News

This article first appeared into the September 2018 issue of Empire.

---

Thirty years after unleashing defective detective Frank Drebin onto the streets of LA, the men behind The Naked Gun talk us through its most iconic moments.

“I’ve finally found someone I can love. A good clean love, without utensils.”

So spoke Lieutenant Frank Drebin in the closing moments of The Naked Gun, romancing his girlfriend mere seconds after his would-be assassin is trampled to death by a marching band. It’s been 30 years since Leslie Nielsen’s Drebin crashed into cinemas, getting everything wrong yet somehow still solving the case. Today, Drebin’s co-creators David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (aka Zaz), brought together by Empire for an anniversary chinwag, are in fine fettle — there’s no mistaking Drebin’s heritage. “Tell me if I’m wrong,” says Empire, about to pose a question. “You’re wrong!

The writer and director, who died this week, helped to define what big screen spoofs would look like in the decades after

Jim Abrahams, co-creator of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, dies aged 80

Very few people can honestly claim to have changed the direction of comedy, but Jim Abrahams – who died this week – is one of them. Thanks to the procession of spoof movies he made, both alone and with his fellow writer-directors David and Jerry Zucker, Abrahams helped to carve out a brand new genre of comedy, equal parts straight-faced and scattergun.

The most enduring Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (Zaz) film remains Airplane! After leveraging the show they honed at University of Wisconsin–Madison into the entertaining if directionless sketch film The Kentucky Fried Movie, the trio came across the 1957 aviation thriller Zero Hour! on television. They were so taken by the silly plot and wooden acting that they decided to parody the whole thing,...

Jim Abrahams, the writer-director who with brothers Jerry and David Zucker turned the comedy genre on its ear with such zany efforts as Airplane!, Police Squad! and The Naked Gun films, died Tuesday. He was 80.

Abrahams died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son Joseph told The Hollywood Reporter.

The trio made their first mainstream impression by writing the sketch-filled Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), directed by John Landis in his prelude to Animal House, and they also combined for Top Secret! (1984), starring a young Val Kilmer, and Ruthless People (1986), featuring Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.

Without his childhood buddies from Wisconsin, Abrahams directed Big Business (1988), starring Midler and Lily Tomlin, and co-wrote and helmed Hot Shots! (1991) and its 1993 sequel, both starring Charlie Sheen.

Joke-filled and laden with sight gags and puns, the humor of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, or Zaz as they came to be known, was fast,...

Jim Abrahams, who co-wrote and co-directed Airplane and a number of other comedy movies with Jerry and David Zucker, has died. Abrahams' son confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the filmmaker died of natural causes in his Santa Monica home on Tuesday. He was 80 years old.

Abrahams was born in...

This August, Paramount+ is bringing you a lot of entertainment with the highly anticipated streaming release of the biographical film Bob Marley: One Love and a very weird but humorous and heartfelt film Sasquatch Sunset, which follows the daily lives of a Sasquatch family. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 10 best films that are coming to Paramount+ in August 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Airplane! (August 1)

Airplane! is a disaster absurdist comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David, and Jerry Zucker. Based on the 1957 drama film Zero Hour! by Arthur Hailey, Hall Bartlett, and John Champion, the 1980 film follows Ted Striker, a former pilot with a fear of flying as he finds himself in the impossible situation of landing a...

When 1980’s Airplane! proved to be a massive hit, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year – up there with The Empire Strikes Back and Best Picture winner Kramer vs. Kramer – it was inevitable that it would get a sequel. But how often are comedy sequels good anyway? When have they ever really recaptured the magic and the laughter of the original? Well, Airplane II: The Sequel gave it a go…by basically being the same movie. Except this time around, Zaz wisely opted out, leaving the production without the strong leaders who reinvented the spoof genre. Instead, they got the guy who wrote Grease 2, one of the most notoriously awful sequels ever! So, strap in – no, not to an airplane but a space shuttle – as we find out: Wtf Happened to This Movie?!…The Sequel!

1980’s Airplane! did incredibly well upon release, making just under $85 million on a $3.5 million budget,...

Surely the making of one of the funniest movies ever made can’t be that serious…and it really isn’t! Ok, 1980’s Airplane! was a tough sell and there were minor clashes between the directors and Paramount and lawsuits from a rival studio threatened the casting of numerous stars. But there was also perfect against-type casting, clever workarounds to silly DGA regulations and a complete reinvention of the spoof movie, all of which made Airplane! one of the greatest comedies ever.. Oh, and there were fart machines, too!

And so let’s park the taxi, avoid the fish and check in on our drinking problem as we find out: Wtf Happened to this movie?!

Airplane! has its origins in the Kentucky Fried Theater, which the trio of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (collectively known as Zaz) founded in 1971. One act the fellas grew fond of was dubbing...

Graphic: Paramount Pictures Even if you’ve never seen a single film by the writing and directing team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (collectively known as Zaz), surely you’re familiar with the ubiquitous references to their work in popular culture. And if you just read that...

This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “Beyond the Sea” and the books mentioned.

Black Mirror’s darkest, bleakest episode yet is stuffed to the brim with references to film, television, and music. From the obvious visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as the key name “David” taken from that film, to the romantic dance around a car in a barn taken from Witness, to the highly appropriate lyrics of the featured song “Beyond the Sea,” heard only in French in the episode, to the perhaps surprising plot similarities to Red Dwarf’s “Bodyswap,” in which Rimmer tries to convince Lister to lend him his body repeatedly, this episode is steeped in pop culture history.

But there is another set of pop culture references that really stand out in this episode. The books that come to form part of the plot are all carefully chosen...

Horror and comedy are strange, but highly compatible bedfellows. And when we're talking about the "Evil Dead" franchise, they are natural, gruesome complements.

Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" is arguably the most important horror movie of the 1980s. It's a shoestring-budget fright-fest that masks its financial limitations with dizzyingly inventive framing and gonzo explosions of gore. Though it drew inspiration from George A. Romero's zombie films and the demonic possession craze kicked off by William Friedkin's "The Exorcist," its full-throttle exuberance was rooted in everything from Looney Tunes cartoons to Jerry Lewis comedies. Raimi's sequel, "Evil Dead 2," leaned harder into the zaniness, invoking The Three Stooges as we watched our hapless protagonist, Ash (Bruce Campbell), turn into a one-man Larry, Moe, and Curly.

Raimi has since handed the "Evil Dead" reins over to a new generation. Fede Álvarez took a decidedly non-comedic approach to his 2013 remake,...

Brett Goldstein has been rightfully riding the "Ted Lasso" wave, as the series has become one of the pillars of AppleTV+. While it's not exactly his first foray in the industry, the show has certainly boosted his career, along with two back-to-back Emmy wins for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In the midst of playing the temperamental Roy Kent, Goldstein has also been working on a number of projects, with one of them being another series for Apple with "Ted Lasso" co-creator Bill Lawrence called "Shrinking." It stars Jason Segel as a grief-stricken therapist who adopts a new form of communication with his clients by forgoing the profession's ethical niceties and telling them exactly what's on his mind.

Comedy can be a tricky ground to walk on, especially if you're doing so through a series that places equal weight on its drama. You don't want one to overshadow...

Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman takes hosts Joe Dante and Josh Olson on a journey through some of his favorite cinematic tonal shifts.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Thank You For Smoking (2006)

Up In The Air (2009)

Juno (2007)

Young Adult (2011)

Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Seven Samurai (1954) Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Rififi (1955)

Titane (2021)

Cannibal Girls (1973)

Raw (2016)

Hellraiser (1987)

A Serbian Film (2010)

Cast Away (2000)

What Lies Beneath (2000)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Downhill Racer (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Breaking Away (1979)

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)

Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Psycho (1998) – Ti West’s trailer commentary

Last Night In Soho (2021)

Funny Games (1997)

Funny Games (2008)

The Piano Teacher (2001) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray

I, The Jury (1982)

Mother! (2017)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Tully (2018)

Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review, Tfh’s 30th anniversary links...

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!”

There will be a 11:00pm Screening of Airplane at the Skyview Drive in Belleville (5700 N Belt W, Belleville, Il 62226) , Thursday September 24th at 11pm. The gate opens at 10:30. Admission is $10. . The Skyview’s site is Here

Airplane (1980) could have derailed the careers of everyone involved. For example, people under 40 may not even know that until this movie, Leslie Nielsen was strictly a serious actor in dramas both on TV and in film. Many may watch 1973’s The Poseidon Adventure for the first time today and keep waiting for Leslie Nielson – as the captain of the doomed ship – to get up from the dining room table wearing just his heart-covered underwear below the waist, or for him to make that first clueless remark. He never does. But from Airplane onward, he was strictly a comic actor and a good one.

What can you make out of Airplane! at 40 years old? Well, aside from a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl? Written and directed by brothers Jerry and David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, the 1980 parody of disaster films is frequently ranked among the best comedies of all time.

So, what is Airplane! about? Following the plot of the 1957 drama Zero Hour!, as well as inspired by the 1956 Canadian TV movie Flight into Danger, and famed disaster movie Airport 1975, Airplane! is a spoof film about a washed-up pilot summoned to greatness on a potentially doomed aircraft.

But that’s not important right now. What is important is that the trio of young creators, known as the Zaz team — also behind Wisconsin’s Kentucky Fried Theater sketch comedy team — crafted a style of machine-gun fast slapstick cinema which kickstarted a movie subgenre.

And surely one can’t forget the multitude of one-liners from Airplane!

‘Leslie Nielsen had this machine that made fart noises. He’d let rip while you were filming dialogue with him’

We used to seek out movies that were mind-numbingly serious and dub them with our own voices. Late one night, we caught Zero Hour! – a 1957 film about a former world war two pilot landing a stricken passenger flight – and thought: “Why don’t we recreate this whole movie instead?”...

Leslie Nielsen, the serious young actor who enjoyed far greater fame in a second career as a bumbling, older, comic actor in hits such as Airplane! and the Naked Gun series, has died from complications from pneumonia brought on while battling a staph infection. He was 84.

Nielsen was born on February 11, 1926 in Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. He was the son of a Canadian Mounted policeman and went on to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force before becoming a radio announcer and DJ. A scholarship to New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse allowed him to study acting with Sanford Meisner and dance with Martha Graham. Bit parts on stage and TV led to leading roles.

His height and his good looks made him a natural to play the stalwart hero, which he did in films like the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. He then spent two decades in various TV roles, often guest spots, with the odd turn in movies where the role required a serious and commanding presence, as he did as the captain of the doomed ship in The Poseidon Adventure.

He was doing guest stints on television’s "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" when David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams came to call. They wanted Nielsen to play the solemn character he’d perfected over the years in their upcoming spoof Airplane! as Dr. Rumack, the practical physician aboard a troubled flight. Nielsen was relieved to be offered something where he wasn't playing the grandfather and the role forever changed his career and the public’s perception of him. Nielsen deadpanned some of the best lines in the movie: “Surely you can’t be serious.” “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.” and “The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner. “ (That dialogue was taken directly from Zero Hour!, the serious flight disaster film upon which Airplane! was based.)

Though Airplane was the surprise hit of that summer Nielsen headed back to TV, to star as Lt. Frank Drebin in the short-lived Zucker/Abraham’s comedy, “Police Squad.” The show failed but it inspired the creative team behind it to make a big screen version with The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! The success of that film in 1988 led to two sequels with Nielsen headlining and the reliable George Kennedy and still comely Priscilla Presley supporting. The series also gave O.J. Simpson another few years of time in front of the movie camera. Several poorer cousins, such as Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Mr. Magoo, Spy Hard and Wrongfully Accused, followed and tainted the goodwill Nielsen had accumulated and the diminishing box office confirmed it. He continued to make cameo appearances in films, almost all spoofs, up until his death.

Nielsen had been ill for over a week, getting treatment for a staph infection in a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he contracted the pneumonia. His nephew, Doug Nielsen, confirmed the rumors of his uncle’s death by a call-in to a Manitoba radio station, CJOB on Sunday stating that “today at 5:30, with his friends and his wife, Barbaree, by his side, he just fell asleep and passed away.”

Nielsen is survived by Barbaree Nielsen, his fourth wife, and his two daughters, Thea and Maura, whom the actor had with his second wife, Sandy Ullmann.