chrisruzin.net :: Zero Hour (September 6, 2003)

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Zero Hour

I just finished watching an old movie called Zero Hour.  It’s nothing special in and of itself, but what I didn’t realize was that it was the movie that Airplane! was based on.  Airplane is one of my all time favorite comedies. 

There were many things that Airplane took directly from Zero Hour.  The civilian pilot named Stryker.  Passengers getting sick because of the fish.  The little boy named Timmy who gets asked questions by the pilot.  The propeller sound effects.  And many, many more scenes and lines were very similar if not exactly the same.  It made Zero Hour that much more fun to watch.

The special effects in Zero Hour were horrible, but that made it all the more funny.  The acting was melodramatic, which only added to the comedy.  I can see why the creators of Airplane took so much from Zero Hour.  It was practically a comedy to begin with!

If you’ve seen Airplane, then you must check out Zero Hour.  It’s hilarious to see the similarities.

Dave's gravatar Dave United States September 6, 2003

Airplane is definitely one of the best movies ever! Strange that it can be that funny as a parody when I’ve never even seen the original… I should definitely check this out.

Russ's gravatar Russ United States September 6, 2003

I remember seeing Airplane! in the theater when it first came out. I must have quoted lines from that movies for years and years.

I just did an overlap search on IMDB, and I see that both movies have 3 writers in common. I never heard of Zero Hour! before, but now I may have to check it out.

Chris's gravatar Chris United States September 6, 2003

From what I’ve read, Zero Hour is hard to find. The one I saw last night was it’s premiere on AMC. AMC shows about 5 billion old movies a month, so I was surprised that they had never shown Zero Hour before.

I also read that the producers of Airplane! bought the rights to Zero Hour, and that’s why the movies are so similar. Apparently, they saw the comedy goldmine in a rather poor drama.

Scott's gravatar Scott United States September 21, 2003

Ditto the authors’ comments. Does anybody know where I can get a GOOD copy of this movie?

Chris's gravatar Chris United States September 21, 2003

I’ve checked around a lot of places, and it’s very hard to find. In fact, I can’t find it anywhere, so I’m thinking it’s not out on VHS or DVD.

Lance's gravatar Lance United States January 10, 2004

I heard that the Zucker bros. were so concerned about how much they were going to parody this film that they bought the rights to it as a result it is difficult to find on air and impossible to find on tape/dvd.

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