It finally landed! Before ‘Guns were Naked,’ way before Scary Movie , a simplified version of these types of films came out at the turn of the eighties era, and no one had ever seen anything like it. This was a film that had its actor’s stone faced performing as if they were participating in a drama, when all the jokes were on them for us to enjoy in one of the best comedies of all time.
Airplane! just wouldn’t be cool enough if it hadn’t gotten with the times, so it’s now on a DVD. The plot hasn’t changed one bit; Robert Hays’ character is in love with Julie Hagerty , the stewardess, so he takes the flight she is working on. As ex-lovers who were always there for one another, she wants nothing to with this guy anymore and makes that clear as nice as she can. He won’t budge as he looks love in the eyes. Something goes wrong in the air as sick passengers turn up all around the aircraft, and even the pilots pass out making an interesting drama that just happens to be funny.
Not only was the movie ahead of its time, but this DVD is taking an innovative approach on the special features. Since I own this film on VHS and have seen it a dozen times, the first order of business was checking out the extra stuff. Instead of making the deleted scenes and that entire exclusive, there was a “long haul version” that I switched on and then proceeded to watch. This allowed me to watch the movie, and every minute or so it would break into the directory or actor commentary and give you an inside look on the scene it just cut away from.
I found this to be the most creative enhancement a DVD contained in a while. Especially a film like this that most people have seen, it really made for a great exhibition of such a classic. This made the film an extra hour or so as every behind the scenes look became incorporated. There were also a couple of movie flubs that never were cut out of the original, so enjoy a cheap movie for what the budget didn’t have time to excavate.
That was really it in terms of extras, with the exception of a trivia track and some extra commentary. You can also order a “Mr. Otto.” (you know the blow up doll that helps the plane a great deal through its crisis.). Anyway, Airplane! has landed and it kicks ass. I wish all DVD’s could use
