/263 "2017-10-08T21:32:33Z")
I will never forget Johnny. What a fantastic, _ **fantastic** _ character…! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/264 "2017-10-09T02:13:33Z")
We’ve been rewatching Mission: Impossible on Amazon Prime streaming. There’s a couple of episodes where Phelps gets the tape with his assignment at a playground where children are playing. I half expected him to ask one of the kids if he likes gladiator movies. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/265 "2019-06-20T05:18:09Z")
Bumped. A nice 2010 interview with the actor who played Joey, the innocent little kid in the cockpit: [Interview: Ross Harris, a/k/a The Little Kid In Airplane!, Reminisces About Peter Graves, a/k/a The Creepy Pilot Who Asked Him If He'd Ever Seen A Grown Man Naked - The Village Voice](https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/03/18/interview-ross-harris-aka-the-little-kid-in-airplane-reminisces-about-peter-graves-aka-the-creepy-pilot-who-asked-him-if-hed-ever-seen-a-grown-man-naked/) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/266 "2019-06-20T12:58:43Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > A nice 2010 interview with the actor who played Joey, the innocent little kid in the cockpit: [Interview: Ross Harris, a/k/a The Little Kid In Airplane!, Reminisces About Peter Graves, a/k/a The Creepy Pilot Who Asked Him If He'd Ever Seen A Grown Man Naked - The Village Voice](https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/03/18/interview-ross-harris-aka-the-little-kid-in-airplane-reminisces-about-peter-graves-aka-the-creepy-pilot-who-asked-him-if-hed-ever-seen-a-grown-man-naked/) Good read. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/267 "2019-06-20T13:29:31Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > In the article, it mentions that none of the reviewers knew who the hell Barbara Billingsly even was. Hence they could NOT appreciate the truly outrageous humor in the bit, seeing Mrs. Cleaver talk like that. I missed this one first time around. When I saw the movie back in 1980, pretty much \*everyone _in the theater knew who Barbara Billingsly was_, and the reaction was immediate: “Hey! It’s Beaver’s mom! **HAW**!” 😛 \*Note that around this time there had just been a big revival of _ **Leave It to Beaver** _ on TV, which ultimately led to the short-lived series _ **Still the Beaver** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/268 "2019-06-20T13:47:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*Note that around this time there had just been a big revival of _ **Leave It to Beaver** _ on TV, which ultimately led to the short-lived series _ **Still the Beaver** _. I was misremembering about this one. It actually happened a few years later, in 1983. Everyone who reacted in the theater knew Barbara from the original 1957–63 TV series. (I get the feeling her segment in _ **Airplane!** _ provided some impetus for the revival.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/269 "2019-06-20T14:14:41Z")
Listen, Betty, don’t start up with your White Zone shit again. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/270 "2019-06-20T14:17:26Z")
Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/271 "2019-06-20T15:12:16Z")
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/272 "2019-06-20T15:53:02Z")
Oh! You have a guitar! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/273 "2019-06-20T16:03:34Z")
Golly! ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/274 "2019-06-20T16:16:04Z")
Jim never vomits at home. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/275 "2019-06-20T16:20:28Z")
Just yesterday, a co-worker said “Good luck.” I replied, “Are you all counting on me?” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/276 "2019-06-20T16:32:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Jim never vomits at home. It’s hard to get my younger friends to enjoy this film because they don’t get those little pop-culture references. But those of us who lived through the 70’s remember those coffee commercials (“Jim never gets a second cup at home”). ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/277 "2019-06-20T16:36:33Z")
“I’ve gotta get outta here!” “I’ve gotta get outta here!” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/278 "2019-06-20T16:43:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I was misremembering about this one. We’ll cut you some slack, Jack. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/279 "2019-06-20T16:47:41Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > It’s hard to get my younger friends to enjoy this film because they don’t get those little pop-culture references. But those of us who lived through the 70’s remember those coffee commercials (“Jim never gets a second cup at home”). About the time of Airplane! I read a joke where animals were given punny names, like calling a donkey “Ho-tee”. I got almost all of them, except for one - they named a pair of egrets “Miss Otis”. It took me 35 years to get that one! “Miss Otis Regrets” just wasn’t a song that got played on the radio at all in the 70s-80s-etc. Zoomed right over my head it did. Wonder what else I missed over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249/280 "2019-06-20T16:51:32Z")
I just had a connection in LA and when I heard the overhead voices all I could think of was “The red zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no stopping in the white zone” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-comedy-airplane-was-released-30-years-ago-surely-you-cant-be-serious/546249.md?page=15)