Airplane?

gprellwitz

gprellwitz

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Grant Prellwitz
Okay. Your name is "Ted Stryker." You're aboard an airliner where anyone who's eaten fish for dinner is getting sick. You had a bad experience int he war in which you were a pilot, and the squadron you commanded all died. Someone else from the war has been tasked with talking you down, but doesn't have a lot of confidence in you.

What's the earliest movie I'm talking about?

Obviously, if you answer "Airplane!" (1980), you're TOO LATE! Try Zero Hour (1956). Yes, right down to the main character's name!

I just want to tell you both, Good Luck!

 
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gprellwitz said:
Okay. Your name is "Ted Stryker." You're aboard an airliner where anyone who's eaten fish for dinner is getting sick. You had a bad experience int he war in which you were a pilot, and the squadron you commanded all died. Someone else from the war has been tasked with talking you down, but doesn't have a lot of confidence in you.

What's the earliest movie I'm talking about?

Obviously, if you answer "Airplane!" (1980), you're TOO LATE! Try Zero Hour (1956). Yes, right down to the main character's name!

I just want to tell you both, Good Luck!

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Funny you mention this! I stumbled upon "Zero hour" yesterday and watched the last 45 minutes of it. Little did I know that was the basis of "airplane" (1980). Johnny, more coffee!
 
LOL, I always thought it was more a spoof of The High and the Mighty, but they damn near stole every line from Zero Hour.
 
Just watched "Zero Hour" the other day on TCM. Dana Andrews as Stryker and Sterling Hayden. It must have been a Canadian production because everything was based up north.
 
Airplane was based on the book "Runway Zero-Eight" co-written in 1958 by Arthur Hailey and John Castle. That book was based Hailey's 1956 60-minute teleplay "Flight Into Danger," which aired on CBC starring, of all people, Jimmy "Scotty" Doohan in the Robert Hays role. "Zero-Hour" was a 1957 full-length movie adaptation of the 1956 teleplay, the screenplay of which was also written by Hailey. And yes, all but the Zucker brothers' 1980 "Airplane" movie were Canadian productions. BTW, the book "Runway Zero-Eight" was re-released in the 80's under the title "Flight Into Danger."
 
I guess I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
 
LOL!

I think I saw "Zero Hour" on late night local TV many years ago. I did remember the plot when I saw "Airplane."

Didja notice Jerry Paris (Dr. Helpern, who direct Happy Days)?
 
I don't see much in the way of plot commonality between "Airplane" and "The High and the Mighty" other than that they both occurred on an airliner.
 
Ron Levy said:
Airplane was based on the book "Runway Zero-Eight" co-written in 1958 by Arthur Hailey and John Castle. That book was based Hailey's 1956 60-minute teleplay "Flight Into Danger," which aired on CBC starring, of all people, Jimmy "Scotty" Doohan in the Robert Hays role. "Zero-Hour" was a 1957 full-length movie adaptation of the 1956 teleplay, the screenplay of which was also written by Hailey.
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You don't mean Airplane don't you mean Airport.

Airplane was the comedy from the 1980's that used every silly air disaster plot device and took it to the comedic extreme.

Airport was with Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, George Kennedy and was about a bomb on a 707 that had to land at Lincoln Airport in the snow with a stuck airplane on the runway they needed. IMDB states that movie was indeed based on Haily's Flight into Danger. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065377/trivia
 
And all this time I thought Zero Hour! was a remake of Airplane!
 
MikePapa said:
And all this time I thought Zero Hour! was a remake of Airplane!
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If "Airplane" had come from Microsoft they would claim "Zero Hour" was just copying the "Airplane" movie that hasn't been released yet.
 
Must have been the mind-altering things of the 70's but for years I swore Airplane was a remake of a movie called runway 08 starring Doug McClure.....but he did not star in the movie....anyway, if I did see a movie starring McClure as a retired fighter pilot having to take control of a multi-engine prop after both pilots were down with food poisoning it would have been a great movie since I enjoyed it so much....
 
shywon said:
Must have been the mind-altering things of the 70's but for years I swore Airplane was a remake of a movie called runway 08 starring Doug McClure.....but he did not star in the movie....anyway, if I did see a movie starring McClure as a retired fighter pilot having to take control of a multi-engine prop after both pilots were down with food poisoning it would have been a great movie since I enjoyed it so much....
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Which sounds like a remake. Like I said I know I saw the "..and he can't have had the fish for dinner!" deal in a movie. It might have been that remake.
 
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mikea said:
Which sounds like a remake. Liek I said I know I saw the "..and he can't have had the fish for dinner!" deal in a movie. It might have been that remake.
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Also, the "handles like a wet sponge" and "that was the worst landing in the history of this airport but some of us would like to buy you a drink" were lines from the movie...and mcClure was obsessed about adjusting the mixture during the descent
 
shywon said:
Must have been the mind-altering things of the 70's but for years I swore Airplane was a remake of a movie called runway 08 starring Doug McClure.......
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Ah, excuse me, you must mean Troy McClure. Get your actors straight.




:D:D:D
 
shywon said:
Also, the "handles like a wet sponge" and "that was the worst landing in the history of this airport but some of us would like to buy you a drink" were lines from the movie...
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Before that, they were lines from the book.
 
shywon said:
Must have been the mind-altering things of the 70's but for years I swore Airplane was a remake of a movie called runway 08 starring Doug McClure.....but he did not star in the movie....anyway, if I did see a movie starring McClure as a retired fighter pilot having to take control of a multi-engine prop after both pilots were down with food poisoning it would have been a great movie since I enjoyed it so much....
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I remember that one too. He's sitting next to the Dr., a nervous flyer and explains why they do the mag check - that's how the Dr. figures out he's a pilot.

IMDB is my friend. The made for TV movie from 1971 is:Terror in the Sky. Roddy McDowall was the doctor. One of the writers was Alex Haley. He got a lot of mileage out of that book.

John
 
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jsstevens said:
One of the writers was Alex Haley.
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Please don't confuse British-born Canadian novelist Arthur Hailey with the author of "Roots." In any event, the screenplay for for the 1971 made-for-TV movie "Terror in the Sky" was written by Elinor and Steven Karpf and Dick Nelson, based on Hailey's book "Runway Zero Eight."
 
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Terror in the Sky. Thank you. I was afraid it had fallen down the memory hole.
 
shywon said:
Must have been the mind-altering things of the 70's but for years I swore Airplane was a remake of a movie called runway 08 starring Doug McClure.....but he did not star in the movie....anyway, if I did see a movie starring McClure as a retired fighter pilot having to take control of a multi-engine prop after both pilots were down with food poisoning it would have been a great movie since I enjoyed it so much....
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That movie was Terror in the Sky
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067844/

It was also written by Arthur Hailey

If you look at the IMDB entry you will notice this entry in the user comments section from 1999

Campy aero-terror at its best, 31 October 1999
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Author: sfm (smigaldi@my-dejanews.com) from Chicago, IL
I have seen this movie several times, mostly after 11pm. The concept of the flight crew all getting food poisoning, becoming incapacitated and a reluctant passenger/pilot having to take over the flight, facing his demons, may sound familiar. After watching this movie I would recommend you immediately re-watch Airplane. I can only assume that Terror in the Sky was the basis of hysterical Abrahams/Zucker film and knowledge of this 'classic' will really make the gags in Airplane even funnier. Doug McClure is excellent as the pilot in this film, he really takes a bad script and made it look believable. My favorite part is watching him trying to learn to fly the aircraft, dipping and rolling, all the while the stewardess screaming from the copilot's seat next him.
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I had no idea. Thought it was based on "The High and the Mighty" - and thought that was plenty of fun. But, that side-by-side with "Zero Hour"... :lol:

Just Netflixed it.
The parallels were laugh-out-loud funny. But, on the whole... it's amazing how much faster we move now. (i.e., plot development was glacial in comparison to its complexity; and, there wasn't any humor to distract)

Thanks Grant!
 
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