Airplane! (titled
Flying High! in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan and the Philippines) is a 1980 American
parody film directed and written by
David Zucker,
Jim Abrahams, and
Jerry Zucker and released by
Paramount Pictures. It stars
Robert Hays and
Julie Hagerty and features
Leslie Nielsen,
Robert Stack,
Lloyd Bridges,
Peter Graves,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and
Lorna Patterson. The film is a
parody of the
disaster film genre, particularly the 1957 Paramount film
Zero Hour!, from which it borrows the plot and the central characters, as well as many elements from
Airport 1975. The film is known for its use of
surreal humor and its fast-paced
slapstick comedy, including visual and verbal puns and gags.