Runtime: 81 minutes
Directed by: Hall Bartlett
Starring: Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden, Peggy King, Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch
From: Paramount
Well, at least I received food poisoning before the flight…
When I returned home to Florida from Wichita, the flight on low-buck Allegiant Airlines was like no other for me. Someone suffered a “medical emergency” during boarding. That’s always horrifying but thank heavens it wasn’t in the middle of the flight. Also, someone puked their guts out three times during the journey, including on the ground before taking off. Unfortunately, that someone was… ME! Don’t worry, I feel better now but I started feeling awful while in the airport. More details at the end.
It'd have been amusing to discuss Airplane! That was tackled just seven months ago so it doesn’t need another review; instead, for the first time, why not select the movie that the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrahams (RIP) closely modeled their film after? Even I was taken aback by how many scenes and moments were parodied, how long stretches of dialogue were directly lifted. Multiple YouTube videos have done side-by-side comparisons.
Like in Airplane!, Zero Hour! features pilot Ted Stryker (instead of Striker) who experiences a tragedy during the war so he hasn’t flown since then. However, when the pilots-including athlete turned actor Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch; this is why Kareem played a pilot in Airplane!- and many passengers are poisoned by bad grilled halibut-the only seafood I had Wednesday night was shrimp at the Japanese steakhouse; I hope that wasn’t the root of my nausea-he is forced to take command, helped by his old military commander.
As many have noted, after viewing Airplane!, it is hard to take Zero Hour! and its serious disaster movie vibes seriously. If you’re familiar w/ the spoof, it’s impossible not to be reminded of it-often-while viewing the po-faced original. It is a fine movie on its own, immeasurably aided by the presence of Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, & Sterling Hayden. For those familiar w/ the 1980 film, what it remade probably will be of interest.
Thank heavens my health is back to normal today. If I could, I would have apologized to everyone on that crowded flight for having to hear me loudly retch; at least many thanks & apologizes were given both to Nina (the flight attendant) and Josh-the poor soul who sat right by me-who went above & beyond to help me out while I was down & out.
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