Airplane!/Top Secret [WS]

DVD FEATURES:

AWARDS

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Picture - Musical or Comedy - 1980

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Robert Hays - Ted Striker
       Julie Hagerty - Elaine Dickinson
       Christopher Villiers - Nigel
       Omar Sharif - Cedric
       Leslie Nielsen - Dr. Rumack
       Jeremy Kemp - Gen. Streck
       Billy Mitchell - Martin
       Michael Gough - Dr. Flammond
       Harry Ditson - Du Quois
       Jim Carter - Deja Vu
       Al White - Second Jive Dude

• Director:

  Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker

• Producer:

  Jon Davison, Jim Abrahams, Hunt Lowry, Frederick Zollo, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker

• Screenwriter:

  Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Martyn Burke

• Cinematographer:

  Joseph Biroc, Christopher G. Challis, Jack Lowin

• Composer (Music Score):

  Elmer Bernstein

• Songwriter:

  Paul "H.R." Hudson

• Composer (Music Score):

  Maurice Jarre

• Songwriter:

  Jerry Zucker, David Zucker

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Derek Ball

• Songwriter:

  Anderson, Mike Moran, Phil Pickett

• Editor:

  Patrick Kennedy, Bernard Gribble

• Production Designer:

  Ward Preston, Peter Lamont

• Art Director:

  John Fenner, Michael Lamont

• Associate Producer:

  Hunt Lowry, Tom Jacobson

• Executive Producer:

  Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker

• Set Designer:

  Anne McCulley, Crispian Sallis

• Costume Designer:

  Rosanna Norton, Emma Porteous

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Tom Overton, Derek Ball

• Makeup:

  Stuart Freeborn, Kay Freeborn

• Special Effects:

  Bruce Logan, Nick Allder

• First Assistant Director:

  Arne Schmidt, Barry Langley

• Camera Operator:

  Fred Smith, Freddie Cooper

• Stunts:

  Jesse Wayne

• Choreography:

  Tom Mahoney, Gillian Gregory

• Casting:

  Joel Thurm, Susan Arnold, Lucy Boulting, Mary Selway

• Production Manager:

  Donald Toms

• Assistant to the Director:

  Betty Moos

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Joe Powell

• Second Unit Director:

  Jack Lowin

REVIEWS:

• Any fool can tell a long succession of dumb jokes, but it requires a special gift to toss 'em off with the fleet-footed elan and rapid-fire precision that the writing/directing team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker achieve in Airplane! No pun is too silly, no gag is too obvious, and no stunt is too tasteless for these men, as long as someone will laugh at it. Unlike the many filmmakers who followed this film's path, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team understood the notion of context, and if Airplane!'s narrative isn't especially fresh or original (since it's a parody, that's probably the point), it's sturdy enough to hold the pieces together and collect the myriad cliches of disaster films in a confined space so they can be efficiently picked off, one by one. And they had the foresight to cast a host of familiar faces in key supporting roles; after years of seeing the likes of Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, and Peter Graves in second-rate TV disaster epics, watching a stone-faced Graves ask a young boy if he likes gladiator movies or hard-as-nails air traffic controller Bridges announce that he picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue gave gags that were already funny a surreal dimension that doubled the kick. Anyone who thinks making a film this funny is simple ought to take a look at the unfortunate Airplane II: The Sequel for a quick reality check on how Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker made high art out of low comedy. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
• While critically less admired than Airplane! (1980), Top Secret! (1984) nonetheless proved a successful follow-up for the team of Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker. As with the previous movie, the directors continued to develop a new kind of comedy for the '80s. Top Secret!'s zaniness owed more to a Marx Brothers' classic like Monkey Business (1931) or a free-for-all like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) than its contemporaries, leaving aside such niceties as plot resolutions and character development. While some reviewers complained about the nonexistence of the plot, Roger Ebert pointed out that "One does not attend movies like Top Secret! in order to follow the story line." Critics enjoyed Val Kilmer's unlikely -- in retrospect -- acting debut. Playing an outdated hero with aplomb, he is aptly matched by the deadpan innocence of Shakespearian actor Lucy Gutteridge. The Zuckers and Abrahams would continue to explore anarchic comedy in later films like The Naked Gun (1988) and Hot Shots! (1991). ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi