Airplane! (1980)

Ted Striker’s flashbacks to his love life are the dead air in this Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof, and every time a sappy one starts, you can feel the gag rate dip. A handful of jokes have aged badly too, and a few are too crude for younger viewers. Those are the only real flaws in a comedy that still runs like a machine. Every actor plays it completely straight, and that’s the secret. Leslie Nielsen delivers ridiculous lines like a man reading the weather, and his famous exchange about the word surely is still flawless. Lloyd Bridges gets more frazzled every time the camera finds him. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays a copilot who insists he’s definitely not a basketball star. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty commit so hard to the melodrama that the parody works. It made $83.5 million domestic on a reported $3.5M, and it’s done in a lean 88 minutes. An 8.8 because the gags fly by so quickly that the duds vanish before you notice. $41.57 says you hear someone say surely this week and have to bite your tongue.

What works: The deadpan performances and relentless pace make nearly every gag land, and Leslie Nielsen’s straight face is a masterclass.

What doesn’t: The romantic flashbacks slow the pace, and a handful of gags have aged badly or are too crude for younger viewers.

Who it’s for: Anyone who loves rapid-fire, silly comedy, and families with teens old enough to keep up with the jokes.