If, like me, you grew up on multiple viewings of Airplane!, then chances are you celebrated the 30th anniversary release of the zany 1980 comedy this past weekend. That’s right, it’s been three decades since Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker made the seminal disaster satire that has since launched its own genre of spoof films that now include everything from Hot Shots! to the Naked Gun trilogy to a more recent (and much less funny) series of spin-offs that includes the Scary Movie franchise, Date Movie and Meet the Spartans. Still, even 30 years later, one cannot deny how clever and ridiculously entertaining the original Airplane! was – even if it does come as a slight shock that it actually wasn’t that original at all.

For those unaware, Airplane! was actually based on a 1957 film called Zero Hour! which is largely considered one of the first “disaster” films ever produced.  In light of such a milestone year, I watched Zero Hour! to see just how close the source was to the successor and believe me, it’s VERY close…right down to the exclamation mark at the end of the title.

For instance, it is remarkable that the comedy trio didn’t change many of the lines even.  As Jim Abrahams remarked in a recent New York Times article:

“There is one line in ‘Zero Hour!’ where a stewardess says, completely seriously, ‘The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn’t have fish for dinner…we just repeated the line. We didn’t have to change a thing.”

It wasn’t plagiarism per se.  The Zuckers’ and Abrahams always credited the old B-movie for being the inspiration behind their magnum opus.  In fact, at the time, the trio had already made the cult-hit comedy Kentucky Fried Movie and upon seeing Zero Hour! during a late-night television broadcast, the threesome instantly saw the potential in satirizing the melodrama.

In truth, Zero Hour! isn’t even a terrible movie.  Considering its release in 1957, its execution is entertaining enough, but in hindsight, to understand how a comedy trio from Los Angeles saw something greater only gives the old flick a greater weight.  Honestly, if you really want to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Airplane!, give Zero Hour! a glance.