Airplane! and The Sequel

Like it or not, some of the best comedy to come out of the movies has been sight gags and straight innuendo that the audience doesn't have to think to much about. At the beginning of the 1980s the current trend of spoofing movies began when Airplane! Took to the screens and sent every single audience laughing into the night. Other than starting this movie genre in the right direction, the other thing this film did was revive Leslie Nielsen's and Lloyd Bridges' careers in movies. Up until this point both men had worked in the film industry as a dramatic actors, but once this film was released their comedic talents came to light and their careers flourished.
Airplane! - After the flight crew and half of the passengers are taken ill from food poisoning, an ex-fighter pilot must take the controls and land the plane. Robert Hays playing opposite Julie Hagerty each other was pure genius in the way of casting, they play off of each other energy that just becomes infectious throughout the film. Seeing the likes of Nielsen, Bridges and Robert Stack, who up to this point had done mainly dramatic roles, in comedy situations was a breath of fresh air, seeing these men drop their serious personas for more light-hearted characters just showed how great they were as actors.
Airplane II: The Sequel - When the computer on the shuttle flight to the moon malfunctions and kills the crew Ted Striker steps in again to save the passengers before they crash into the sun. Having some of the original cast return for the sequel helped the audience identify with the story and the characters. Some of the same running jokes were used from the first film to make a connection to the comedy that the audience were accustomed to. One of the additions to the cast for the sequel is William Shatner as the Moon base commander, and to watch him play off of jokes about Star Trek just makes some of the situations even funnier.
With Hays and Hagerty leading these two casts the audience is taken on a world wind of comedy, and after all these years all of the jokes and gags are still funny. Some of the jokes in both films do seem a little aged, but on the whole both will leave you on the floor laughing till your sides ach. I can't say how many times I've seen these films over the years, but I can say that I've never gotten board with them and even after all this time, I can watch them and still laugh my head off. So if your ready for some true slap stick, sight gag, parody of disaster movies these are the films to see, just be prepared to laugh so hard you'll be crying.