Of Course ‘Airplane II: The Sequel’ Isn’t Better Than ‘Airplane,’ but It’s Much Funnier Than It Gets Credit for

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My favorite movie trivia question to ask is, “What are the only three movies directed by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker?,” the comedic directing trio also known as ZAZ. Everyone gets “Airplane!” Some people get “Top Secret!” And most people either guess “The Naked Gun!: From the Files of Police Squad” or, our topic today, “Airplane II: The Sequel.”

Both of those answers are wrong.

ZAZ did write “The Naked Gun,” but David Zucker directed that one solo. “Airplane II: The Sequel” doesn’t involve ZAZ at all — it’s a complete imitation of a ZAZ film. But it’s a pretty great imitation. (For the record, the third ZAZ film is “Ruthless People.” No one ever gets that one right.)

ZAZ toyed with the idea of making an “Airplane!” sequel, which itself was a spoof of the movie “Zero Hour,” but made the television series “Police Squad!” instead. In 2014, I put together an oral history of the wonderful “Top Secret!” and Jerry Zucker explained why they decided a sequel to “Airplane!” just wouldn’t work.

“The thing with ‘Naked Gun,’ it fell into the category that all good sequel movies fall into, that it was based on a single strong character — or two in the case of ’22 Jump Street’ — that you can throw into a bunch of different situations and stories,” he said. “With ‘Airplane!,’ it’s a group of people and the story itself was a specific story of how Ted and Elaine were breaking up and he found his courage. You couldn’t really have done a sequel to ‘Zero Hour!.’ So, for us, ‘Airplane II’ was just going back on an airplane and trying to come up with 500 more jokes about things on an airplane.”

I distinctly remember Jerry Zucker telling me this over the phone and doing everything in my power not to say out loud, “Oh … I like ‘Airplane II.’”

‘Airplane II: The Sequel’©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Written and directed by Ken Finkleman (who wrote “Grease 2” and would go on to co-write the Madonna vehicle, “Who’s That Girl?”), no one is here to try and convince you that “Airplane II: The Sequel” is a better movie than “Airplane.” But I am trying to convince you to (a) watch it if you have not, (b) it’s at least in the ballpark of almost being as good as “Airplane!,” and (c) it might even have a couple of bigger laughs than “Airplane!” 

Here’s an example: My biggest laugh in either of the two “Airplane!” movies happens about halfway through “Airplane 2: The Sequel.” I will explain:

The plot of “Airplane II: The Sequel” does not involve an airplane, it involves a Lunar Shuttle (that looks awfully like a space shuttle) called the Mayflower that has a tendency to malfunction — flaws that Ted Striker (Robert Hays, returning from the first film) tries to expose. For his efforts, he’s put into a mental institution, escapes, then tries to convince the love of his life, Elaine (Julie Hagerty, also returning), not to board because of the dangers.

Of course, they both wind up on the Lunar Shuttle and, like the first film, Ted has to take over the controls and navigate the Lunar Shuttle safely to the moon. 

Along the way, we are introduced to the commander of Alpha Beta Lunar Base, Buck Murdock, played by William Shatner. We watch as an officer meticulously makes his way through the base in an effort to contact Murdock to advise him of the situation with the Mayflower. The officer finally enters a room with a monitor.

After a series of adjustments to the monitor, through the static, we see a man with his back turned to us. He dramatically turns around — and it’s Shatner’s Buck Murdock. He is advised of the serious situation involving the Mayflower and decides they must act at once. Buck Murdock opens the door to reveal he’s been right on the other side of the door the entire time. I laugh so hard every single time.

‘Airplane II: The Sequel’©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

(As an aside, when I first saw this movie on HBO as a little kid, my favorite scene then was when Ted Striker escapes from the Ronald Reagan Hospital for the Mentally Ill. Spotlights are scouring the area for Ted. As Ted escapes, one of the spotlights is focused on recording artist Jack Jones, singing his title theme to “The Love Boat.”) 

Over the years, I’ve noticed some misconceptions about “Airplane II: The Sequel” — namely, that it’s a bit of a ripoff of the first film. Well, of course it is. But we’ve also seen plenty of bad ripoffs of what “Airplane!” did so well. “Airplane II” is a really well-done ripoff and should be heralded as such.

A few years ago, a friend of mine was quoting “Airplane!” He was not born when “Airplane!” was released in 1980 but, now, at this point, was a massive fan of “Airplane!” During this conversation, I made a reference to “Airplane II” and he looked at me stoned-face and said he had never seen it. He went as far as to say he would never watch it because it was a “cheap” imitation with no returning cast members. I was aghast.

First of all, “Airplane II” had a bigger budget than the original film. Second, almost the entire cast returns from the first film, with the most notable exceptions being Leslie Nielson, who was starring in “Police Squad!”; Robert Stack (who is basically replaced by Shatner); and, yes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had another job at the time.

I made him watch “Airplane II,” almost against his will. I have never seen someone laugh as hard as he laughed while watching “Airplane II: The Sequel.” A few weeks later, he told me that he has a friend who has the same misconceptions about “Airplane II.” He made his friend watch “Airplane II.” The same thing happened.

‘Airplane II: The Sequel’©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection

Another misconception is that “Airplane II” is a spoof of “Star Wars.” Other than having an opening crawl, it stops right there. Again, the original “Airplane!” is a spoof of “Zero Hour,” although there’s a misconception it is spoofing the “Airport movies.”

A couple of years ago, I finally watched all four “Airport” movies (the first was nominated for Best Picture) and it’s actually “Airplane II” that spoofs the first “Airport” film, including a subplot of a passenger having a bomb (played in “Airplane II” by Sonny Bono, of all people). And it’s also a spoof of “2001: A Space Odyssey” as the sentient computer that controls the Mayflower, ROK, goes haywire. 

After the end credits, we are presented with a title card that still remains on the film to this day. “Coming From Paramount Pictures! ‘Airplane III.’” Paramount was so confident in what they had with “Airplane II,” they just assumed “Airplane III” was a given.

Honestly, the whole point of this piece is … well, that’s understandable. “Airplane II” did OK at the box office, finishing second (barely) in its first weekend to another new film, the Richard Pryor film, “The Toy,” — but actually beating the opening weekend of “48 Hrs.” Still, it was not a cultural force like its predecessor, making well over $100 million less than the first film.

But that we never got an “Airplane III”? Talk about a real ripoff.