Zero Hour!

Sometimes it's a wonder that Hollywood has any new ideas to be made into movies, when you look back at some of the older films all you really see are a lot of remakes and sequels. And then there are times that the audience is watching a film and enjoying it, and then years later you find out that it was a complete remake of an old B-movie. That's the situation here, after years of watching and loving the two Airplane movies from the 80s and believing that they were parodies of the disasters from the 70s I found out recently that this is not completely true. The first Airplane movie was actually a spoof of this film Zero Hour!, and in some cases goes far beyond just being a parody, there are scenes, dialog and even character mannerisms that are copied in the 80s film. This takes nothing away from Airplane; in fact because of the success of that film this one actually comes off better than it probably did in 1957.
Still haunted by his World War II experiences, Ted Stryker must find it within himself to help land a commercial flight when the crew and many of the passengers come down with food poisoning. In all the ways that count this is a true B-movie, from the props to the acting to the way the situations are played out, but it is also a true disaster film and deserves to be placed in that genre for all intents and purposes. One of the actors that play a passenger on the plane is Jerry Paris, who is from 50s TV series The Dick Van Dyke Show. The script for this little adventure was co-written by Arthur Hailey who later wrote the book Airport, which was later turned into the classic disaster film from the 70s.
Watching the actors play all of these roles straight and not as a comedy is a little different, but it's enjoyable to see the original path that this story took before it became a comedy classic. I had never heard of this film until a few months ago when it was released on DVD, and had no idea of the connection that it had with the 80s film. But after seeing it I can honestly say that if you are a fan of the Airplane films this is a must see movie, and if you know enough of those films by heart you'll find this movie a pleasure to view this early aviation disaster film.