Themes: Nothing Goes Right, Daring Rescues, Air Disasters
Main Cast: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, William Shatner
Release Year: 1982
Country: US
Run Time: 85 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
With the Jerry Zucker-Jim Abrahams-David Zucker team absent, this sequel to the cash-cow 1980 spoof Airplane once again finds garrulous man-with-a-past Ted Striker (Robert Hays) compelled to take over the controls of crippled aircraft, all the while trying to patch up his relationship with stewardess Elaine (Julie Hagerty). This time, the first passenger space shuttle is launched into orbit -- and takes off for the moon - but the on-board computer malfunctions and sends the craft hurtling toward the sun, threatening the lives of everyone on board. Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves return from the first Airplane, while William Shatner, Chad Everett, Sonny Bono, Raymond Burr and Chuck Conners join the cast, as they too lampoon their established images. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
If considered only in comparison to the original, Airplane II: The Sequel is not in the same league as that uniquely gut-busting trendsetter. But it still stacks up quite well against most parodies, and a lot of other comedies in general. Setting this doomed flight on a space shuttle widens the lampoon to include sci-fi movies and opens up a new spectrum of possible jokes, including the ship getting fixed on a collision course with the sun by its shipboard computer, a goof on the H.A.L. 9000. Sure, the jokes are obvious, but part of the film's gleeful appeal is that it revels in that very obviousness. By bringing back dozens of the characters, including many of the passengers, and using an almost identical structure, the sequel might even be considered a parody of the original, rather than just its extension. Easily its funniest element is William Shatner, who takes over the Robert Stack role of the grizzled veteran on the ground trying to talk pilot Striker down. Although there had always been a winking self-awareness to Shatner's overacting, Airplane II was his first real opportunity to let loose, and it brought big laughs. His flip-out over the apparent meaninglessness of all the blinking and flashing lights in his moon base is classic. Apparently, after two installments, the "been there, done that" quotient was high enough for Paramount to leave well enough alone -- the Airplane III promised in the closing credits has never materialized. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Chad Everett - Simon; Stephen Stucker - Jacobs; Oliver Robins - Jimmy Wilson; Sonny Bono - Bomber; Raymond Burr - Judge; Chuck Connors - Sarge; John Dehner - Commissioner; Rip Torn - Kruger; Kent McCord - Unger; James A. Watson Jr. - Dunn; John Vernon - Dr. Stone; Sam Anderson - Man in White; Frank Ashmore - Controller #3; Leon Askin - Moscow Anchorman; B.J. Barie - Video Kid; Hilary Beane - Next Woman in Line; Sandahl Bergman - 1st Officer; Burke Byrnes - Businessman; Ed Call - Information Agent; Michael Currie - Businessman #1; Patty Dworkin - Young Woman; Gary Faga - Guide; Art Fleming - Himself; Bruce French - Officer #2; Louis Giambalvo - Witness; Richard Gilliland - Pervis; Hugh Gillin - Texan; Howard Honig - Dave Walters; Dennis Howard - John Wilson; Richard Jaeckel - 2nd Controller; Jack Jones - Singer; Marcy Lafferty - First Woman in Line; Laurene Landon - Testa; John Larch - Prosecuting Attorney; David Leisure - Religious Zealot; Floyd Levine - Hallick; Steve Levitt - Creature #1; Mary Mercier - Edith Walters; Ann Nelson - Airsick Woman; Steve Nevil - Creature #2; James Noble - Father of Flanagan; Rick Overton - Clerk; Lee Patterson - Phoenix Six Captain; David Paymer - Court Photographer; Wendy Phillips - Mary; Mary-Robin Redd - Intellectual-Looking Woman; Pat Sajak - Buffalo Anchorman; Clint Smith - Scalper; Louise Sorel - Stella, the Nurse; Herve Villechaize - Little Breather; Sandy Ward - Defense Attorney; Lee Bryant - Mrs. Hammen; Ken Finkleman; Ron House - Smoking Man; John Paragon - 'Economy' Flight Attendant; Craig Berenson - Shaving Man; Stanley Lawrence - Next Man; Pat McNamara - Businessman #2; Al White - Witness; Elisa Goodman - I Love Sanity Nurse; Steven Hirsch - Rorshack; John Hancock - 1st Controller; William Vaughan - Worker; Maurice Hill - 2nd Stock
Credit
Mel Dellar - Associate Producer, Lynn Stalmaster - Casting, Toni Howard - Casting, Richard Hazard - Conductor, Rosanna Norton - Costume Designer, Ken Finkleman - Director, Tina Hirsch - Editor, Dennis Virkler - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Richard Hazard - Composer (Music Score), William Sandell - Production Designer, Joseph Biroc - Cinematographer, Howard W. Koch - Producer, Steve Maslow - Sound/Sound Designer, Ken Finkleman - Screenwriter
The moon has been colonized and supports a station on its surface. A lunar shuttle known as Mayflower One is being rushed to launch. The head of the ground crew, The Sarge (Chuck Connors), does not like what is occurring, but he defers to the airline's management. On-board is computer officer Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), who was a flight attendant in the first movie. Elaine has long-since left Ted Striker (Robert Hays) and is now engaged to one of the flight crew, Simon Kurtz (Chad Everett). On the flight crew with Dickinson and Kurtz are Captain Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves), First Officer Dunn (James A. Watson, Jr.) and Navigator Dave Unger (Kent McCord).
Striker has been committed to an insane asylum, as he was declared mentally incompetent in a lawsuit brought after the lunar shuttle crashed during a test flight that Ted piloted. Striker believes that the lawsuit was used to silence him because he knew there were problems with the lunar shuttle which made it unsafe. Now Striker is haunted by his actions in "The War", specifically the events that took place over "Macho Grande", where he lost his entire squadron. When Striker reads of the upcoming Lunar Shuttle launch he escapes the asylum and buys a ticket for the flight.
During the flight, Mayflower One suffers a short circuit and the computer develops a mind of its own, sending the ship toward the sun. Unger and Dunn try to deactivate the computer, but are blown out of an airlock. Oveur tries to stop the computer, but the computer gasses him. Kurtz abandons Elaine and leaves in the only escape pod. Once again Striker is called upon to save the day, but first he has to figure out how to make the computer relinquish control.
Steven McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges), the air traffic controller, reveals that a passenger named Joe Seluchi (Sonny Bono) had boarded Mayflower One with a bomb, intending to commit suicide so that his wife can collect on insurance money. Striker manages to wrestle the bomb from him and uses it to blow up the computer and set course for the moon as originally intended.
On the way to the Moon, control of the flight is shifted to a lunar base, commanded by Cmdr. Buck Murdoch (William Shatner). He has a high level of contempt for Striker because of Macho Grande, but agrees to help anyway. They manage to land the craft on the moon. Ted and Elaine fall back in love and are married at the end.
After the wedding, Seluchi looks into the cockpit and asks for his briefcase back.
After the end credits, a teaser trailer appears saying "Coming from Paramount Pictures: Airplane III" and a scene of William Shatner saying "That's exactly what they'll be expecting us to do!" (implying that there will actually be no such film). Most theatrical and home video prints retain the Airplane III teaser, but it is omitted on some TV airings.
