Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!
Ratings10
Average rating3.9
I remember watching this movie when I was young, and then the Naked Gun movies. I've always had a weird sense of humor and these movies were hysterical to me.
This was a fun book to read, to see how this movie came to be. I was surprised to see how many hurdles these guys went through before Airplane because a reality. Glad I'm not in show business of any kind.
I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.
Extremely enjoyable oral history from Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker about the groundbreaking, joke-a-minute Airplane!, including interviews with the stars, bit players, production crew, and current comedians who were influenced by its unique brand of humor. The book also looks back at ZAZ's youth and college days in Wisconsin, where their dream of writing and directing a hit comedy movie flourished despite their lack of knowledge, money, or connections. Their unlikely journey (anyone remember Kentucky Fried Movie?) eventually led to the point where ZAZ were cold calling Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges and other Hollywood drama veterans and begging them to star in their bizarre movie, playing it completely straight while chaos reigned around them. Among the many fun facts I learned from the book: the Paramount studio heads wanted Barry Manilow (!) to play leading man Ted Striker instead of Robert Hays; Shelly Long of Cheers fame auditioned for Elaine's part; and most of the dueling PA announcers' lines were lifted verbatim from Arthur Hailey's blockbuster suspense novel [b:Airport 124918 Airport Arthur Hailey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309288724l/124918.SY75.jpg 120317]. It should be noted that the non-ZAZ interviews were conducted by Will Harris, a former writer for the A.V. Club, whose “Random Roles” columns were highlights of the pop culture site. Sadly, AVC is now a shell of what it used to be because Capitalism, but I relish seeing writers from its heyday securing plum jobs like this one.
Surely you can't be serious by David and Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams
This book is all about the movie Airplane! I am not going to lie, I have never seen the movie but this book filled me in on all the magic I missed from not watching it. This book was written by the creators and even after 40 years you can still feel the comedy magic they illicit together. I plan on watching the movie now! 4 stars