Summary

• Airplane! is a hilarious parody of airplane disaster films, filled with iconic quotes and rapid-fire jokes that keep audiences laughing.
• The movie cleverly uses mundane conversations and outlandish scenarios to deliver unexpected humor, keeping viewers engaged with each rewatch.
• Leslie Nielsen's deadpan delivery of lines like "Don't call me Shirley" elevates the comedy, making Airplane! a timeless classic.

The "Don't' Call Me Shirley" quote is just one of the lines that make Airplane! one of the funniest movies ever made. It is a parody of the airplane disaster genre which was popular for a time. The movie follows a flight that is put in danger when a severe bout of food poisoning incapacitates the pilots and many engers, and the desperate efforts to land it safely. Of course, the movie doesn't take that premise seriously at all, only using it as an excuse to deliver some wild humor.

Few movies have been as quotable as Airplane!, with so many lines still being quoted to this day. Part of what makes such a memorable comedy is the incredible amount of jokes they throw at the audience. Fans are hardly done laughing at one joke before another even funnier one comes along. The movie has become a comedy classic and features some of the funniest, most memorable lines in cinema history, including the famous Airplane! "Don't' Call Me Shirley" quote.

15 "Don't You Tell Me Which Zone Is For Loading, And Which Zone Is For Stopping!"

Female Announcer

It takes a very confident comedy movie to stick in jokes that will likely go unnoticed by the audience the first time watching it. Airplane! is so packed with gags that it is easy to miss some and still have plenty of laughs. However, that also helps make it such a fun movie to revisit as the audience can find something new each time. One example of this comes during the various scenes inside the airport.

There is initially a male announcer's voice letting the travelers know where they are allowed to park. However, a female announcer is later heard giving the opposite information. This continues a few more times with the tone of the announcers getting more ive-aggressive. It then becomes these two announcers having a full-blown argument and hashing out their various marital issues for everyone to hear.

14 "Well, To Be Honest, I've Never Been So Scared. But At Least I Have A Husband."

Mrs. Hammen

Another thing that Airplane! achieves so well involves the ing ensemble within the plane. Though they are smaller roles with characters who only get a few lines each, they help to bring the movie to life and some of them get big laughs in the process. Even amidst the chaos and impending doom of the flight, the nervous engers can be counted on for a laugh.

Randy is one of the ing flight attendants in the movie who is not a big part of the movie either, but during one scene, Rumack gets in on her as she cries and tells him she doesn't want to die having so much left to experience. She laments that she doesn't even have a husband before Rumack comforts her. He then turns to one of the engers, Mrs. Hammen, to check on her and she its she is scared but takes solace in being married which causes Randy to burst into tears again.

13 "No, I’ve Been Nervous Lots Of Times."

Ted Striker

While Airplane! is a very rewatchable movie, its humor tends to sneak up on audiences with jokes hiding in plain sight within mundane conversations. The audience laughs at the cleverness of the joke as well as the fun in that they didn't see the obvious gag coming. When Ted gets on the airplane for the first time since his traumatic experiences in the war, he is on edge and his kind seatmate asks if he is nervous, and he its he is. When the nice lady asks if it is his first time, Ted assures her with this obvious line.

So many of the jokes in Airplane! rely on the similar setup and punchline of a character taking what someone said in a different way than intended. It is a seemingly easy style of wordplay that is used in a brilliant way with it delivering laughs while also catching the audience off guard.

12 "No… That’s Just What They’ll Be Expecting Us To Do."

Rex Kramer

One of the great aspects of Airplane! is how the movie takes clichéd and tired genre dialogue and sticks it where it doesn't belong. These well-worn lines seen in countless high-stakes and serious thrillers become hilarious because of the context in which they are used. Such is the case with this quote from Rex Kramer, a no-nonsense military man helping guide the plane to the ground.

Though he has been working tirelessly to save the plane, Kramer seems to forget the purpose as the plane approaches. Someone asks him if they should turn the runway lights on, to which Kramer replies, "No… that’s just what they’ll be expecting us to do," as if they are suddenly trying to trick the plane into landing. The line is made even better by Robert Stack's intense delivery with him squinting his eyes and looking off into the distance to really sell the moment.

11 "Wait A Minute. I Know You. You're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."

Joey

One of the most recognizable faces in Airplane! is someone not usually known for acting. Kareem Adbul-Jabbar was a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers at the time and seeing him pop up as a pilot named Clarence is a thrill for the audience. There are a number of great cameos throughout the movie but this is one of the best and it gets better when he gets called out.

While Abdul-Jabbar's character of Clarence is focusing on his job as a pilot, a young boy points out that he isn't Clarence but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Hilariously, Clarence tries to insist that he is not and continues to sell himself as a character in this movie. The fourth wall breaking gets funnier when Abdul-Jabbar's professionalism fades away once the kid starts talking trash about his basketball skills.

10 "It's A Big Building With Patients, But That's Not Important Right Now."

Dr. Rumack

Though there have been great parody movies over the years, few match the rapid pace of Airplane! The frequent wordplay misunderstandings throughout the movie are a great example of how so many jokes are crammed into the script, with the filmmakers looking to get laughs out of every conversation and scenario that they possibly can. The wordplay is a lot of fun, but Leslie Neilsen frequently shows how much better they can be in the hands of a truly skilled actor.

Dr. Rumack assesses the situation with the sick engers. He then tells the flight attendant that they need to land and get these people to a hospital. Concerned, she says "A hospital? What is it?" A straight-faced Rumack explains what a hospital is. The movie can afford such throwaway jokes as this since it has so many other great ones to follow.

9 "You Can’t Take A Guess For Another Two Hours?"

Dr. Rumack

Leslie Nielsen steals the show as Dr. Rumack, a man who immediately takes control of the situation and faces the serious situation they are in with stone-faced professionalism and calmness. However, it is that stoic nature in Neilsen's performance that makes him so hilarious when delivering one of the goofiest lines. Of course, the "Don't call me Shirley" line is his most famous, but he has so many brilliant quotes in the movie.

When the situation grows dire, Rumack and the pilot have an intense conversation in which he asks the pilot if he can guess when they can land. The pilot responds with "Not for another two hours." Rumack asks, "You can’t take a guess for another two hours?" It is a perfect example of how Nielsen's dry delivery made these lines funny and it is hard to imagine Liam Neeson living up to his comedic skills in The Naked Gun reboot.

8 "I Just Want To Tell You Both, Good Luck. We’re All Counting On You."

Dr. Rumack

Recurring gags the Zucker Brothers added make Airplane! fun. While a line or moment might not seem funny at first, the more it repeats itself or comes back into the story again and again, the funnier it gets. As Ted and Elaine attempt to land the plane, Rumack pokes his head into the cockpit and gives them some simple words of encouragement, "I just want to tell you both, good luck. We're all counting on you".

It actually feels like a rare authentic moment that highlights the seriousness of the climax, but it is, of course, also the setup for more jokes. As the plane begins to lose control, he sticks his head in and repeats the same line, making it seem a lot less helpful considering the circumstances. Finally, once the plane is safely landed, he sticks his head in again and says the same thing. What starts as a normal line grows into one of the biggest laughs in the movie.

7 "By The Way, Is There Anyone On Board Who Knows How To Fly A Plane?"

Elaine Dickinson

Airplane! picked the perfect sub-genre of movies to parody. All the tension of those thriller movies set on airplanes from the era gets replaced by the film pointing out how silly the premises are. Though it's true that there is a sense of terror on a flight, it was often caused by the most ridiculous of circumstances in these kinds of films. Airplane! has a great time poking fun at it all.

With all the pilots taken out by food poisoning, the remaining crew tries to figure out how to land the plane safely while keeping everyone calm. Elaine addresses the engers, before asking for any pilots present, which turns the whole plane into a panic. The fact that she thought such a request might go unnoticed is funny enough in itself. Throw in the absurd yet hilarious situation that set this up and it's a classic.

6 "Calm Down! Get A Hold Of Yourself."

Various Characters

The movie does a great job of taking small, recognizable moments from movies, like the Airport movies that Airplane openly mocks, and twists them into absurdity. For instance, disaster movies like this always seem to have that one character who can't deal with the situation and begins to freak out. Just as often in these cases, the more rational characters have to give this person a slap in the face to calm them down.

That's probably not the best way of calming someone, and Airplane! seizes on that ridiculous idea. As one enger begins to lose it, one character comes over to slap them and calm them down only for someone else to quickly take over. One by one, the characters take their turns delivering the rough calming method, shaking her and slapping her. It goes on to reveal everyone on the plane is lined up with various weapons, waiting for their turn.