Speaker 1: On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 2: One of the funniest movies ever made in any language,
Speaker 2: on any planet, in any universe airplane. So who do
Speaker 2: we have in studio? This is really a special special hour, folks.
Speaker 2: We have in studio the writers, the producers, the directors,
Speaker 2: the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams. Who made this? I'll
Speaker 2: ask you the obvious. Does it seem like thirty years?
Speaker 2: Does it seem like thirty days? Does it seem like
Speaker 2: a century? I mean, you're sitting here. This put you,
Speaker 2: guys in the center of Hollywood and the world.
Speaker 1: That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of hours
Speaker 1: of Dennis's lectures, courses in classic radio programs, and to
Speaker 1: purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to Dennisprager dot com.
Speaker 2: You are listening to the best of the Dennis Prager Show.
Speaker 2: Stand By for the most extraordinary chain of events ever
Speaker 2: swept up into high adventure. Never has the spoon band
Speaker 2: so big. Have you ever been in a cockpit before, sir,
Speaker 2: I've been before.
Speaker 3: Peter Greggs ever seen a grown man naked.
Speaker 2: Kareem Abdul Jabbar. My name is Roger Murdoch. I'm an
Speaker 2: airline pilot. Leslie Nielsen. This woman has to be got
Speaker 2: into a hospital. That's a big building with patients. That's
Speaker 2: not important right now. Lloyd Bridges, Johnny, what can you
Speaker 2: make out of this?
Speaker 1: This?
Speaker 4: What a big cap for brooch or turned out could
Speaker 4: be grown?
Speaker 2: Robert Stack All right, steeple's face.
Speaker 1: A few facts, and I hope you enjoy the rest
Speaker 1: of your site.
Speaker 2: Julie Haggerty, By.
Speaker 3: The way, is there anyone on board who knows how
Speaker 3: to fly a plane?
Speaker 2: Can you fly this plane and land it? Robert Hayes,
Speaker 2: surely you can't be serious. I am serious, and don't
Speaker 2: call me Shirley. The most incredible adventure the screen has
Speaker 2: ever created.
Speaker 1: Airplane?
Speaker 2: All right, I'm sure you're wondering, my friends, Dennis Praeger
Speaker 2: here why we open the show with the trailer from
Speaker 2: exactly thirty years ago to one of the funniest movies
Speaker 2: ever made in any language, on any planet in any universe, Airplane.
Speaker 2: And the reason is that it is indeed the thirtieth
Speaker 2: anniversary of what is considered a classic. There are not
Speaker 2: many film classics. Airplane is truly one of them, and
Speaker 2: there are almost no comedy classics. It's much easier, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, and we'll talk to the folks that I
Speaker 2: will introduce you to in just a moment. I think
Speaker 2: it's a lot easier in a film. In greenplay to
Speaker 2: make people cry then to make people laugh. It just is,
Speaker 2: you know, somebody's dying of cancer, and and the kid
Speaker 2: is with the mother who's dying, and everybody cries. But
Speaker 2: to make people laugh and to make people laugh for
Speaker 2: thirty years, that's that's an achievement. And by the way,
Speaker 2: it's a beautiful achievement because people do need to laugh.
Speaker 2: So who do we have in studio? This is really
Speaker 2: a special a special hour. Folks. We have in studio,
Speaker 2: the writers, the producers, the directors, the first grip, the
Speaker 2: second grip, the third grip. You guys did everything, I mean, really,
Speaker 2: I don't. I'm surprised anybody else is listed in the credits.
Speaker 2: We have the the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams who
Speaker 2: made this. There was it wasn't exactly your first film, correct,
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 5: It was go On the first time we directed, but
Speaker 5: we had written a movie called Kentucky fris That's.
Speaker 2: Right, Kentucky Fried Chicken. But this was the yeah with
Speaker 2: you directing. I'm sorry, what was that? Oh? I said,
Speaker 2: Chicken Chicken okay, kind of super Bowl. No, No, I
Speaker 2: knew Kentucky Fry movie. But my brain went into automatic.
Speaker 2: It happens every so often, Bill and and so, Jerry Zucker,
Speaker 2: David Zucker, Jim Abrams. This is this is huge. I'll
Speaker 2: ask you the obvious. Does it seem like thirty years?
Speaker 2: Does it seem like thirty days? Does it seem like
Speaker 2: a century? I mean, you're sitting here, this this put you,
Speaker 2: guys in the center of Hollywood and the world. Why
Speaker 2: are you looking at me for this answer?
Speaker 6: It's like, David, all I know is that the traffic
Speaker 6: is much worse in LA today than it was thirty
Speaker 6: years ago, because you know, it took the full you know,
Speaker 6: hour and fifteen minutes to get here. That's true, that is,
Speaker 6: but it just seems I mean the time, well, time flies,
Speaker 6: and it gets goes faster and faster once you get older,
Speaker 6: and you know, I mean soon, you know, one of
Speaker 6: us is going to have a grandchild for.
Speaker 2: All we know. You know, so that's right, may you,
Speaker 2: May you all be blessed with the grandchildren. The movie
Speaker 2: is listed you showed me Alan, it was listed in
Speaker 2: the top ten funniest ever made. I think it's in
Speaker 2: the top three funniest ever made.
Speaker 3: You thought that were funnier?
Speaker 2: No, no, not at all. It could be in the
Speaker 2: top three and number one. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3: I just want to No, no, I know, no, that's
Speaker 3: very fair.
Speaker 2: I don't know fair. No, actually, no, the truth is
Speaker 2: I'm not okay. That's a good point, and there many are.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's not my genre of of humor, all right.
Speaker 2: Another obvious question, then less obvious questions. What did you
Speaker 2: think would happen to Airplane? Did you think it would do? Okay?
Speaker 2: Did you? Were you overwhelmed by what happened?
Speaker 7: Jim, Well, it took us six years to make Airplane.
Speaker 7: And during those whole sixes from the time he started
Speaker 7: writing it Tewana in a movie theater, and when you
Speaker 7: worked that hired and that passionately and so devout about something,
Speaker 7: you believe in it. And so we absolutely believed in
Speaker 7: it and would have been shocked if it hadn't been
Speaker 7: a hit, that it would have lasted for thirty years
Speaker 7: and we'd be sitting in your studio with Dennis Prager
Speaker 7: thirty years later, reminiscing about what it was like. I
Speaker 7: don't think anybody had a clue that would happen.
Speaker 2: Well, I deserve it. I'll tell you. It's really one
Speaker 2: of those classic adums. I won't say rags to riches.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys were in rags, you
Speaker 2: certainly weren't. Is that fair? Yeah? Middle class to rich,
Speaker 2: mid middle class to riches. Are you all from Milwaukee? Yep,
Speaker 2: from the same high school. No kidding, that's very powerful.
Speaker 5: Our fathers were actually business partners at one time, Abrams and.
Speaker 2: Zucker, and our sisters were college roommates.
Speaker 7: And our mothers used to dance together at the Boom
Speaker 7: Boom Club in downtown Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: No kidding.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was my next question.
Speaker 3: The rest of it is actually true.
Speaker 2: Just now, now, just in case his mom is listening,
Speaker 2: I want you to know that the thing that is
Speaker 2: so amazing about your film, well, one of the things
Speaker 2: is that to this day people will use lines from it.
Speaker 2: That's that's really what you call an achievement. I myself,
Speaker 2: I can't believe it. Will say, uh, don't call me Shirley.
Speaker 2: I can't. You know, when somebody says, oh, Sureley, you're
Speaker 2: going to the park, and I find this, I do.
Speaker 6: The same thing, and it's more embarrassing because you know,
Speaker 6: people ask me how I want my coffee and it
Speaker 6: just comes out, you know, I take it black like
Speaker 6: my men.
Speaker 2: And it's then I forget. Oh wait, I'm just quoting
Speaker 2: from this movie where the actors cooperative and cracking up,
Speaker 2: where there are any problems. I mean, thirty years later,
Speaker 2: I think you could be you could divulge this, not
Speaker 2: not as much as you'd think.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, the business of making comedy is
Speaker 6: pretty much just that, it's a business.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: We we live with the script for a year, a
Speaker 6: couple of years, and then you know, you get it
Speaker 6: on set. You rehearse it a bunch of times. It's
Speaker 6: very little cracking up on the set. Really, No, there
Speaker 6: wasn't really, not not really.
Speaker 2: I mean you have outtakes.
Speaker 5: My memory is a little different than David's, and and
Speaker 5: I I remember actually, I mean, we didn't improvise a
Speaker 5: lot the movie was you did ninety nine percent of
Speaker 5: the script of the film that you see as what
Speaker 5: was on the page. But I do remember laughing a lot,
Speaker 5: you know, watching you know, when we're watching it unfold,
Speaker 5: not after the twelfth take, but I do remember laughing
Speaker 5: a lot and having a just my recollection.
Speaker 3: Of it is that it was just a wonderful time
Speaker 3: making the film.
Speaker 2: I thought you meant like outtake kind of last, but well, yeah,
Speaker 2: I do both. Where Leslie Nielsen would just crack up
Speaker 2: because he couldn't say the lines with the straight fa
Speaker 2: that didn't happen.
Speaker 3: Much, but Jerry's if we were laughing at our own
Speaker 3: jokes were.
Speaker 4: But that's good.
Speaker 6: Part of part of the business of directing comedy is
Speaker 6: you you do have to see at every take, and
Speaker 6: we watch the monitors for the which you know, shows
Speaker 6: what the camera is seen. And we have to laugh
Speaker 6: at the end of because if we don't, that means
Speaker 6: that it's a bad We have to we have to
Speaker 6: approach it like we're seeing these lines.
Speaker 2: Folks, if you'd like to speak, this is probably a
Speaker 2: unique opportunity, a classic film and all and the three
Speaker 2: people responsible for it, writing, directing and producing and everything else.
Speaker 2: Did you guys order the food as well? I mean,
Speaker 2: I'll fortunately not one eight Prager seven seven six and
Speaker 2: uh eight seven seven two four three triple seven six.
Speaker 2: It's the thirtieth anniversary of one of the funniest films
Speaker 2: ever made. What I would be curious to know. I'd
Speaker 2: love to show this to a college audience today, because
Speaker 2: is almost always a culture bound. That's one thing about humor.
Speaker 2: It's very hard to transcept. I mean, nobody starts cracking
Speaker 2: up at a midsommer Night's Dream or any of the
Speaker 2: comedies of Shakespeare. You know, you enjoy it, you smile,
Speaker 2: but the audience is then we're rolling in the aisles presumably,
Speaker 2: And have you tried this? Do you know how it
Speaker 2: would go today with college kids? Maybe some young people
Speaker 2: will call in, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Actually, at the time, in order to edit the film,
Speaker 5: we screened it for college kids because in a normal
Speaker 5: recruited screening, nobody knew anything about it and it was
Speaker 5: hard to get a the right reaction, So that age
Speaker 5: was actually great. Now, the thing is, because of you know, DVDs,
Speaker 5: they've all seen it since they were eleven, so you
Speaker 5: really don't find a college crowd who were seeing it
Speaker 5: for the first time that terrific.
Speaker 2: I think it can. I it would be better if
Speaker 2: I'm no better.
Speaker 3: Percentage of the DVD is.
Speaker 2: But I believe this transcends time. I well, we've been sighting. Sure,
Speaker 2: you've been screening it all summer.
Speaker 6: At these thirty year anniversary celebration you have and the
Speaker 6: audiences laugh, you know, start to finish.
Speaker 2: Still all right, back at the moment, thirtieth anniversary of Airplane.
Speaker 2: Surely you can't be serious. I am serious, and don't
Speaker 2: call me sure.
Speaker 1: This episode of timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 3: Flight to zero niner.
Speaker 8: You are cleared for takeoff, Roger la departure, break with me?
Speaker 9: What you're three point niner?
Speaker 2: Roger Greek quest.
Speaker 9: Vender old, but fight you a zero niner?
Speaker 8: Clear for vector and free two four?
Speaker 2: You have Clarence Clarence, Roger Rogers. Let's start Victare Victor.
Speaker 8: Now a radio Clarence over that, Clarence over cover.
Speaker 2: Not you're overy. I'm sitting here giggling like I had
Speaker 2: never seen this. This is the thirtieth anniversary of the
Speaker 2: classic film Airplane, and I have the the everything's the
Speaker 2: people who made it, wrote it, directed it, produced it.
Speaker 2: Here the Zucker Brothers, Jerry and David and Jim Abrams.
Speaker 2: They've known each other since high school from Milwaukee. And
Speaker 2: I'm going to go to calls. I have a lot
Speaker 2: of my own questions, but people around the country have
Speaker 2: have questions, all right, New York City, Jonathan, Dennis Prager
Speaker 2: and everybody who made Airplane, Hi, Zucker.
Speaker 10: Brothers, I everybody Abrams. I want to just wish you,
Speaker 10: Mazzletov on your thirtieth anniversary. And I want to tell
Speaker 10: you that you're Your movie literally is one of the
Speaker 10: guiding lights in my life. Actually in the office here
Speaker 10: they have some fans and something. We've literally gone through
Speaker 10: your videos Sometimes in the morning we'll turn it on
Speaker 10: and watch for a few minutes.
Speaker 8: A day, just to start the day.
Speaker 10: And I have a question for you that I've always wondered.
Speaker 10: You know, I watched your movies back in the eighties
Speaker 10: like a little kid, and I've always wondered, how did
Speaker 10: you manage to pull off a PG rating back in
Speaker 10: the eighties with with some of those wild scenes going
Speaker 10: on there.
Speaker 2: There was no PG thirteen invented at that time. This
Speaker 2: was it was. It was a new rate.
Speaker 6: I think Spielberg got that first PG thirteen a couple
Speaker 6: of years later for some movie you did, but there
Speaker 6: was only PG and then I think it went right
Speaker 6: to R.
Speaker 2: Well, there was no except for slapping the lady in
Speaker 2: that row, which I thought was one of the great
Speaker 2: moments of my life. The lady screen will talk about
Speaker 2: that in a moment. There was no nudity right there,
Speaker 2: and there.
Speaker 4: Was there was.
Speaker 3: How did you miss that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That is paying me. You know, I would forget that,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I don't know. I had this jumbo
Speaker 2: pop corner.
Speaker 4: Was it was utterly yeah, I mean there was no reason.
Speaker 2: For the which is exactly true for almost all films,
Speaker 2: but it gotta laugh. So we left it in. Okay,
Speaker 2: I see, So that's why he know there's a bad
Speaker 2: sign that I don't remember that. It must have been brief.
Speaker 2: Was it brief? It was very tell me it was brief.
Speaker 3: Okay, fine, but brief but wonderful, as were the auditions.
Speaker 2: And it was my son's favorite part of the movie.
Speaker 2: I mean when he got threur, yeah, I know, I
Speaker 2: knew that was coming. Yeah, I'm sure he did. He
Speaker 2: saw his food. How to three people? How did three
Speaker 2: people direct the movie? Well, it's not really know why.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm a straight man. I am now, I
Speaker 2: am an official straight man. How many times did you
Speaker 2: guys do that? The truth was this the eight thousand
Speaker 2: and four Okay, fine, yeah, I would go into or
Speaker 2: more films here. Let's go to Lake Balboa, California and Gary, Hello, Gary,
Speaker 2: Dennis Prager and the Zuckers and Jim Abrams.
Speaker 11: Hi, Dennis, love your show, Thank you me too. This
Speaker 11: is one of my favorite all time movies, and I've
Speaker 11: always wondered what the inspiration of the genesis for this
Speaker 11: idea was. It's just brilliant.
Speaker 2: I think these guys survived an air crash, and what
Speaker 2: was the genesis. What we used to do with Jim Abrams.
Speaker 7: For inspiration would be to leave a tape recorder on
Speaker 7: the television all night long to capture late night commercials
Speaker 7: because that's when all the cheapest, silliest stuff was on TV,
Speaker 7: and then we would do parodies of those commercials or
Speaker 7: TV shows. One morning, we got to work and had
Speaker 7: captured a movie called Zero Hour, which was a nineteen
Speaker 7: fifty seven melodrama written by Arthur Hey starring Linda Darnell
Speaker 7: and Sterling Hayden. And Dana Andrews, and it was the
Speaker 7: story of Airplane. And so we rewrote Zero Hour as
Speaker 7: a comedy, hung our jokes on their story, using their characters,
Speaker 7: and that was where.
Speaker 4: It came from.
Speaker 2: So that a real film inspired you, an actual real movie. Yes,
Speaker 2: I would like to see that now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's fun. It's excellent to see it now, especially
Speaker 7: in the wake of Airplane.
Speaker 1: And we.
Speaker 7: We have put together videos of intercutting Zero Hour scenes
Speaker 7: with our scenes and.
Speaker 2: The public on YouTube.
Speaker 6: They have zero If you google a zero hour an airplane,
Speaker 6: I mean type in zero hour airplane, you may you
Speaker 6: may see this.
Speaker 2: People have done a side by side, a scene by
Speaker 2: scene comparison. Oh really, yeah, right, that they have. It's
Speaker 2: probably studied constantly. Some of the lines we lifted completely intact,
Speaker 2: no kidding. When when Leslie Nielsen says, uh, Stewardess, I
Speaker 2: think you ought to know what our chances are.
Speaker 6: The lives of everyone on board depends on one thing,
Speaker 6: finding someone back there who not only can fly this plane,
Speaker 6: but who didn't have fish for dinner.
Speaker 2: And that's it, and the cats all laugh. But that
Speaker 2: really was the said by the doctor in Zero Hour,
Speaker 2: but he meant it seriously. He meant it seriously right,
Speaker 2: It sounds like quite a film. It's worthy of parody
Speaker 2: in parts unintentionally hilarious. Jerry, how are the first reviews?
Speaker 3: The first reviews were, I think, pretty good, but mixed.
Speaker 3: I mean I think you know.
Speaker 2: Everyone who panned it, Kale, they know now was she wait?
Speaker 2: Was she New Yorker?
Speaker 4: Was she the New Yorker?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, but I found out later she when she
Speaker 6: saw it, she was sitting next to Woody Allen, and
Speaker 6: Woody Allen kept saying.
Speaker 2: No, this is great.
Speaker 6: Don't you see this is this is funny, and she
Speaker 6: she says, but there's no comedians in it, so she
Speaker 6: just she really.
Speaker 2: Well, look when push comes to show, I rather Woody
Speaker 2: Allen think it's funny than fully right. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: if you had to really choose so so, but well,
Speaker 2: let's say other reviews and so it was mixed.
Speaker 5: In other words, it was it was, but I think
Speaker 5: it was mostly but it's probably seventy percent favorable. The
Speaker 5: thing about Airplane it was it divided people in the
Speaker 5: sense that there's a certain kind of person that that's
Speaker 5: just that's their sense of humor. They really respond to
Speaker 5: that satire and then there's a certain kind of mind.
Speaker 3: That just didn't you know, didn't get that, didn't love that.
Speaker 5: Didn't understand why everybody was just being straight and there
Speaker 5: weren't any silly, funny people in it.
Speaker 2: In light of that, how did it do overseas? How
Speaker 2: culture bound? Is it great?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 5: You know why because it was a satire on American movies,
Speaker 5: and they get American movies, they share.
Speaker 2: The references, but but they wouldn't know Roger Roger and.
Speaker 4: You know Cluns had trouble transfer.
Speaker 7: Yeah, but actually we had a we had an interesting
Speaker 7: experience because we had an opportunity.
Speaker 4: To see it in Germany.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
Speaker 4: Was dubbed dub But when the scene came.
Speaker 7: Up with the black guys, the dubbed black guys, it
Speaker 7: got as big a laugh in Germany as it did
Speaker 7: in the United States. And sitting in the audience, how
Speaker 7: why that could happen? And it was explained to us
Speaker 7: afterward that the that the black guys were dubbed in Bavarian,
Speaker 7: which they.
Speaker 2: Don't get.
Speaker 3: Anymore.
Speaker 2: I got to get out of here, I got to
Speaker 2: get out of here.
Speaker 8: Get a hold of yourself.
Speaker 2: I'll get back to your seat. I'll take care of this.
Speaker 2: Everything's pretty.
Speaker 1: This episode of timeless wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 5: The red is for agloading and unloading of passengers.
Speaker 2: Only there's no stopping in the White song.
Speaker 11: You know, the white show is for noting and unknowating,
Speaker 11: and there is no stopping.
Speaker 2: The Renais the reds has always been reloading it unloading.
Speaker 2: There's never stopping at on White song.
Speaker 11: Don't tell me which sew is for stopping and which
Speaker 11: sell is.
Speaker 2: Harmony to listen study, don't start up with your white dogyap.
Speaker 2: I'm still laughing. Thirty years later, It's thirty years since
Speaker 2: one of the true classics, and that's that's the highest
Speaker 2: appellation you can give to any any work of art
Speaker 2: has appeared, and that is the film Airplane. And we
Speaker 2: have the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams who wrote it,
Speaker 2: directed it, produced it, et cetera. By the way, I
Speaker 2: see produced it. Where did you get the money to
Speaker 2: do this? You guys were not rich. Where did you
Speaker 2: How did you?
Speaker 6: We took it for years, we took it around to
Speaker 6: studios and we kept rewriting it, and every studio in
Speaker 6: Hollywood turned it down. Naturally, one guy sought the idea
Speaker 6: and the script and liked it, and that was Michael
Speaker 6: Eisner at Paramount, So.
Speaker 2: I really owe him a lot. He you know, Wow,
Speaker 2: that's fascinating. I'm glad I asked one guy.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and he saw it somehow and had us into
Speaker 6: to meet. And I remember the first time we ever
Speaker 6: went to Paramount.
Speaker 2: We were just awestruck by the carpet. It was really
Speaker 2: plush carpet. Yeah, I believe it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: By the way, producers never put their own money into movies.
Speaker 2: They raised very rarely.
Speaker 3: Yeah, get either the studios are foreign financing.
Speaker 2: And you've got a studio so through Paramount is.
Speaker 3: Also very inexpensive.
Speaker 2: And Paramount took the script and made it better. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Why was it inexpensive because it was shot at one place.
Speaker 5: Well, it was you know a bunch of people on
Speaker 5: a you know plane in the control tower and all
Speaker 5: we shot it in seven weeks. It was there was
Speaker 5: a three million dollar three and a half million expensive cast.
Speaker 4: Inexpensive. Everything about it.
Speaker 2: Was who casted it? Did you guys? Did you hire
Speaker 2: a casting Yeah, you have a cast in Dropper.
Speaker 3: But in movies it's not just but the movies.
Speaker 5: The directors make the decision, although obviously the studio can
Speaker 5: say has veto power thought of Kareem.
Speaker 7: Kareem was actually uh fallback position. We had originally written
Speaker 7: that part. We wanted to have a famous athlete play
Speaker 7: a part because to make fun of the whole notion
Speaker 7: that athletes are frequently given parts and movies and they
Speaker 7: really can't act their athletes. And so we originally wrote
Speaker 7: the part for Pete Rose. Oh really, And that was
Speaker 7: before Pete Rose been outed as Pete Grose, and but
Speaker 7: we filmed the movie during the summer and so he
Speaker 7: was unavailable. He was playing baseball. So as a fallback position,
Speaker 7: we wrote the part for Kareem.
Speaker 2: Did he enjoy doing it?
Speaker 4: Not particularly, I don't think I think he.
Speaker 2: Actually did enjoy it.
Speaker 3: But but the thing is, but he's he's not He's
Speaker 3: not the monster. Kareem is a very.
Speaker 5: Low key guy, and so I think it's like hard
Speaker 5: to tell whether Kareem is happier. But he really, he said,
Speaker 5: I ran into him recently, actually just a couple of
Speaker 5: months ago, and he wants to act a get more.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Later he responded, yeah, and I've read interviews with him,
Speaker 6: he said airplane changed his life.
Speaker 2: Yeah really, yeah, oh yeah. Register.
Speaker 7: The other thing that it was kind of interesting is
Speaker 7: that at the time he didn't memorize his line.
Speaker 4: So we had to give him que cards.
Speaker 7: And recently, with all this thirty years later stuff coming out,
Speaker 7: somebody wrote and at the time when when you can
Speaker 7: see him reading Q cards in the movie, and we
Speaker 7: were upset because he didn't memorize his lines and had
Speaker 7: to use que cards. Thirty years later in an article,
Speaker 7: we were given credit for being brilliant for exposing athletes
Speaker 7: who are not really actors by making him read obviously reading.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh that's precious. Yeah, that is a precious story.
Speaker 2: Let's go to Minneapolis and Bill. Hello, Bill, Dennis Prager
Speaker 2: and the airplane Gang.
Speaker 12: Dennis, good morning to you. First of all, i'd like
Speaker 12: to say it's certainly an honor to talk to you
Speaker 12: and these gentlemen that gave us this American icon, and
Speaker 12: especially from the aviation community. We would just like to
Speaker 12: say thank you, thank you, thank you. It's uh, we
Speaker 12: use these lines almost daily in the cockpit, that's reassured.
Speaker 12: And Dennis, someone will hand me a map, of course
Speaker 12: and say what can you.
Speaker 1: Make a visit and.
Speaker 12: Act it's it's And I was telling your screener one
Speaker 12: time I had a We were sitting at the gate
Speaker 12: and uh, we were finished with our checklists and we
Speaker 12: had briefed the takeoff and all the departure proceeding, so
Speaker 12: we was just kind of a downtime and I turned around.
Speaker 12: There was a young boy standing next to me, which
Speaker 12: happens quite often, you know, they come and they visit
Speaker 12: the cockpit, and not seeing the mother in the cockpit door,
Speaker 12: I turned around and I said, oh, and who are you?
Speaker 12: And he said Kimmy or whatever, And of course, without
Speaker 12: even thinking it just Jimmy.
Speaker 8: Do you like Gladiator move?
Speaker 3: I hear?
Speaker 2: But my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense.
Speaker 3: And he says that lots of times you don't even
Speaker 3: run on court, judge, don't really try set during the playoffs.
Speaker 13: The hell, I don't listen. I've been hearing that for
Speaker 13: ever since I was at U c l A. I'm
Speaker 13: out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old
Speaker 13: man to drag Walton and near roup and down the
Speaker 13: court for forty eight minutes.
Speaker 2: Joe, do you like movies about Gladiators. You're listening to
Speaker 2: the Dennis Prager Show. It was a an airline pilot,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe one of the planes I will be flying
Speaker 2: or have flown, who speaks about how often pilots use
Speaker 2: the jargon and the funny lines from this great classic airplane.
Speaker 2: And if you're just tuning in, shame on you because
Speaker 2: you missed so much fun here. That's why we have Prageatopia,
Speaker 2: by the way, so you can get every hour anytime
Speaker 2: you want at the giant price of six dollars a month,
Speaker 2: and it's Pragatopia at the website. Thennis Praguer dot com.
Speaker 2: Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Jim Abrams, the folks who made this,
Speaker 2: they were in their early thirties when it was done.
Speaker 2: It's thirty years ago. It's not thirty years ago today,
Speaker 2: but it's thirty years ago. Was there What was the
Speaker 2: opening date? I think late July.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure it was late July.
Speaker 7: We often talk about how sort of the seas divided
Speaker 7: for airplane, I mean, everything eventually just fell into place beautifully.
Speaker 7: And one problem, one of our worries at the time was, gosh,
Speaker 7: late July of nineteen eighty we're going to be competing
Speaker 7: against the Summer Olympics. But what do you know, we
Speaker 7: boycotted the Summer Olympics, so there was no context.
Speaker 2: Oh how interesting. There were those who say that that
Speaker 2: was the reason, not Afghanistan. It was the Help. There
Speaker 2: was the Help airplane and Jimmy Ky. Yeah, so there
Speaker 2: you go. He is a hero, Laurie in Minneapolis, Hi,
Speaker 2: Dennis Prager and the airplane gang.
Speaker 14: Hi, this question is for the Zucker Brothers. Actually it's
Speaker 14: just more of an anecdote. I also love your movie
Speaker 14: Top Secret. I used to work with a woman who
Speaker 14: her husband. I do believe he worked with you guys
Speaker 14: when he was in college. It was a summer job
Speaker 14: or maybe a school year job in Madison.
Speaker 2: Does that sound what's his name?
Speaker 14: I'll just say his first name. I believe it's Bill.
Speaker 2: Oh Bill.
Speaker 14: You guys were lying cooks and he was a dishwasher.
Speaker 14: Does that sound right? A long time ago, so I'm
Speaker 14: trying to remember the details.
Speaker 2: But I was were you yeah, yeah? In college? All right,
Speaker 2: all right, Laurie, thank you so much. All Right, you
Speaker 2: guys don't remember Bill, don't give me a I remember
Speaker 2: a few bit, my guys. I didn't start radio yesterday.
Speaker 2: You don't feel like I know, Bill, my uncle Bill.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Laurie, Atlanta, Georgia. And Ben, Hello, Ben, Dennis Prager,
Speaker 2: how you doing.
Speaker 9: I just want to thank you guys. Your Your movie
Speaker 9: was the first movie I took my wife to be
Speaker 9: we went to see.
Speaker 2: And did she laugh?
Speaker 8: Movie open?
Speaker 2: Wait? Did she laugh?
Speaker 9: Above the Clouds?
Speaker 2: Wait? Ben? Ben? Did she laugh?
Speaker 8: Excuse me?
Speaker 2: Did she laugh?
Speaker 9: She was hysterical? You don't see it again because we
Speaker 9: missed so much?
Speaker 2: Okay, then he did the right thing. I got a
Speaker 2: second date, he got Oh, so that's it. You got
Speaker 2: a second date out of it. And you're thinking, and
Speaker 2: I married her.
Speaker 9: It's going to be our twenty ninth wedding anniversary.
Speaker 2: Congratulations. You can be on the show next year.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: I think the three of you should go to Atlanta
Speaker 2: and celebrate with them. Yeah, that would be.
Speaker 9: Movie started and they showed Above the Clouds and the
Speaker 9: Jaws music started playing, and the Tale of That Plane
Speaker 9: went by. I looked at my wife. I said that
Speaker 9: was worth the five bucks, and.
Speaker 2: She said that's all I work. Five bucks for a movie. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that dates it. That absolutely does. All right, let's go
Speaker 2: to uh San Diego and Beck, is that right? Beck?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 15: Beck?
Speaker 2: Hi Beck.
Speaker 15: Hey, So look, I've been trying to track down these
Speaker 15: Zookers for a long time because I'd like to put
Speaker 15: in a request for the refund of the three hundred
Speaker 15: and ninety two hours of my husband's life that he
Speaker 15: has lost watching this movie.
Speaker 2: Over and over again, no kidding.
Speaker 15: And he's a pilot, he's a military pilot, private pilot,
Speaker 15: and oh my god, it doesn't matter if it's you know,
Speaker 15: if we have to get up at three am the
Speaker 15: next day to do whatever. If that movie comes on,
Speaker 15: he's staying up and watching it.
Speaker 3: I'm saying that might be a pre existing condition. We
Speaker 3: can't take it.
Speaker 2: I I think you should sue the Zucker brothers and
Speaker 2: Jim I I do you know?
Speaker 15: I think I should too. Are they worth anything?
Speaker 2: Well, the laughter tells you that, thew but the answer
Speaker 2: that's terrific, you know that. I love the fact that
Speaker 2: all these pilots love the film. So that's a great sign.
Speaker 2: But there's certain movies that you just once you start
Speaker 2: watching him, you just you get sucked in. Oh well,
Speaker 2: your that is one of them.
Speaker 1: For me.
Speaker 3: If if I.
Speaker 2: Midway you know, the one with Charlton Heston. It's all
Speaker 2: about the battle. Yeah, no, I didn't see it. Alan,
Speaker 2: you know it? Right? Is that? Does that suck you in? Allen? Okay?
Speaker 2: Get it was panned by the critics, panned by Alan.
Speaker 2: That's that's when the audience left was yes, okay, we
Speaker 2: have here, what is it? Okay?
Speaker 3: So that means the movie sucks, Phoenix said Christine.
Speaker 2: Hello, Christine, Hello, how are you all?
Speaker 16: Gentlemen? Thank you so much for such a wonderful film.
Speaker 16: I have to tell you at the beginning of your hour,
Speaker 16: I watched this movie with my father and the sound
Speaker 16: of him laughing is one of my favorite sounds in
Speaker 16: the world. And I called him to tell him you
Speaker 16: guys were on. He just retired, so he puts you
Speaker 16: on as well. But my question was, how difficult was
Speaker 16: it to get June Cleaver to speak jibs.
Speaker 3: That that was?
Speaker 2: Explain explain that to the audience.
Speaker 5: Uh, well, we grew up on Leave It to Beaver
Speaker 5: and and uh and for David and I it was
Speaker 5: like that was our family, you know.
Speaker 3: And uh, but but we we when we first wrote
Speaker 3: that stuff, Uh, we really didn't.
Speaker 5: We really didn't write those lines we kind of wrote
Speaker 5: the most show for you know, in the script and
Speaker 5: and sort of when when these African American as would
Speaker 5: come into audition, we'd.
Speaker 3: Apologize and just say that's the best.
Speaker 5: Three white Jewish guys from Milwaukee continue you know, and
Speaker 5: and uh, but but so these guys and Norm Gibbs
Speaker 5: an Ale White uh actually wrote this stuff then and
Speaker 5: and and the the actual you know jive and they
Speaker 5: really helped Barbara Billingsley.
Speaker 2: Uh. It's an incredible scene. Back in a moment Dennis
Speaker 2: Prager and the Airplane creators jes lows blood.
Speaker 3: She's gonna catch up and read.
Speaker 2: That what it is, Big Mama, Ma Mama, the raised
Speaker 2: no duns.
Speaker 11: Jumper one a chump.
Speaker 1: This episode of timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom in
Speaker 1: me like something to read?
Speaker 14: Do you have anything light?
Speaker 9: How about this leaflet?
Speaker 14: Famous Jewish sports legend?
Speaker 2: Thank you guys. I'll tell you it's a little painful
Speaker 2: that the hour. This is the last segment of the hour.
Speaker 2: I'm having almost as much fun with the creators of
Speaker 2: the movie Airplane as I as I do. I'm stuckering
Speaker 2: here because I love it so much as I do
Speaker 2: watching the actual the actual movie. We have the Zucker
Speaker 2: Brothers and Jim Abrams, the creators of this epic. It's
Speaker 2: thirty years since it was made. Sharon in Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: Dennis Praeger, and the creators of Airplane.
Speaker 8: Hi, guys, thanks for taking my call. I just want
Speaker 8: to share this. In nineteen eighty three, I was a
Speaker 8: soldier back in Israel and we were in the desert
Speaker 8: watching the movie under the open sky at night. Then
Speaker 8: the samement for the soldier. I wanted to thank you guys.
Speaker 8: We have this very intimidating, big guy officer and when
Speaker 8: the h the point where the guitar was playing and
Speaker 8: the tubes were starting to fly out, and uh, he
Speaker 8: just lost it and he almost burst the steam. It
Speaker 8: was a great joy for all of us to see
Speaker 8: this very curious, intimidating guy act humanly.
Speaker 2: That's a beautiful story. That's what That's what you guys,
Speaker 2: that's what you.
Speaker 3: Laughter is a great equalizer.
Speaker 2: When you think that's what. No, that's why I salute you.
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. Let's go to San Diego and and
Speaker 2: and Dennis Prager and the creators of Airplane. Hello, Ann, okay,
Speaker 2: and well let's go to uh Minneapolis and Dean Dean. Hello,
Speaker 2: Dennis Prager and the Airplane creators.
Speaker 17: Hi Dennis, Hi, I love your show and I'm really
Speaker 17: having fun here.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 17: I was on a first date as well when I
Speaker 17: first saw this, but it was not only a first
Speaker 17: aid of blind date. Like my friend's girlfriend's cousin was
Speaker 17: visiting from who knows where, and we decided to go
Speaker 17: to a movie, and I just remember spending at least
Speaker 17: half the movie bent over looking down the row of
Speaker 17: seats at my friend with tears in my eyes. Your
Speaker 17: kindent earlier about you know, some people get it, some
Speaker 17: people don't. To this day, I don't know if she
Speaker 17: got it or she didn't, but it was one of
Speaker 17: those where she didn't. I don't think she wanted to laugh,
Speaker 17: or she felt like she couldn't because she didn't.
Speaker 2: Well, all right, yeah he didn't marry Light didn't marry
Speaker 2: you guys prevented a bad marriage. Good. Yeah, listen, in
Speaker 2: all seriousness on behalf of tens of millions, if not
Speaker 2: hundreds of millions of people, thank you, because to make
Speaker 2: people laugh, it's a tough light for everybody. On earth
Speaker 2: and you made people laugh, and you did for thirty years.
Speaker 2: May you have many more years of making great films.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you all. Tell me I'm Dennis Braker.
Speaker 3: Like I picked it wrong.
Speaker 2: They smoke wrong.
Speaker 1: Wait tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.
Speaker 2: All right, Dennis, what's going to make me happy? And
Speaker 2: what's going to make me unhappy? I'll answer that, all right,
Speaker 2: with all the chutzpah at my disposal. I will tell
Speaker 2: you what won't make you happy that you pursue or
Speaker 2: if not you, of course you collectively, not you individually,
Speaker 2: but you and me. I have to fight the same
Speaker 2: battles as many of you. We none of us all
Speaker 2: have the identical battles. But I have battles. If I
Speaker 2: didn't have battles for happiness, I couldn't do this.
Speaker 1: Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with
Speaker 1: Dennis Prager. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.
Speaker 1: Visit Dennispragger dot com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses,
Speaker 1: and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.